text: Center for Financial Inclusion Publication 12 Opportunities and Obstacles to Financial Inclusion Opportunities and Obstacles to Financial Inclusion Survey Report Anita Gardeva Elisabeth Rhyne July 2011 Contents Preface: A Survey to Provoke Dialogue on Financial Inclusion 1 Introduction: Participants Speak About Financial Inclusion and the Provider-Client Gap 5 1. The Parts and the Whole of Financial Inclusion 6 2. Easier Said Than Done. The Seven-Point Action Agenda 7 3. About the Survey and This Report 7 Part I. Main Messages in the Top Ten Rankings 9 1. Financial Inclusion Requires Educated Clients 9 2. If We Want to Meet Clients' Needs, We Need to Understand Them 10 3. Mobile Banking and Agent Banking Promise Dramatic Breakthroughs in Cost and Reach 11 4. Building Capable Institutions Never Goes Out of Style (It's the Perennial Priority) 12 5. We Can't Put Off Action on Credit Bureaus Any Longer 13 6. Client Protection Is One Response to Crises in Microfinance. Are There Others? 14 7. Here's an Industry That Actually Wants More (and Better) Regulation 15 8. Funding and Transformation Aren't as Pressing as They Used to Be (and Other Mid-Ranked Items) 17 9. Thumbs Down to Direct Government Interventions 17 Part II. What You Think Depends on Where You Sit – Responses by Stakeholder 19 1. Financial Service Providers Look on the Practical Side 20 2. Investors See the World in Terms of Risk 21 3. Support Organizations Keep the Social Mission in Mind 23 4. A Note on Regulators and Donors 24 Part III. Similar Opportunities, Different Obstacles – Responses by Region 25 1. Africa: Will Mobile Banking Leapfrog Infrastructure Challenges? 25 2. Asia: A Medley of Distinct Microfinance Markets 26 3. Latin America and the Caribbean: Sub-Regions Face Different Realities 27 4. Other Regions: Middle East and North Africa; Eastern Europe and Central Asia 31 Appendixes I. The Survey Items and Their Definitions 33 II. The Survey and Who Took It 35 III. Results from the 'Top Three' Question 38 IV. Results by Stakeholder Group 39 V. Results by Region 41 Tables Table 1. Survey Results: Overall Rankings 4 Table 2. Survey Results: Opportunities by Stakeholder Group 19 Table 3. Survey Results: Obstacles by Stakeholder Group 20 Table 4. Survey Results: Africa 25 Table 5. Survey Results: Asia 26 Table 6. Survey Results: India 28 Table 7. Survey Results: Latin America 29 Table 8. Survey Results: Mexico 31 Appendix Table 1. Definitions: Opportunities 33 Appendix Table 2. Definitions: Obstacles 34 Appendix Table 3. Survey Results: Responses to 'Top Three' Question 38 Figures Appendix Figure 1. Respondents by Industry 35 Appendix Figure 2. Respondents by Region 36 Appendix Figure 3. Survey Results: Opportunities by Stakeholder 39 Appendix Figure 4. Survey Results: Obstacles by Stakeholder 40 Appendix Figure 5. Survey Results: Opportunities in Africa 41 Appendix Figure 6. Survey Results: Obstacles in Africa 42 Appendix Figure 7. Survey Results: Opportunities in Asia 43 Appendix Figure 8. Survey Results: Obstacles in Asia 44 Appendix Figure 9. Survey Results: Opportunities in Latin America 45 Appendix Figure 10. Survey Results: Obstacles in Latin America 46 Opportunities and Obstacles to Financial Inclusion SURVEY REPORT Preface: A Survey to Provoke Dialogue on Financial Inclusion Financial inclusion has gained growing attention in development circles. Policymakers and central bankers from around the world gather in forums such as the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) and the G-20's Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion to discuss how to build more financially inclusive economic sys- tems. Meanwhile, the microfinance industry is re-examining its role. Participants in the industry recognize the importance of moving beyond credit to an evolved vision of financial inclusion that promotes access to a range of services. At the same time, developments in Andhra Pradesh and other industry hot spots prompt the industry to revisit its purpose and methods. A Vision for Full Financial Inclusion Through its Financial Inclusion 2020 project the Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI) offers a comprehensive vision of the components needed to make full financial inclusion a reality: Full financial inclusion is a state in which all people who can use them have access to a suite of quality financial services, provided at affordable prices, in a convenient manner, and with dignity for the clients. Financial services are delivered by a range of providers, most of them private, and reach everyone who can use them, including disabled, poor, and rural populations. The survey is intended to provoke dialogue about what financial inclusion is and how to achieve it. It identifies the various pieces needed to complete the puzzle, in the confidence that those working toward financial inclu- sion can together take actions that will substantially reduce financial exclusion by the year 2020. The Industry Voice AFI, a member-based organization bringing together regulators from about 80 countries in the global South, published a survey in 2010 which asked its members to discuss the trends and challenges in financial inclu- sion.1 The results were interesting and valuable, and they inspired us to find out what providers might say about these same issues. We were also influenced by "Microfinance Banana Skins", which showed how rankings could create a focal point for dialogue.2 This survey gauges the views of 301 industry participants from around the world. Respondents are financial service providers, investors, and members of support organizations, with a strong voice from the microfinance sector. The survey is not rigorously scientific. However, the rankings, together with written comments from respondents, pro- vide a deeply illuminating view of the thinking that prevails in the industry. The results should be seen as indicative, rather than conclusive, as is consistent with the survey's primary aim to spark discussion and debate. Acknowledgements The authors sincerely thank every person who completed the survey (and the few who attempted but were sty- mied by technology). We appreciate the valuable insights for interpreting results from our review committee, 1. Alliance for Financial Inclusion, "The 2010 AFI Survey Report on Financial Inclusion Policy in Developing Countries," 2010, www. afi-global.org. 2. David Lascelles and Sam Mendelson, "Microfinance Banana Skins 2011: Losing its Fairy Dust," The CSFI Survey of Microfinance Risk, The Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation, February 2011. SURVEY REPORT Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International 1 who were kind to volunteer their time, and who are not responsible for any shortcomings: Philip Brown, Alfred Hannig, Kate Lauer, Marten Leijon and Daniel Rozas. Production support from Jonathan Pattee and Carol Sie- gel was essential for bringing the results to you. Finally, thanks to the generous financial support of ACCION International and Credit Suisse, the Center for Financial Inclusion's founding sponsors, for making the research possible, and to Citi Foundation for supporting the roundtables and presentations that will take the survey's mes- sages forward. 