APEX ORGANIZATIONS AND THE GROWTH OF MICROFINANCE IN BOLIVIA

Bolivia has the most advanced microfinance sector in Latin America and has been a model worldwide. Apex banks�banks that lend to banks�have not been responsible for this success. Apex banks can provide funds for retail microfinance organizations, and/or strengthen their organizational development. The existing apex has done little market development. It has provided some liquidity to microfinance organizations, but it has not played an indispensable role. The various apexes planned for the future are unneeded. In fact, they may disincentive deposit mobilization and create an unfair playing field and thus hurt microfinance in Bolivia.Agricultural Finance,

Apex Organizations and the Growth of Microfinance in Bolivia

Bolivia has the most advanced microfinance sector in Latin America and has been a model worldwide. Apex organizations--second-tier wholesaling mechanisms that lend and offer non- financial assistance to retailing microfinance organizations--have not been responsible for this success. Former and current Bolivian apex organizations have engaged in little market development. Some have provided some liquidity to microfinance organizations, but they have not played an indispensable role in the development of the sector. Other mechanisms for the delivery of donor aid have been more effective in strengthening the best Bolivian microfinance organizations. There appears, therefore, to be no justification for various apex organizations planned for the future. These mechanisms may actually discourage deposit mobilization and if they would disburse funds to un-sustainable microfinance organizations, they may create an unfair playing field. This paper examines the role of apex organizations in the development of microfinance in Bolivia in two sections. The first one discusses demand and supply in the market for microfinance, the regulatory framework for the sector, and the nature of constraints on sustainable microfinance in this country. The second one evaluates the poor performance of a number of public-sector apex mechanisms and the predicament of one non-government apex organization. It also discusses options for the future.

Financial Inclusion In Latin America and the Caribbean: Data and Trends

This report takes a look at financial inclusion, a complex issue, difficult to analyze because of the diverse perspectives that have to be taken into account to understand and measure it. There is no consensus on the definition of financial inclusion. There are three features that are usually considered: access, use, and quality of financial services. These features are closely related to the level of development of each country's overall financial system and any existing market gap.This information is critical to identify the advances and challenges of financial inclusion, as well as for the design of efficient and effective public policies. This report presents, for the first time, this information utilizing previously under-utilized data on financial inclusion, including those services mostly used by low-income populations or other groups experiencing a financing gap

Financial Inclusion in Latin America: Data and Trends

Financial inclusion is a complex issue, difficult to analyze because of the diverse perspectives that have to be taken into account to understand and measure it. Although there is no consensus on the definition of financial inclusion, there are three features that are usually considered: access, use, and quality of financial services. These features are closely related to the level of development of each country's overall financial system and any existing market gap.This information is critical to identify the advances and challenges of financial inclusion, as well as for the design of efficient and effective public policies. There are multiple sources of information of financial inclusion, often developed following different approaches.However, no single source allows a comparison using existing and somewhat abundant domestic data on the structure and level of coverage of financial services (credit, savings, micro-insurance and remittances), including those services mostly used by low-income populations or any other group experiencing a financing gap. This report presents, for the first time, this information on financial inclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean based on previously under-utilized data

BANCOSOL: THE CHALLENGE OF GROWTH FOR MICROFINANCE ORGANIZATIONS

This paper focuses on the difficulties inherent in the prudent management of growth of microfinance organizations and on potential limits to the increased efficiency, profitability, and sustainability expected from growth and large size. The paper addresses both positive and negative implications of rapid growth for microfinance organizations. The experience of BancoSol in Bolivia is used to illustrate these questions. Building upon the successful experience of PRODEM, BancoSol was chartered as a private commercial bank in 1992. The paper discusses the intangible assets inherited from PRODEM that gave BancoSol a head start and the additional advantages that resulted from formalization as a bank, in particular from the authorization to mobilize deposits. BancoSol shows outstanding success in terms of breadth, depth, and quality of outreach and in terms of sustainability. It is the microfinance organization with the largest number of clients in Latin America and it reaches poor clients who could never expect to gain access to conventional financial institutions. The paper discusses the incentive structure associated with a lending technology that has resulted in low loan arrears and the cost- effective supply of small loans. Success is explained by a strong concern with financial viability, development of a lending technology appropriate for the market niche, a long learning period, and upgrading into a formal intermediary. As it grew, BancoSol had to face a reduction of revenues as a proportion of productive assets and an increase in the average cost of funds, which combined reduced its operating margin by 13 percentage points. This challenge was fully met by reducing operating expenses as a proportion of productive assets. While growth of PRODEM had been mostly constrained by too rigid access to donor funds, growth of BancoSol has been constrained by threats on asset quality and by diminishing marginal economies of size. Portfolio efficiency has grown steadily. This growth has been the net outcome, however, of reductions in transactions efficiency and of increases in average loan size after transformation into BancoSol. The paper explores the sources of increases in average loan size and it concludes that mission drift has not occurred at BancoSol, which continues to focus on small loans to microentrepreneurs. The evolution in transactions efficiency is related, in turn, to sources of extensive (installed capacity) and intensive (productivity) growth. Extensive growth has been rapid at BancoSol and it tends to dampen productivity increases. Finally, the paper reviews the pressures from growth on the original informal culture of the organization and the gradual establishment of more formal structures.Agricultural Finance,

