Rating assessments of microfinance institutions are claimed to measure a combination of creditworthiness, trustworthiness and excellence in microfinance. Using a global dataset covering reports from 324 microfinance institutions, this study suggests that these ratings are mainly driven by size,...

This paper studies the relationship between a microfinance institution (MFI) and its credit officers when the latter are biased against a subgroup of the clientele. Using survey data from Uganda, we provide evidence that credit officers are more biased against disabled borrowers than other...

Good corporate governance can improve firm performance and help assure long-term firm survival. Most providers of microfinance struggle to become financially self-sufficient and to achieve their social objectives of servicing with quality the poorest clientele possible. The issue of corporate...

In this study we show that Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) with more powerful CEOs have higher performance variability. A powerful CEO is defined as one that also chairs the board of directors. CEO power is reflected in higher performance variability if CEOs have more latitude of action, i.e....

This article examines the impact of microfinance ‘plus' (i.e. coordinated combination of financial and nonfinancial services) on the performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs). Using a global data set of MFIs in 77 countries, we find that the provision of nonfinancial services does not...

This paper studies recent research efforts in the field of microfinance. Two questions guide the study: What is the agenda of recent research efforts? And, for who is the research relevant? As for the agenda the quot;yin and yangquot; of microfinance; impact and sustainability, continue to...

This article reports from a church-based savings and credit group's project called Tuinuane, in Kenya. The project builds upon the Worth programme of PACT, but has added some interesting and innovative features allowing country-wide outreach. First, it utilizes a church institution; second, it...

Policy advocates argue the case for the transformation of non-government Microfinance Organizations (MFOs) into shareholder owned firms. The argument is that this will bring about superior performance. This paper investigates whether the superiority of shareholder owned MFOs is empirically...

In countries with weak institutions board governance becomes more important. This study uses a unique dataset from listed Sub-Saharan African companies to examine the relationship between ownership composition and board compensation. It further analyses the association between board compensation...

Prior research has identified five barriers hindering disabled persons' access to microcredit: exclusion by staff; exclusion by non-disabled members of credit groups; self-exclusion; exclusion by credit design; and exclusion by the disability itself. This study applies survey data to examine which...