2 Opportunities and Obstacles to Financial Inclusion SURVEY REPORT Table 1. Survey Results: Overall Rankings OPPORTunITY ObSTACle 1 Financial education (66) 1 Limited financial literacy (57) 2 Expanding the range of products (65) 2 Limited institutional capacity among MFIs (54) 3 Credit bureaus (60) 3 Microfinance's single-product approach (52) 3 Mobile (phone) banking (60) 4 Limited understanding of client needs (52) 5 Client protection regulation (59) 5 Political interference (51) 6 Capacity building for microfinance institutions (55) 6 Lack of credit bureaus (48) 7 Full-inclusion financial institutions (51) 7 Product cost-structures (48) 8 Improved regulation and supervision of 8 Inadequate regulatory framework for MFIs (46) microfinance (48) 9 Insufficient infrastructure (44) 9 Correspondent/Agent banking (47) 10 Inadequate client protection (42) 10 Improved demand-side information (38) 11 Poor business practices (41) 11 Strengthening financial infrastructure for electronic 12 Costs of building/operating branches (39) (non-cash) transactions (35) 13 Weak legal infrastructure (32) 12 Reaching out to new client groups (34) 13 Lack of network cooperation (32) 13 Competition (32) 15 Limited know-how of mainstream providers (28) 13 Prudential regulation and supervision (in general) (32) 15 Appropriate funding (28) 15 National identification documentation (31) 17 Unsustainable growth (28) 15 Mobile (branch) banking (31) 18 Commercially oriented entrants (27) 17 Village savings and loan associations/self-help 19 Non-business-friendly environment (27) groups (31) 20 Regulation that lags technology (25) 17 Expansion and improvement of microfinance 21 Financial regulatory priorities (24) associations (31) 21 Lack of demographic information on the 19 Microfinance transformation (27) excluded (24) 20 Building investor markets (24) 23 Impact of financial inclusion (23) 21 Commercial bank downscaling (22) 24 Documentation requirements (22) 22 Collateral and secured transactions reform (20) 25 Lack of interest by providers and policymakers (22) 23 Self-regulation (18) 26 Weak industry voice (20) 24 Matched savings and/or cash transfer schemes (17) 27 Public mistrust of financial institutions (19) 25 Non-traditional providers (15) 28 Client risk (17) 26 Linking government transfers to deposit accounts (14) 29 Negative press image (17) 26 Product bundling and cross-selling (14) 30 Transient, migrant, displaced populations (10) 28 Mandates to provide no-frills bank accounts (12) 29 State bank reform (9) 30 Directed credit/service mandates (4) Note: n = 301. Numbers in parentheses indicate the percentage of respondents placing an item in their top ten. 4 Opportunities and Obstacles to Financial Inclusion SURVEY REPORT Introduction: Participants Speak About Financial Inclusion and the Provider-Client Gap This survey reveals participants in the microfinance industry seeking to come to terms with potentially seismic changes. Responses illustrate the change and uncertainty in microfinance today, which arise largely from two trends that are unsettling conventional wisdom in the sector. • First, as country after country experiences crises of client over-indebtedness, microfinance institutions are facing unprecedented criticism (including self-criticism). The anti-microfinance actions of the state government in Andhra Pradesh have shaken the whole Indian microfinance sector, with aftershocks felt throughout the global industry. • At the same time, somewhat ironically, financial inclusion is now fashionable. The G-20 has initiated fi- nancial inclusion commitments. Central banks and finance ministries throughout the developing world are putting national financial inclusion policies in place. As a result of the first trend, industry players are questioning prior assumptions about the laser focus on growth and credit that has dominated microfinance. As a result of the second, they are, perhaps for the first time, at- tempting to define financial inclusion and how it relates to microfinance. In searching for the way forward, the 301 survey participants represented here reached back towards their start- ing point – clients. To summarize the survey's main message, we are tempted to revise Bill Clinton's famous campaign slogan and say, "It's the clients, stupid." A return to clients is reflected in several of the top opportunities and obstacles identified in the survey, starting with the items that convincingly topped the chart for both opportunities and obstacles: financial education/lack of financial literacy (Table 1). "The past ten years' emphasis on MFI institutional profit and success has been great for scaling microfinance but has also corresponded with a lack of attention to client needs and measurable client benefits beyond just repeat business," writes Tom Coleman, an investor. A reading of the top rankings and many survey comments creates the following narrative: For too long, mi- crofinance has been over-focused on a single credit product (obstacle 3). This has placed the industry at risk of political interference (obstacle 5). We must understand the needs of the clients (obstacle 4 and opportunity 10), so that we can expand the product range (opportunity 2), and we need to ensure that clients receive education (opportunity 1) so they have the financial literacy (obstacle 1) to use financial services safely and benefit from them. At the same time, participants are aware that they do not necessarily know how to meet the needs of clients, ranking capacity building for microfinance institutions as the 2nd obstacle and 6th opportunity. The recent events in the sector have revealed a chasm between providers and clients. Only a few years ago, microfinance practitioners were sure that they met the needs of clients. Today, however, they recognize that they were too focused on their own operations and what they knew how to provide, and not focused enough on what actually benefitted clients. They perceive a gap they are not sure how to cross. This theme, the gap between providers and clients, reappears in multiple places throughout the survey results. It is poignantly cap- tured in this comment from Mercedes Canalda, the executive vice president of ADOPEM, a microfinance bank in the Dominican Republic: "One often does not know how to address the specific needs of the clients at the stage and moment of their lives."1 1. Comment translated from Spanish. SURVEY REPORT Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International 5 1. The Parts and the Whole of Financial clusion vision that addresses both complete exclu- Inclusion sion and under-inclusion in which people receive limited or inadequate services. Given the ubiquity of The Center for Financial Inclusion defines financial informal and semi-formal services, few people have inclusion as a state in which all people who can use zero financial services, but many use services that them have access to a full suite of quality financial are risky, inconvenient, costly, and at times harmful. services, provided at affordable prices, in a conve- Messages about quality came through clearly in the nient manner, and with dignity for the clients. It adds rankings, suggesting that the pursuit of financial in- that these services are provided by a range of institu- clusion must include a strong focus not only on num- tions, mostly private. And, reflecting the results of bers reached, but also on the range of services pro- this survey, it hereby expands its definition to note vided (Opportunities 2 and 7, Obstacle 3), the extent that full inclusion requires the clients of these ser- to which they respond to client needs (Opportunty vices to be financially literate. 