MICROCREDIT AND THE POOREST OF THE POOR: THEORY AND EVIDENCE FROM BOLIVIA

We construct a theoretical framework that puts the social worth of a microfinance organization (MFO) in terms of the depth, worth to users, cost to users, breadth, length, and scope of its output. We then analyze evidence of depth of outreach for five MFOs in Bolivia. Most of the poor households reached by the MFOs were near the poverty line�they were the richest of the poor. Group lenders had more depth of outreach than individual lenders. The urban poorest were more likely to be borrowers, but rural borrowers were more likely to be among the poorest.Financial Economics, Food Security and Poverty,

Microfinance in Latin America and the Caribbean: 2008 Data Update

This note summarizes the results of a recently completed IDB survey of microfinance in the region. The survey includes information on microfinance activities in 25 countries as well as an initial review of effective interest rates charged to microfinance clients.Microbusinesses & Microfinance, Financial Sector

Microfinance Market Niches and Client Profiles in Bolivia

This paper presents and interprets descriptive statistics generated from data obtained in a survey of clients of five microfinance organizations believed to be among the best in Bolivia. These lenders represent different combinations of organizational design, lending technology, and market area of operations. Two are regulated financial intermediaries and three are NGOs. Two operate in rural areas (PRODEM and Sartawi) and three operate in urban areas (BancoSol, FIE, and Caja Los Andes). Two offer individual loans and three grant loans through joint liability groups. The paper discusses household-enterprise profiles of a sample of 622 clients and identifies terms and conditions of loan contracts with these organizations to evaluate the depth and quality of their outreach.Marketing,segmentation,Bolivia,competition,microfinance

MICROFINANCE MARKET NICHES AND CLIENT PROFILES IN BOLIVIA

This paper presents and interprets descriptive statistics generated from data obtained in a survey of clients of five microfinance organizations believed to be among the best in Bolivia. These lenders represent different combinations of organizational design, lending technology, and market area of operations. Two are regulated financial intermediaries and three are NGOs. Two operate in rural areas (PRODEM and Sartawi) and three operate in urban areas (BancoSol, FIE, and Caja Los Andes). Two offer individual loans and three grant loans through joint liability groups. The paper discusses household-enterprise profiles of a sample of 622 clients and identifies terms and conditions of loan contracts with these organizations to evaluate the depth and quality of their outreach. The interpretation seeks to establish connections between key characteristics of the clients and features of the lending technologies that lead to the matching of classes of borrowers with particular organizations and that influence the choice of market niches. Data on loan sizes suggest the existence of different but broadly overlapping market niches associated with three tiers of clients. The sharpest distinction is between urban and rural clients. The matching between clients and organizations also reflects a weak but positive correlation between levels of poverty and loan sizes. According to an index of basic needs fulfillment of their clients, these organizations can be ranked as: FIE and Caja Los Andes (first tier), BancoSol (second tier), and PRODEM and Sartawi (third tier). The same ranking is obtained when clients are ordered according to loan size, the ratio of loan size to the value of sales, and the value of monthly sales. The three tiers of clients are associated with different socio-economic features of their household-enterprises: sex, education, household size, access to electricity, water supplies, and sewage facilities, employment-generating capacity of the enterprise, informality and separation of household and enterprise, occupations and the like. The development of lending technologies that do not rely on standard financial statements and collateralizable assets is a formidable innovation that explains the outreach and sustainability of these organizations. Differences in the guarantees required for loans dominate distinctions in lending technology. Trade-offs between loan size, interest rates, and guarantee requirements attract different subsets of the clientele. Joint liability seems to be appropriate for very poor people, but group borrowers eventually outgrow this relationship. Caja Los Andes and FIE have shown that it is possible to supply individual loans to poor people and be profitable. Most clients are satisfied with the services received. The lowest satisfaction concerns loan sizes and loan-size rationing may be widespread. At least in urban areas, increasing competition will force these organizations to improve their services and adjust loan sizes. All of these organizations are expanding the frontier of microfinance by developing lending technologies for a much poorer clientele than is reached by collateral-based lenders. This is a formidable achievement.Financial Economics,