Microbanks serve micro-enterprises and poor people with financial services. This study examines how various aspects of international influence affect microbanks' financial and social performance. Grounded in agency theory and resource-based theory, we argue that there are multiple ways that the...

Microfinance – the provision of financial services to the poor – is high on the public agenda. We discuss and evaluate three myths regarding microfinance based on new data from rated microfinance institutions (MFIs). The first myth is that an efficient MFI needs to be shareholder owned; second...

The microfinance industry carries every sign of an innovation in its take-off phase. The various aspects of the microfinance innovation were developed in the 1980's, twenty years later the industry experiences a phenomenal growth rate, and it has diffused to most developing countries in the...

We investigate the microbank's choice of lending methodology with particular emphasis on group and individual loans. The repayment hypothesis says that the group loan is chosen since borrowers repay under a group loan scheme. The dual objectives hypothesis investigates the choice when the...