10, Obstacle 4), and clients' ability to make good use of the services through their own financial capabili- Such a definition may seem fairly obvious and non- ties (Opportunity 1 and Obstacle 1). Moreover, the controversial, but the CFI emphasizes the definition responses indicated that quality, broadly defined, because the term "financial inclusion" is often used is closely intertwined with reaching new clients. If to refer to specific pieces of the puzzle as if they quality issues are adequately addressed, they will at- were synonymous with the whole. The survey asks tract many more people to use financial services. respondents to envision what we might wish to see if full inclusion was achieved in this decade. That The pillars of financial inclusion noted above also vision rests on five pillars: 1) a full product suite, 2) draw attention to the fact that the structure of the provided with quality, 3) reaching all who can use the marketplace—who provides—will have an enor- services, 4) in a diverse, competitive marketplace, 5) mous effect on how well clients are served. Survey to an informed clientele. If one keeps all five pil- respondents support regulation that creates an order- lars in mind as the end goal, it may be easier to see ly marketplace, particularly one that protects clients that success in one area, such as rapid expansion of a (Opportunity 5) and creates space for smaller, spe- product, may only produce the social and economic cialized institutions that serve the poor (Opportunity benefits desired if accompanied by progress in the 8). They do not favor direct government interven- other areas. tions in the market, ranking such items at the very bottom of the list (see Part I, Section 9). Reflecting on each of these pillars draws attention to the gaps that exist on both the quantity side (exclud- The total financial inclusion challenge is too daunting ed clients) and the quality side (existing clients with to tackle all at once. However, the vision of full in- poor services). On quantity, survey responses were clusion with its pillars helps to identify the trade-offs surprisingly restrained about reaching new client involved in making the inevitable choices. Nicole groups, ranking it only 12th as an opportunity (Ta- Pasricha, writing from a support organization, points ble 1). Comments reveal a diversity of priorities for out: reaching out. The still-excluded groups mentioned include "youth, women, people in hard to access Classifying the challenges in order of priority rural areas," "the top half of the 1.4 billion people also depends on our priorities. If we want ev- in the Bottom Billion," the poorest, and people who ery low income person to have a simple bank are too expensive to reach currently. One senses just account, maybe we would focus on removing a hint that perhaps respondents are lukewarm about barriers to agent use and account opening plus new groups because they lack business models for focus on literacy. But if we are interested in reaching them successfully. expanding SME finance to see real economic growth in a country, maybe we need to look On quality, respondents reinforced the client needs at credit bureaus and other operating environ- theme. They appeared to endorse a full financial in- ment challenges. Maybe there is a parallel with 6 Opportunities and Obstacles to Financial Inclusion SURVEY REPORT health care: do we want everyone to be able to assists the system as a whole to work smoothly and get a check up? Or should we invest in the lat- to the ultimate benefit of clients. est specialized cancer treatments? The next section of this report interprets the mes- Her comment also suggests a variety of expectations sages associated with each of these items, unpacking for ultimate benefits that motivate the promotion of the responses with insights from written comments. financial inclusion. How do we address the prolifera- This, however, is only a beginning. The intent is that tion of possibilities? these messages form the basis for further dialogue. The rankings raise more questions than they answer, 2. easier Said Than Done. The Seven-Point so there is much to discuss: Action Agenda • Why are financial education and literacy ranked The CFI conducted this survey seeking to tame the so high by all stakeholders? Who is responsible many-headed beast of financial inclusion. We had for educating clients? How does literacy affect difficulty narrowing the lists of opportunities and what services clients use? obstacles to a mere 30 each. We hoped that the wis- • Why does the industry perceive limited under- dom of crowds would bring order to the many pos- standing of clients as such an important obstacle? sibilities. Does this genuinely reflect lack of information or is it a lack of models to address client needs? With the survey results, we are delighted to find that What research would increase understanding? the top-ranked opportunities and their accompany- • What stands in the way of a broader product ing obstacles outline a holistic action agenda (Table range? Is information about clients the missing 1). In the list below, the top ten items have been re- piece or is it provider cost? Or perhaps the regu- combined slightly to reduce overlap. The result is a latory framework? How does competition play a seven-point agenda that addresses each of the main role in expanding/improving product range? arenas for action to achieve full financial inclusion • Can credit bureaus serve low-income and new within a decade. It's a recipe with a balanced blend clients? Why is there not more action to solve of seven key ingredients: the challenges of setting up credit bureaus? Which stakeholders can take the lead? 1. Financial education • Can credit bureaus combined with client protec- 2. Product range, informed by understanding client tion prevent future crises of over-indebtedness? needs • Can agent banking and mobile banking move 3. Technology-enhanced delivery channels beyond their current limited geographies? Are 4. Credit bureaus these breakthroughs rivals or enablers for small- 5. Client protection er financial service providers like MFIs? 6. Institutional capacity building • How has the capacity-building agenda changed 7. A sound regulatory framework to address current challenges? As noted at the outset of the report, the agenda be- Further dialogue will also sharpen specific messages gins with clients—specifically, their understanding for regulators, investors, and providers, as discussed of financial services—and a product offer informed in Part II of this report, and for specific regions, as by what they want. It then moves to the means of de- shown in Part III. livery—through exciting new channels and with the continued development of provider institutions. Two 3. About the Survey and This Report