'This paper will present a brief overview of the microfinance “industry” in the Philippines as well as the recent developments of increased commercialization. Commercialization of microfinance has spurred greater competition leading to increased innovations in microfinance products and service delivery.'

'This paper discusses migrant remittances in the Sri Lankan context, specifically in relation to Hatton National Bank’s (HNB) microfinance program and the use of technology. Currently outreach in microfinance is expanding as a result of migrant remittances, improved technologies and cheaper services. HNB’s innovative remittance e-product, Money2Home, is one such product outlined and other future development areas are considered.'

'ICT can be a strategic tool in making Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) more efficient and effective. MFIs can reach more people in a more economic way by implementing the right Management Information System (MIS). While a few MFIs are making good use of technology, the majority are facing difficulties in getting the right solution. The back-office MIS is the backbone of any Information System solution and yet it has not received much attention. MFIs, whether large or small, need to have a stron more...

'Microfinance in Bangladesh has almost reached the stage of a matured market. However, there are still substantial segments of potential clientele who are not serviced by any microfinance organization (MFI). Inadequate finance is one of the most important reasons MFIs have not reach these clients. Fund shortage is more prevalent among the smaller MFIs. In such a situation, an effective linkage between the MFIs with financial constraint and banks with excess liquidity is a simple but highly effec more...

'Despite significant innovations in rural and microfinance over the years, millions of people around the world do not have access to financial services. Can strategic linkages and alliances between financial institutions help resolve this problem?Our results drawn from 12 case studies conducted in eleven countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America indicate that financial linkages are increasingly used by formal financial institutions (public or private) to target rural clients. A wide variety of more...

Commercially-driven, business-to-business partnerships in microfinance are, and will continue to be, driven primarily by the market. But should the process be left exclusively to the market? It is the view of this author that rapid scaling up of partnership approaches in microfinance is unlikely to occur without active leadership by organizations and individuals in a position to facilitate the process, based on a sound understanding of the dynamics of the partnering process. Further, a commitmen more...

'This paper is structured as a technical interview with practitioners from MFIs which have implemented process mapping in their respective organizations and investigates the process followed as well as experiences encountered during the implementation of process mapping.'

A summary of principles from World education Australia recognized as good practice in delivering microfinance services.

A wide variety of methods have been used to reach these low-income communities with appropriate and affordable services, reflecting the diversity of contexts and environments in which these services are provided.

While there are no specific methods which are appropriate in every context, these principles are common to the range of institutions involved in the delivery of more...

The objective of the Expanding Microfinance Outreach and Improving Sustainability Project is to achieve operational sustainability for most microfinance service providers and help them scale up outreach of financial services to meet the needs and demands of many poor Afghans, especially women. This project only has one component; all the funding will be provided by Microfinance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan (MISFA) to the microfinance service provider organizations as loan funds fo more...

This paper was commissioned by the Microcredit Summit Campaign in 2006. The paper focuses on responses of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in coping with the losses that their clients face when human conflicts, disasters of nature, and other crises strike.