First published in 1998, this collection of essays by eminent microfinance practitioners provides a range of perspectives on contemporary issues in the field. Different approaches are proposed for achieving improved access by the poor to financial services. The common denominator in these essays is financial sustainability for the service provider. Issues addressed include: is savings mobilization integral to microfinance and, if so, how should it be incorporated in new programs? Are borrower groups a necessary element of successful microfinance programs? Are NGOs the right institutional vehicle for sustainable microfinance interventions? Is standardized and generalizable microfinance credit rating system feasible? While there is considerable diversity in the approaches recommended in these essays, the importance of cost efficiency and cost recovery forms the basis for most of the discussions.

The purpose of the 'Microfinance Handbook' is to bring together in a single source guiding principles and tools that will promote sustainable microfinance and create viable institutions.

In response to a clear need by low-income people to gain access to the full range of financial services including savings, a growing number of microfinance NGOs are seeking guidelines to transform from credit-focused microfinance organizations to regulated deposit-taking financial intermediaries. In response to this trend, this book presents a practical 'how-to' manual for MFIs to develop the capacity to become licensed and regulated to mobilize deposits from the public. 'Transforming Microfinance Institutions' provides guidelines for regulators to license and regulate microfinance providers, and for transforming MFIs to meet the demands of two major new stakeholders regulators and shareholders. As such, it focuses on developing the capacity of NGO MFIs to mobilize and intermediate voluntary savings. Drawing from worldwide experience, it outlines how to manage the transformation process and address major strategic and operational issues inherent in transformation including competitive positioning, business planning, accessing capital and shareholders, and how to 'transform' the MFI's human resources, financial management, MIS, internal controls, and branch operations. Case studies then provide examples of developing a new regulatory tier for microfinance, and how a Ugandan NGO transformed to become a licensed financial intermediary. This book will be invaluable to regulators and microfinance NGOs contemplating institutional transformation and will be of tremendous use to donors and technical support agencies supporting MFIs in their transformation.

The book is a contemporary compilation of important research in the area of microfinance and financial inclusion. It explores a plurality of views and experiences from different parts of the world while linking a variety of international research backgrounds. Accordingly the book will fill a gap in providing a carefully curated cross-sectorial selection of topics relevant to the development finance research community primarily but also industry practitioners who are interested in keeping abreast of developing research. Benefits in this regard also include being able to provide a platform to less established researchers offering them a voice in published form.

Microfinance Institutions (MFI) promise to deliver poverty alleviation while being sustainable. However, in recent years, the idea of microfinance has been questioned. The study of MFIs or their business environment from a strategic management perspective has not been taken up. This is despite the fact that MFIs promise financial inclusion of the bottom-of-the-pyramid segment and, in turn, lead to sustainable development. Moreover, MFIs have to regularly negotiate various tradeoffs, the study of which could be interesting from a strategic perspective. For instance, empirical evidence suggests that MFIs face a tradeoff between profitability (financial sustainability) and outreach (reaching the poorest customers). A study of the ecosystem of MFIs from the strategic perspective would also be of interest to other stakeholders such as donors, investors, banks and government. For instance, subsidies can play an important role to help MFIs serve the poorest segment. Such subsidies may be in the form of donor and government grants, when MFIs have access to capital at below-market interest rates. This has important implications for policy makers as it shows one way where right kind of regulations could help MFIs. On the other hand, the rapid growth of microfinance has brought increasing calls for regulation, but complying with prudential regulations and the associated supervision can be especially costly for MFIs hurting their sustainability. In India, MFIs have been accused of seeking profits at the expense of the poor, attracting stringent regulations that stifled their growth. Regulatory interventions could help the MFIs to scale up and professionalize, or it may simply stifle their development. This paper attempts to approach the issue of regulatory impact on the microfinance industry from a strategic management perspective. The discussion in this paper entails a literature review that shows the importance of the industry and the regulatory effects on a firm; it then looks at some of the tradeoffs faced by MFIs and also looks at the literature on regulations of MFIs. An attempt has been made to identify the gaps in the existing literature and present them in the conclusion.

. . . a valuable resource that traces the changes in the microfinance sector from its origin until now. . . The book will serve as a good reference point for future debate in these areas. Microfinance Insights In 2006 the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Muhammad Yunus for his work on microfinance, dramatically changing attitudes towards capital markets. Suresh Sundaresan has assembled an impressive set of scholars and practitioners in this book to bring together recent practical innovations and policy questions in the realm of microfinance. The contributions emphasize practical solutions to problems facing the field by examining capital markets, providing a framework for thinking about regulation, and raising questions about gender empowerment. They examine recent developments in the field, research findings, and the challenges that lie ahead. This book takes a solid step toward a systematic analysis of the implications of microfinance for the role and regulation of capital markets. The authors address integration of capital markets with microfinance, technological innovations such as the use of mobile phone technology, the consequences of women s access to micro-loan borrowings, and the regulatory challenges and opportunities emerging as the landscape of microfinance dramatically evolves. Practitioners, policy makers, and academics in the fields of developmental economics, finance, gender studies and public and development policy will enjoy this analytically rigorous work.

Promoting Microfinance brings together essays and empirical work by leading researchers and practitioners in the field of microfinance. It covers key issues currently facing the microfinance industry and provides an overview of the microfinance industry in selected countries/regions, pointing to the direction in which it is heading.