items that might not have been present in the past reflect the recent crisis experience of microfinance— To conduct this survey, the Center for Financial credit bureaus and client protection. Together with Inclusion reached out to contacts in the microfi- the final item, sound regulation, these three items nance and financial inclusion sectors and presented address the need for an enabling environment that them with two lists—an opportunities list and an SURVEY REPORT Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International 7 obstacles list—each containing 30 items. The lists An important facet of the survey is how it reveals were derived from internal brainstorming by the staff differences of view among respondents in different of CFI's Financial Inclusion 2020 project about the industry segments (Part II) and countries (Part III). key building blocks needed to achieve the vision of Three main industry groups answered the survey: financial inclusion, and then vetted by a number of regulated and non-regulated financial services pro- experts. In the process, some items were added, oth- viders (26 percent), investors (16 percent), and sup- ers removed, and some consolidated. We learned that port organizations (40 percent, including networks, there is no such thing as a perfect list for a topic as consultants, technical assistance providers, etc.). The complex as financial inclusion. However, the items remaining 18 percent include donors, academics, presented in the survey capture the majority of ele- regulators, and others, with an insufficient number of ments appearing in current discussions of inclusion, responses in any one group to treat separately (see although phrasing and the way individual items were Appendix Figure 1). Regionally, the largest group combined undoubtedly affect results. The survey was was from the global North (Western Europe, the offered in English, Spanish, and French and was open United States and Canada), 43 percent of all respon- from late January through early March, 2011. There dents. The remaining 57 percent of respondents were were 301 complete responses, which form the basis widely dispersed among Latin America (23 percent), for the results presented here (see Appendix II for South and East Asia (14 percent), Africa (12 percent) more information). and a few each from the Middle East, Eastern Eu- rope, and Central Asia (see Appendix Figure 2). Parts To complete the survey, respondents selected the ten II and III explore the differences among these groups. items in each list that they believed to be the most It is important to note that the voices of support or- important opportunities or obstacles to achieving ganizations and of people from the most-developed full financial inclusion. To obtain the overall rank- countries substantially influence the overall rankings ings presented in Table 1, we tallied the number of presented in Table 1 and Part I. As you will see, how- people who included a given item in their top ten. ever, while there are some distinctive preoccupations Thus, 199 people placed financial education in the by group and region, there are also many strong areas top ten (66 percent of all respondents), making fi- of agreement across the entire industry. nancial education the 1st ranked opportunity.2 This report is intended to be used as a reference. The next section (Part I) of this report examines Readers are invited to absorb the main messages in these overall results, proceeding generally from the Part I and then feel free to skip to specific topics or highest- to lowest-ranked opportunities (and their geographic areas of interest. Parts II and III are each accompanying obstacles). Because many items are written as stand-alone mini-reports. Please consult interconnected, it is not necessary to have separate the Appendixes for complete definitions of survey discussions of all 60 items. The discussions in Part I items, expanded results tables, and further detail on touch on nearly all of the items, even if only briefly. survey methodology and respondents. 2. The survey also asked respondents to select their top three items from their personal top ten list. These results did not differ substantially from the top ten rankings, and therefore the discus- sion in this paper is largely focused on top ten rankings, except where noted. Top three results are presented in Appendix Table 3. 8 Opportunities and Obstacles to Financial Inclusion SURVEY REPORT Part I. Main Messages in the Top Ten Rankings 1. Financial Inclusion Requires educated Clients Financial education and financial literacy unequivocally top the charts in this sur- vey. As Lindsay Gleason of ACCION writes, "Financial education is one of the OPPORTunTIeS best ways to empower the working poor (and, frankly, all of us) to take control 1. Financial Education over their financial lives, which has a ripple effect to all areas of their lives." ObSTACleS 1. Financial Literacy Respondents view financial literacy as an enabling factor that unlocks other key di- mensions of financial inclusion: • Client protection: "Options without education are dangerous and create opportunities to take advantage of the poor. Pushing clients into committing to something they don't know enough about reinforces the idea that financial institutions cannot be trusted," continues Gleason. • Prevention of over-indebtedness: "Credit bureaus and other mechanisms without financial literacy do not work. Clients will go to over-indebtedness via approaching informal financial service providers," says Ngeth Chou, a regulated financial service provider from Cambodia. • New product development: "Financial education is very important for expanding the range of products, and so that the use of the products is well understood by the final client," says José Luís Aguela, from a support organization in Peru.3 • Reaching poorer clients: "In countries like ours with very low quality schools it is important to raise the consciousness of the people regarding good management of money, including savings, credit, income management, etc.," writes Teresa Rivarola de Vellila, a Paraguayan provider.4 People may point to financial education as a ready solution to other problems. When providers develop prod- ucts they believe to be valuable but find uptake low, they may seek an explanation in clients' lack of knowl- edge. Marten Leijon of the MIX (and a member of our review committee) cautions that financial education is not a starting point for inclusion, but that if it accompanies business model changes, it "may be a necessary condition to deal with the inherent complexity of the new product/channel systems so that these work in the interest of the client." One reason for its high ranking is that client literacy has global geographic relevance. Respondents were asked to consider their own country or region when answering the survey, and this influenced rankings for items with un- even geographic applicability. Mobile phone and agent banking, for example, are highly ranked in regions where they are taking off, but less in other parts of the world, bringing down their overall rankings. Financial education, one commentator noted, "is important in all country contexts." Financial education was most strongly endorsed in South America: 86 percent of respondents from the region included financial education in their top ten list. The high rankings of financial literacy and education may derive in part from survey design. Some topics, such as regulation, appear in multiple items in different forms, essentially splitting the votes. But there are no close substitutes for financial education and literacy. We stress-tested these indicators by checking the top three listings, which signal intensity and priority (see Appendix III), and they passed. Financial education leads the top three opportunities list (see Appendix Table 3), and although lack of financial literacy drops to 5th on the obstacles side, the top ranks on that list are very tight. 