The purpose of the paper is to present a more granular view of such projects through the in-depth focus on a limited number of case studies, with a view to understanding what factors in the design of such lending have helped achieve objectives of expanded access, and what forms of interventions...

This paper is organized as follows: Chapter 1 Introduction. Chapter 2 investigates the extent to which the supply of banking services has increased or diminished over time, and also analyzes factors underlying the spatial distribution of banking services, and the relative roles of public and...

This paper explores the extent to which formal, regulated financial institutions such as banks have been able to partner with "correspondents"- commercial entities whose primary objective and business is other than the provision of financial services. The paper illustrates the case of Brazil,...

Enterprise Size, Financing Patterns, and Credit Constraints in Brazil investigates the importance of firm size with respect to accessing credit. The principal findings are that size strongly affects access to credit compared to firm performance, and other factors, such as management education,...

This study evaluated present levels of access to financial services in Brazil and government policies that have had an impact on access. Based on these findings, the study explored options for increasing future access to financial services in Brazil. The first section of this summary highlights...