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This paper adds nuance to our understanding of how precipitation shocks impact the financial performance of Microfinance Institutions (MFI). Using a unique longitudinal dataset of agricultural MFIs in Peru, Ecuador, and Mexico, the paper first shows that rainfall shocks have a statistically significant effect on indicators of credit risk and profitability. Next, it tests if such effects are influenced by the funding costs. The analysis is guided by the equilibrium conditions of a theoretical model that suggests that MFIs with a comparatively higher cost of access to extra funds are more resilient to this kind of systemic events. The econometric estimates are consistent with the theoretical implication by showing that the extent of the effect of precipitation shocks on the profitability and quality of the loan portfolio is lower for those institutions that had access to relatively higher funding costs.

Front-line loan officers of microfinance institutions are important in acquiring information on potential borrowers and selecting them in accordance with the microfinance institution's mission. This study uses a unique data set on loan officers and their loan portfolios from China's largest nongovernmental organization microfinance institution to test whether officers' personal characteristics affect the size and quality of their loans. The analysis uses a period in which the institution shifted from reliance on government donations and subsidies to commercial sources of funding. Imposing more commercial incentives on loan officers could affect how they balance potentially competing objectives to serve the poor and pursue profitability. The paper finds that loan officers who were formerly farmers or worked in local government were better able to maintain lending to poorer borrowers, without incurring substantially lower repayment rates on their loans. In short, it appears that the career backgrounds of loan officers did play a role in preventing mission drift.

This assessment of accounting and auditing practices in Slovenia is part of a joint initiative of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to prepare Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC). The assessment focuses on the strengths and weaknesses of the accounting and auditing environment that influence the quality of corporate financial reporting and includes a review of both mandatory requirements and actual practice. This is the second A&A ROSC for Slovenia and based on information collected in 2013, early 2014. The first one was published in 2004. As the requirements of the EU acquis communautaire and international standards have already been adopted in the financial sector this assessment focuses on the proper application of these requirements, with the view that improved financial information raises the capacity of regulators to maintain financial stability, and improve the level of trust in the financial system, in the context of an ongoing recapitalization exercise. In the State Owned Enterprises, or SOEs, the report focuses on the requirements applicable to them and how well these are enforced, as well as to what extent the government uses the financial reporting and audit process to monitor SOEs and hold their management teams accountable. This report also considers SMEs financial reporting, including how current requirements compare with the latest revisions to the EU Accounting Directive, which further simplified requirements for smaller companies. Finally, audit oversight and quality assurance systems are assessed, including the feasibility of incorporating the audit oversight body as part of the financial sector supervisor.

For many years, microfinance has been the poster child of governments, policymakers, and international organizations with the goal of lifting millions of people out of poverty. The notion that microfinance can pursue and achieve the intertwined goals of development and financial profitability without friction predominated. This dual opportunity, combined with a huge untapped market for financial services at the bottom of the pyramid attracted large amounts of funding from international capital markets, triggering unprecedented levels of growth. Until the global financial crisis, the sustainability of the resulting market growth had not been significantly questioned. As the crisis unfolded during the end of 2007, there seemed to be consensus among microfinance practitioners, analysts, and other industry experts that this crisis will be different. The microfinance industry braced itself for anticipated liquidity crunches, increase in costs of funds, and foreign exchange, as well as a sharp rise in portfolio arrears. This paper will: review recent publications that have drawn conclusions on the effects of the global financial crisis based on empirical data research; draw the conclusion that proper governance and risk management systems are essential and can have avoided many of the problems specific microfinance institutions (MFIs) faced during the financial crisis; and highlight Basel framework sections relevant to MFIs and demonstrate how these can be applied to strengthen MFIs.