3. Comment translated from Spanish. 4. Comment translated from Spanish. SURVEY REPORT Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International 9 In considering the action implications of this mes- Over-indebtedness crises, arising as they have from sage, questions arise about how to "do" financial excessively rapid growth of credit, have at last bro- education. Respondents had varying ideas. Sandhya ken the hold of the credit/scale mantra. "Provision of Suresh, a regulated financial service provider from short-term credit is but a small (and on its own un- India, writes, "We have started financial education to stable) step towards financial inclusion," according our clients and have found that it works! Especially to analyst Daniel Rozas (a member of this survey's women have a natural fear when they hear about review committee). 'finance' or financial management, though they are the best financial managers at home. A little knowl- The mandate for change also comes from an entirely edge and tips on savings, asset creation and efficient different direction: new research. Both qualitative utilization of finance will make them wise decision studies like the "Financial Diaries" and randomized makers." Ngeth Chou suggests that "Associations of field experiments direct providers to look beyond MFIs and Banks should join forces to establish and credit and listen more carefully to clients. execute national financial education programs for the public." Another writer proposes financial liter- A sea change in attitudes generated comments like acy campaigns. In short, ideas varied about who can these: "We're just beginning to understand client best provide financial education and how. level needs and cash flows and have not yet done much to turn that information into products that Although many questions remain open, the message serve clients best," says Larry Reed, a microfinance is clear and strong that financial literacy and financial leader. "It is very important to develop new products education must figure in any future plans to achieve based on the needs of local people. This demand is full financial inclusion. different in each context," writes Marieke de Leede, an investor. "Generating a more holistic approach to 2. If We Want to Meet Clients' needs, We meet the poor's financial needs requires far better need to understand Them demand-side information," notes a respondent from a support organization. And finally, "An industry that The message has finally is not responsive to client needs is doomed to fail," OPPORTunITIeS sunk in: low-income says Stewart Kondowe, from a support organization 2. Expanding range of products people need more than in Malawi. 7. Full-inclusion financial credit, and the micro- institutions finance industry must This message came through so often in the com- 10. Improved demand-side listen to clients so it can ments that we are beginning to think of it as the new information respond with more de- microfinance mantra. It is one thing to recognize the mand-driven products. need for a broader product range, however, and quite ObSTACleS Survey respondents another to actually provide new products. Very few 3. Microfinance's single-product ranked expanding the comments evidenced actual movement in this direc- approach product range 2nd as an tion. This is in part because of the serious challenge 4. Limited understanding of client opportunity, along with of altering business models. "Current business mod- needs improved demand-side els are effective at reaching only a narrow market information (10th). They segment among low income people with a single, ranked the microfinance narrowly focused product (microcredit)," writes one single-product approach and limited understanding respondent. of client needs as the 3rd and 4th obstacles. Ingrained patterns are in evidence in this comment The idea of broadening the product range has chal- from an investor in Colombia: lenged the microfinance community for some time, even while most microfinance institutions have con- There is a vicious circle: the rural population tinued apace with the usual business of scaling credit. does not demand financial products and services 10 Opportunities and Obstacles to Financial Inclusion SURVEY REPORT because they don't know about them. Those who 3. Mobile banking and Agent banking should offer them don't know the true needs of Promise Dramatic breakthroughs in Cost the rural population because it is not only mar- and Reach ket research but also an integral investigation that facilitates understanding in their full con- Because of its poten- text the needs, expectations and tendencies of tial for dramatic, rapid OPPORTunITIeS the rural population. And without knowing that, expansion of services, 3. Mobile (phone) banking they don't know what to offer, and continue of- branchless banking is 9. Correspondent/agent banking fering 'more of the same.'5 sometimes talked of as 11. Strengthening financial infrastruc- almost equivalent to fi- ture for electronic transactions A few people mentioned specific new products, such nancial inclusion. One ObSTACleS as international remittance services in the Pacific re- respondent from Thai- 7. Product cost structure gion, deposit-taking services, and Islamic banking land describes mobile products. It may be partly an artifact of the study 12. Costs of building/operating phone banking as the that there are few messages about individual prod- branches key to financial inclu- ucts. An original longer list of possible products sion. While the respon- was consolidated into a single indicator to keep the dents to this survey agree that technology-enhanced length of the list manageable. Certainly a listing of delivery channels represent a major, exciting oppor- individual products would have elicited illuminating tunity, they do not see branchless banking as the only comments. or even the central story in financial inclusion. Another aspect of the product diversification chal- Mobile banking ranked 3rd overall, while agent lenge is the question: "Who provides?" The 7th place banking ranked 9th. As expected, the enthusiasm for ranking of full inclusion financial institutions sug- mobile banking was strongest in Africa, where the gests the importance of providers that offer a full rapid uptake of M-Pesa by millions of Kenyans has array of services, including basic savings, credit dazzled industry watchers. Latin Americans were and payments services – and possibly some form of more excited