Benchmarking the Financial Performance, Growth, and Outreach of Greenfield Microfinance institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa

In recent years there has been a rapid increase in the presence and growth of greenfield microfinance institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper uses regressions to benchmark those African greenfields relative to other microfinance providers an...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Cull, Robert, Harten, Sven, Nishida, Ippei, Bull, Greta
Format:	Policy Research Working Paper
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank Group, Washington, DC 2014
Subjects:	ACCESS TO FINANCE ACCESS TO FINANCIAL SERVICES ACCOUNTING ACQUISITION ACQUISITIONS AFFILIATES AFFORDABLE PRICES ASSET VALUES BALANCE SHEETS BANK COMPETITION BANK CREDIT BANK LENDING BANK MERGERS BANK POLICY BANK SPREADS BANKING MARKETS BANKING SECTORS BANKING SYSTEMS BANKS BORROWING BORROWING COSTS BRANCH NETWORKS BROAD ACCESS CAPITAL COST CAPITAL COSTS CAPITAL INVESTMENT CAPITAL INVESTMENTS COLLATERAL COMMERCIAL BANKS COOP COOPERATIVES COOPS CORPORATION CREDIT ALLOCATION CREDIT LEVEL CREDIT RISKS CREDIT UNION CREDIT UNIONS CREDITWORTHINESS CROSS-BORDER BANKING DEBT DEPENDENT DEPOSIT DEPOSITORS DEPOSITS DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT BANK DEVELOPMENT FINANCE DEVELOPMENT FINANCE INSTITUTIONS DOMESTIC BANK DOMESTIC BANKING DOMESTIC BANKS DUMMY VARIABLE DUMMY VARIABLES EIB EMERGING MARKETS EXCLUSION EXTERNAL BORROWING FEMALE BORROWERS FEMALE CLIENTS FINANCE CORPORATION FINANCES FINANCIAL ACCESS FINANCIAL DEPTH FINANCIAL HEALTH FINANCIAL INSTITUTION FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS FINANCIAL MARKET FINANCIAL MARKETS FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE FINANCIAL RESTRUCTURING FINANCIAL SELF-SUFFICIENCY FOREIGN BANK FOREIGN BANK ENTRY FOREIGN BANK PARTICIPATION FOREIGN BANKS FOREIGN ENTRY FUNDING SOURCES GOOD CREDIT HIGH INTEREST RATES HIGHER CAPITAL COSTS HOLDING HOLDING COMPANIES HOLDING COMPANY HOLDINGS HOST COUNTRIES HOST COUNTRY HUMAN CAPITAL HUMAN RESOURCES INCOME LEVELS INDIVIDUAL LIABILITY INFLATION INFLATION RATE INTEREST INCOME INTEREST RATE INTEREST RATE SPREADS INTEREST RATES INTERNATIONAL BANK INTERNATIONAL FINANCE INVESTING INVESTMENT BANK INVESTMENT PROJECTS INVESTMENT VEHICLES LEGAL FRAMEWORK LIABILITY LIMITED LOAN LOAN LOSS LOAN PORTFOLIO LOAN PORTFOLIO QUALITY LOAN PORTFOLIOS LOAN SIZE LOAN SIZES LOANS TO INDIVIDUALS LONG-TERM LIABILITIES MARKET COMPETITION MARKET CONCENTRATION MARKET DEVELOPMENT MFI MFIS MICROFINANCE MICROFINANCE INSTITUTIONS MOBILE PHONE MULTINATIONAL MULTINATIONAL BANKS NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS NON-PERFORMING LOANS NPL OPERATING COST OPERATING COSTS OPERATING EXPENSES OUTREACH POOR BORROWERS POTENTIAL BORROWERS PRIVATIZATION PRODUCTIVITY PROFITABILITY PROXY RESERVES RESTRUCTURING PROCESSES RETAIL BANKING RETURN RETURN ON ASSETS RURAL BANK RURAL BANKS SAVINGS SHAREHOLDER SMALL LOANS SOFT LOANS SPONSOR SPONSORS START-UPS SUBSIDIARIES TERMS OF LOANS TOTAL BORROWING TRANSITION COUNTRIES WOMEN BORROWERS
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/09/20205158/benchmarking-financial-performance-growth-outreach-greenfield-microfinance-institutions-sub-saharan-africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/20331

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Summary:	In recent years there has been a rapid increase in the presence and growth of greenfield microfinance institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper uses regressions to benchmark those African greenfields relative to other microfinance providers and finds that greenfields grew faster in terms of deposits and lending, improved their profitability to levels comparable to the top microfinance institutions, and substantially increased their lending to women. The effects were especially strong for greenfields that followed a consultant-led model to establish a deep retail banking presence spanning multiple countries, including the creation of extensive branch networks. Although their loan sizes are somewhat larger than those of most African microfinance institutions, indicating less outreach to the poorest market segments, greenfields have achieved rapid gains in financial inclusion on a broad scale.

Benchmarking the Financial Performance, Growth, and Outreach of Greenfield Microfinance institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa

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