The percentage of smallholders with access to finance is equally difficult to quantify. According to estimates, even promising approaches to expanding smallholder lending, such as value chain finance, are reaching fewer than 10 percent of smallholders, primarily those in well-established value chains dedicated to higher value cash crops. International Finance Corporation (IFC) has been engaged for several years in learning efforts through diverse partnerships to obtain insights into the challenges of agricultural finance. The evidence of microfinance institution (MFI) involvement in financing commercial and semi-commercial smallholders remains anecdotal and lacks specifics on what makes MFI lending to these segments feasible, and what restricts their reach and effectiveness. This IFC study aims to identify and disseminate lessons emerging from the work of MFIs that have implemented agricultural operations targeting agricultural smallholders in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) to support replication and expansion of scalable approaches. Through this research, IFC seeks to understand the motivations of MFIs that venture into agricultural finance, how the products they offer have been structured, and how they were implemented, with a specific focus on agricultural finance programs, and products that are designed for smallholders in loose value chains and non-commercial (subsistence) farmers.

This is the final consolidated report of an extensive program to assess the financial performance and capacity building needs of the UPK Revolving Loan Funds under the PNPM Mandiri project. As explained in the report, the assessment program covered 508 rural and urban UPKs in the provinces of Central Java, Yogyakarta, Nusa Tenggara Timor and West Sumatra. The aim was to cover 30 percent of rural UPK RLFs in these four provinces and 10 percent of the urban UPKs in order to establish the achievements and determine areas of improvement to enable these UPKs to provide a better service to the low income families in their operational areas. This report covers all 267 rural UPK RLFs and 241 urban UPKs identified for the purpose in the four provinces.

We study the effects of competition on loan rates and portfolio-at-risk in microcredit markets using a new database from rating agencies, covering 379 microbanks located in 67 countries between 2002 and 2008. Our study reveals different competitive effects in nonprofit and for-profit microbanks. We find that for-profit microbanks charge significantly lower rates and exhibit improved portfolio-at-risk in less concentrated markets. In particular, the effect of concentration on loan rates is nearly three times the one reported in previous studies in banking. In contrast, nonprofit microbanks are relatively insensitive to changes in concentration. We control for interest rate ceilings, which very significantly reduce rates in for-profit microbanks. However, our study also uncovers a competitive interplay between for-profit and nonprofit microbanks. In particular, the PAR of nonprofit microbanks deteriorates when the proportion of profit-oriented microbanks increases. Finally, we find evidence consistent with dispersion of borrower-specific information among competing microbanks in the for-profit sector, even after controlling for the presence of credit registries.

(VF)L’objectif de cet article est de vérifier empiriquement la relation entre les types de contrat de crédit, l’architecture organisationnelle et la performance des institutions de microfinance. L’économétrie des données de panel permet d’étudier un échantillon de 114 institutions de microfinance sur la période 2001- 2006. Les résultats montrent que l’architecture organisationnelle n’a pas d’influence significative sur les trois dimensions de la performance. Les contrats mixtes ont un effet négatif et significatif sur la rentabilité économique, mais permettent aux institutions de microfinance d’atteindre un nombre important d’emprunteurs. Enfin, les contrats de crédit de groupe jouent un rôle très important dans leur qualité de portefeuille.(VA)This article aims to produce evidence on the relationship between lending contracts, organizational architecture and the performance of microfinance institutions. We analyze panel data for a sample of 114 MFIs during the period stretching from 2001 to 2006. The results show that organizational architecture has no significant influence on the three dimensions of performance. Mixed contracts have a negative and significant effect on the rate of economic returns, but allow the concerned organizations to reach large numbers of borrowers. Finally, joint liability contracts tend to improve the portfolio quality of microfinance institutions.

This guide continues to be a ‘living’ document that will be updated as practice evolves. Investors are strongly encouraged to provide feedback on how to improve this guide and to share additional material that could be included. The Guide is organized as follows: section two describes the principles and their importance to ensuring sustainable microfinance development that serves the best interests of clients. Section three provides an update on the smart campaign. Section four offers practical advice on approaches and tools to incorporate the principles into investment processes. Section five highlights questions that investment organizations are facing and emerging responses. Finally, section six provides a list of resources and tools.