about agent banking, an innovation that insurance. Commercial banks, rural banks, and spe- originated in Brazil and, with regulatory support, is cialized microfinance banks can offer such an array. spreading throughout the region. However, relatively few microfinance institutions are truly full-service providers, and many of the fast- These new transaction channels provide unprec- spreading technology-enhanced innovations are led edented power to reach new customers. "Research by retailers and telecoms companies. has already demonstrated the capacity of mobile banking to reach more previously unbanked and At least one respondent prefers partnerships to the low-income people than the largest MFI in the coun- full-service provider model: "Rather than having one try in a shorter period of time," writes Anne Hast- service provider bundle a host of products/services, ings, head of the largest MFI in Haiti. Els Boerhof, promotion and strengthening of linkages among sup- an investor, sees phone and agent banking as essen- portive service providers, both at informal and formal tial ways to "achieve scale and penetrate deep into levels, would offer better opportunity to advance fi- new territories." nancial inclusion," writes Maria Teresa Bayombong from a support organization in Tanzania. The low The new channels offer dramatic increases in out- rankings afforded non-traditional service providers reach by solving the critical bottlenecks of costs, (25th) and product bundling and cross-selling (26th), both fixed and variable. Product cost-structures (7th) suggest a lack of clarity about the best providers to and branching costs (12th) were viewed as significant bring product diversity. obstacles, especially by providers. "Agent banking drastically reduces the cost of setting up points of contact with customers, allowing MFIs, banks and 5. Comment translated from Spanish. other providers to reach out into areas where building SURVEY REPORT Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International 11 branches would be too expensive," comments Larry from FINCA Uganda, speaks of the need for telecom Reed. As many respondents noted, high branching and financial services software to synchronize. The costs in rural areas are associated with poor physical absence of such arrangements or difficulty in setting infrastructure – roads, electricity, etc. – that branch- them up is a noteworthy bottleneck, with lack of net- less banking is able to leapfrog. Such infrastructure work cooperation for electronic banking ranking 13th barriers ranked surprisingly high, at 9th on the ob- among obstacles. stacles list. Somewhat surprisingly, these network issues ranked In addition to reducing the bricks and mortar costs higher than regulation that lags technology, which of getting out to new areas, mobile banking can also ranked only 20th. Providers may implicitly be ac- significantly minimize transaction expenses, as one knowledging the efforts of regulators to facilitate respondent points out. Presumably, this refers to new channels. costs on both the provider and client sides, and ap- plies not only to clients in remote locations but even 4. building Capable Institutions never Goes in low-income urban areas. Out of Style (It's the Perennial Priority) Two other technology-enhanced delivery channels The perennial were included in the survey, though they received need to strengthen OPPORTunITIeS less enthusiastic rankings – electronic payments institutions that 6. Capacity building for MFIs through ATMs and POS devices (11th) and mobile provide services ObSTACleS branch banking (15th) in which specially outfitted to low-income 2. Limited institutional capacity vans act as branches on wheels. We thus have a rank- people was the 2nd among MFIs ing of four delivery channel innovations that address ranked obstacle location and transactions costs. All are seen positive- 15. Limited know-how of main- and 6th on the op- ly, but with varying degrees of excitement: mobile stream providers portunity side. phones are first, followed by agent banking, ATMs Comments from and POS devices, and finally, mobile branches. respondents al- luded to three particular areas of institutional weak- An implicit question is why this survey's respon- ness where capacity building is needed: governance, dents did not rank new delivery channels as an even expanding to new products and client groups, and greater opportunity, given the excitement around managing risk. Institutions need help to keep up with them. Answers to this question are only hinted at, the evolving industry. but appear to focus on the extent to which the chan- nels call upon providers to re-structure their business The latest "Banana Skins" report ranked corporate models, and the difficulties this poses for smaller governance as the fourth most important risk facing financial institutions like MFIs. Smaller providers the industry today.6 In this survey, respondents allud- may see themselves being bypassed or relegated to ed to governance several times, even though it was a traditional niche by powerful corporate players. not an item on the list. They highlighted the role of "Most players in different channels that could be governance in ensuring commitment to social objec- used to serve the poor can only imagine expanding tives. "It is crucial to improve corporate governance what they are already doing, and cannot envision the that embraces social consciousness among the board kinds of radical changes in roles and responsibili- of trustees and key management among microfinance ties that new technology makes possible," continues institutions," explains Ruben de Castro de Lara from Reed. Success with these channels also requires pro- SHED Foundation in the Philippines. This view un- viders to form partnerships with different kinds of derlines the general theme running through survey firms: "Achieving full financial inclusion will require responses, that the industry is re-focusing its atten- strategic partnerships among distributors, product tion on its initial social objective. providers, and technology providers," says a respon- dent. Alice Lubwama, a financial services provider 6. Lascelles and Mendelson, "Microfinance Banana Skins 2011" 6. 12 Opportunities and Obstacles to Financial Inclusion SURVEY REPORT Many respondents commented on the technical skills 5. We Can't Put Off Action on Credit bureaus needed within institutions to expand the product of- Any longer fering and reach new client groups. Barclay O'Brien, from a support organization in Australia, comments, O v e r- i n d e b t e d n e s s "Transformation, together with capacity building, crises resulting from OPPORTunITIeS are still key to greater financial inclusion, as they al- market saturation and 3. Credit bureaus low many of the other opportunities to be achieved, rapid growth have fi- 15. National identification e.g. product expansion, greater outreach and use of nally convinced micro- alternate delivery channels." John Muhimbise from ObSTACleS finance industry partic- Uganda links "the issue of skilled manpower to run 6. Lack of credit bureaus ipants of the need for microfinance enterprises" with "the attendant inabil- work on credit bureaus. 28. Client risk ity of the institutions to design products suitable to Until recently, many the various client segments." Providers and the in- were less than enthu- dustry in general are keenly aware of this. siastic. Excuses for ignoring credit bureau develop- ment have included providers' reluctance to let com- New client groups and new products require expand- petitors see client information, confusion about who ed capability to manage information. A respondent should take action to create credit bureaus, and the from a support organization elaborates, "I believe [a] observation that many existing credit bureaus only significant obstacle to financial inclusion is appropri- cover middle-class clients of mainstream banks. ate financial reporting systems for MFIs to combat fraud, and incorporate market and impact research The recent crises are quickly sweeping away any linked to clients, as well as track the history of mul- rationalizations for inaction, as participants in Bo- tiple products at different times in the client's life." livia and South Africa could probably have predict- An investor in Mexico states, "I would have liked ed, having experienced over-indebtedness crises of to include 'Risk Management Training and Systems their own that led to stronger credit bureaus. "Recent Implementation for MFIs' in my top three opportu- developments have also demonstrated that, to main- nities. From my point of view, the lack of technical tain the prudence of the sector, the need for credit skills and IT systems necessary to adequately man- bureaus and credit information is of utmost impor- age financial risk is the single most destabilizing tance," writes Els Boerhof, an investor. Building force in the market." credit bureaus was the 3rd opportunity and the lack of them was the 6th obstacle. Other respondents discussed the importance of in- stitutional capacity for financial soundness of MFIs, As a prerequisite for credit bureaus, national identi- including one from Guatemala who points out that fication documentation was ranked relatively high. insufficient capacity can create operational and cred- At 15th overall, national IDs were a mid-range op- it risks and actual financial losses, pushing investors portunity, probably not higher because they already and funders away. Some, like Joel Mwakitalu from exist in many places. This item was a higher priority Tanzania, believe the industry has made progress on in specific regions including East Africa and South building capacity: "Many providers in poor countries Asia. are professional in microfinance services—there are now formal skills training colleges in microfinance Credit bureaus are viewed not only as a protective in many countries." However, others are frustrated. measure, but also as a way to improve on outreach to "Quick and dirty methods for 'capacity building' poorer clients and to lower prices. "Expanding inclu- should stop—you cannot make a microfinance ex- sion means reaching out to people who are too ex- pert from scratch in two weeks through an on-line pensive or difficult to reach currently. National IDs, course. This mass production of microfinance 'ex- when combined with credit bureaus, will lower the perts' with no clear experience nor understanding cost of assessing risk while at the same time giving needs to be carefully evaluated," writes Geetha Na- an incentive to repay that can replace more expensive garajan from the United States. systems like guarantors," writes Larry Reed. "With SURVEY REPORT Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International 13 a more developed data collection infrastructure such the crisis to the mono-product approach, which in 3rd as credit bureaus, providers can begin to expand to place was the highest ranking of any item strongly lower risk client segments by offering less expensive associated with the crisis. Others identify political credit," according to Tanir Helayel, an investor. interference (5th), inadequate client protection (10th) and poor business practices (11th). Chuck Waterfield, These comments suggest that credit bureaus may en- founder of Microfinance Transparency, sees the prob- able significant business model changes, including lem coming largely from the industry itself. lending based on credit scores. Such models are well- developed in high-income countries, particularly for We have placed far too much emphasis on the consumer lending. It remains to be seen how credit message of a billion people needing credit. We bureau-enhanced lending models will mesh with tra- have pushed and expected massive growth in ditionally high-touch microfinance. There is inherent credit, and most of the incentives are structured to tension between the cost-reduction potential of using push MFIs for reckless growth. We have not lent credit scoring and the message of getting closer to responsibly nor transparently. We are now suf- the client that pervades these survey responses. fering the consequences of reckless growth and reckless lending. If we do not make serious and 6. Client Protection Is One Response to dramatic changes very soon, the efforts to build Crises in Microfinance. Are There Others? an innovative way to serve the poor will be lost. Survey responses and Ahmed Syed Moshin, from the Pakistan Microfi- OPPORTunITIeS many heartfelt com- nance Network, echoes Waterfield's opinion more 3. Credit bureaus ments reveal the micro- bluntly, writing: "Sometimes it is easy to say that 5. Client protection regulation finance industry strug- we work for the poor, but the way we push products 17. Expansion/improvement of gling to identify the down clients' throats and dismiss demand side re- microfinance associations implications of the recent search, it leads to crises like we have recently faced 23. Self-regulation crises in microfinance in globally." Andhra Pradesh, Nicara- ObSTACleS The survey offered a number of crisis-related items gua, Morocco, and Bos- 3. Microfinance's single-product that respondents might have selected, but these were nia (among others). At approach not taken up: unsustainable growth (17th), com- the same time, the rank- 5. Political interference ings reveal that respon- mercially oriented entrants (18th), public mistrust 10. Inadequate client protection dents put these crises of financial institutions (27th), client risk (28th) and 11. Poor business practices in broader perspective negative press image (29th). The latter two were at 17. Unsustainable growth when looking ahead to the very bottom of the obstacle rankings, except in 18. Commercially oriented entrants full financial inclusion. India where the press image rose to the middle of 27. Public mistrust of financial Only one directly crisis- the pack (still surprisingly low, given the incendi- institutions linked item, the mono- ary role of the press in precipitating the backlash 28. Client risk product approach, is in against microfinance in Andhra Pradesh). The low 29. Negative press image the highest-ranking ob- ranking of client risk is surprising because the latest stacles or opportunities. "Microfinance Banana Skins" placed credit risk as the most important risk facing the industry. One sug- The diagnosis of causes and cures is scattered. In part gestion is that naming it "client" rather than "credit" this is because the survey was not about the recent risk in this survey shifted respondents' perception, crises. It asked people to look to the future rather than even though both refer to the risk of borrower non- diagnosing the past. Nevertheless, given the survey's repayment. The low rankings afforded some of these timing, in January/February 2011, it is clear that the items could reflect a lack of a coherent view of how Andhra Pradesh crisis was on many minds. The rank- all the elements worked together to create problems, ing of several of the obstacles in particular offers an but it could also be seen as a sorting out of the rela- implicit diagnostic regarding causes. Some attribute tive importance of causes. 