A worldwide financial crisis of enormous magnitude continues to unfold rapidly. Unlike other crises in recent decades, the current episode is rooted in industrial countries' financial systems and is affecting low-income and middle-income countries (MICs) alike. Defaults on securitized sub-prime mortgages as a real estate market bubble burst led to failures or near-failures of several large financial institutions and a collapse of inter-bank and commercial paper markets. A tightening of credit, combined with declining consumer confidence, has brought on worldwide recession with growing unemployment, and many fear that the downturn will be severe and protracted. At the same time, the rapidly multiplying signs of contraction are prompting strong responses, including fiscal stimulus packages and reductions in benchmark lending rates, on the part of several of the affected developed countries. The Bank Group is well placed to help mitigate the impact of the current crisis with financing and advisory services, and its clients are already requesting increased support. A rapid, high-quality response that combines financial and advisory support can do much to ease the inevitable ramifications of the crisis. Lessons from evaluations of previous Bank Group responses to past crises can help inform the response to the current crisis in order to increase its effectiveness.

Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate was 9.9 percent in 2007. Economic growth has been primarily driven by agriculture (which contributed 3.4 percentage points to economic growth), and services (which contributed 4.3 percentage points). In the agriculture sector, the December 2007 annual livestock census reported an increase of 15 percent of livestock from 34.8 to 40.3 mln livestock, with the number of goats, sheep and cattle increasing by 18, 15 and 14 percent respectively. While most of the foreign direct investment (FDI) coming into Mongolia continues to go to mining, its value-added only grew by only 1.7 percent this year (mainly came from coal extraction). On the non-bank side, the financial regulatory commission has been making efforts to improve the legal and regulatory framework, however, its weak institutional capacity and resource constraints continue to be a major impediment in effective supervision. Several key laws relating to the financial sector need to be finalized. Efforts have been made towards resolving immediate issues relating to the closed savings and credit cooperatives, developing the insurance industry and developing a framework and institutions to develop the mortgage market. However, several laws and enabling regulation still need to put in place before benefits of increase in financial sector efficiency (lower cost of financing) can be fully realized.

Using a limiting approach to portfolio credit risk, we obtain analyticexpressions for the tail behavior of the distribution of credit losses. We showthat in many cases of practical interest the distribution of these losses haspolynomial ('fat') rather than exponential ('thin') tails. Our modelingframework encompasses the models available in the literature. Defaults aretriggered by a general latent factor model involving systematic andidiosyncratic risk. We show explicitly how the tail behavior of the distributionof these two risk factors relates to the tail behavior of the credit lossdistribution. Even if the distributions of both risk factors are thin-tailed,the credit loss distribution may have a finite tail index (polynomial tails). Ifidiosyncratic risk exhibits thinner tails than systematic risk, the credit lossdensity actually increases towards the maximum credit loss. This unconventionalbehaviour of the credit loss density has not been reported earlier in theliterature. We also derive analytically the interaction between portfolioquality and credit loss tail behavior and find a striking difference between twowell-known modeling frameworks for portfolio credit risk: CreditMetrics andCreditRisk+.

Using a limiting approach to portfolio credit risk, we obtain analyticexpressions for the tail behavior of the distribution of credit losses. We showthat in many cases of practical interest the distribution of these losses haspolynomial ('fat') rather than exponential ('thin') tails. Our modelingframework encompasses the models available in the literature. Defaults aretriggered by a general latent factor model involving systematic andidiosyncratic risk. We show explicitly how the tail behavior of the distributionof these two risk factors relates to the tail behavior of the credit lossdistribution. Even if the distributions of both risk factors are thin-tailed,the credit loss distribution may have a finite tail index (polynomial tails). Ifidiosyncratic risk exhibits thinner tails than systematic risk, the credit lossdensity actually increases towards the maximum credit loss. This unconventionalbehaviour of the credit loss density has not been reported earlier in theliterature. We also derive analytically the interaction between portfolioquality and credit loss tail behavior and find a striking difference between twowell-known modeling frameworks for portfolio credit risk: CreditMetrics andCreditRisk+.