14 Opportunities and Obstacles to Financial Inclusion SURVEY REPORT Taking up the latter idea, the narrative depicted that providers use transparent pricing, avoid client runs like this: The crisis in microfinance resulted over-indebtedness, and treat clients fairly, accord- from an overemphasis in microfinance on cred- ing to one respondent. Ahmed Syed Moshin pro- it (Obstacle 3) coupled with the race for growth poses "Setting up of a Statutory Grievance Redres- (Obstacle 17). Politicians seized on signs of over- sal System (à la NCR in South Africa) will reduce indebtedness (Obstacle 5), and the situation esca- political risk and help in providing the necessary lated into crisis. A number of other factors contrib- infrastructure for sustainable growth in microfi- uted, like weak or absent credit bureaus (Obstacle nance." He was not alone in referring to South Af- 6) and client protections (Obstacle 10), as well as rica's client protection framework as a model for poor business practices (Obstacle 11), especially the rest of the world. by actors with heavy profit orientation (Obstacle 18). However, the press played only an auxiliary Some respondents noted that a regulatory approach role (Obstacle 29), and the clients themselves are alone is not sufficient. "Developing a culture within not to blame (Obstacle 28). a country or organization of embracing and honoring client protection principles is the way to create a more Looking forward, respondents suggest a number of inclusive financial world. Creating strong, client-pro- responses to prevent future crises. The top-line mes- tection centered institutions and programs is the only sages from the survey as a whole—about financial way financial inclusion can really become a reality," education, product diversification, and understand- writes Lindsay Gleason. Kalpana Sankar, from an In- ing clients—may be taken as an implicit response to dian NGO, speaks to the highly sensitive profit-maxi- the crisis. That story says that microfinance must go mization issue: "Sustainability and reasonable profits back to its roots and focus on clients in order to be should be the goal and not profit maximization while rid of the problem. "If we don't focus on the client dealing with poor clients." and ensuring that they are protected and helped the MF industry will eventually be viewed as credit card In the final analysis, as David Baguma, from the mi- companies, i.e., they provide a huge amount of small crofinance association in Uganda, summarizes: "Cli- loans which creates a nice convenience, but there is ent protection focuses on the end users – the clients, no illusion of helping people," writes Paul Luchten- the very reason MF services began." burg, from a support organization in Cambodia (and a member of the Smart Campaign Steering Com- 7. Here's an Industry That Actually Wants mittee). The main explicit actions to prevent future More (and better) Regulation crises are credit bureaus (3rd) and client protection regulation (5th). It is somewhat difficult to assess the priority given to regulation because several items addressed different Looking more closely at client protection, it is inter- aspects of regulation. Most regulation items scored esting to note that client protection regulation (5th) high, but not at the top of the lists. Client protection ranked higher as an opportunity than inadequate cli- regulation was the highest of the group, at 5th, while ent protection and poor business practices ranked as regulatory frameworks for providers to the poor problems (10th and 11th). Moreover, there was a wide came in at 8th on both the opportunity and obstacle difference of views by industry segment, with sup- sides. General prudential regulation ranked 13th. port organizations and investors being much more concerned about client protection than providers. To some degree, the various regulatory items split the These differences are discussed in more detail in votes, making it appear that regulation is a lower pri- Part II. ority. In cases like this, we consult the top three lists, and find that on the obstacles side, lack of regulatory It is also significant that respondents generally fa- frameworks for MFIs and other providers to the poor, vored a regulatory approach, while ranking self-reg- 8th on the top ten obstacles, was 4th on the top three ulation only 23rd and stronger associations as 17th. list, signifying some intensity of opinion. However, the Among the tasks charged to regulators are ensuring ranking of other regulation items on the top three list SURVEY REPORT Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International 15 was virtually the same that good regulation would dampen uncontrolled OPPORTunITIeS as on the top ten, and growth. Respondents implied that regulators are 5. Client protection regulation the written comments, adequately engaged with these issues, ranking 8. Improved regulation and while numerous, rarely lack of regulator priority and policymaker interest supervision of MFIs express urgency. Bottom very low, in 21st and 25th place, respectively. 13. Prudential regulation and super- line: respondents do fa- vision (in general) vor stronger regulation, Self-regulation (23rd), while helpful, is not seen as 22. Collateral and secured- particularly in the areas an adequate substitute for regulation from bank- transactions reform of client protection and ing authorities. Nevertheless, some comments 23. Self-regulation specialized regulations pointed to a positive role. From Nigeria, Pauline for providers to base of Nsa, a regulated financial service provider, writes, ObSTACleS the pyramid, but this is "Self-regulation would help create sanity in the 8. Inadequate regulatory frame- not their most urgent industry," and investor Jacco Minnaar adds, "Self- work for MFIs concern. regulation should focus on doing no harm (espe- 10. Inadequate client protection cially tackling over-indebtedness) and promoting 13. Weak legal infrastructure It may be surprising a dialogue on how MFIs can move towards sus- 19. Non-business-friendly for the participants in tainable banking in a broader sense." environment an industry to call for 20. Regulation that lags technology greater regulation. The The role of regulation in facilitating – or retarding 21. Financial regulatory priorities mainstream banking – the spread of new technologies is a current high- 25. Lack of interest by providers and industry rarely asks for level policy concern; it is a focus of AFI and the policymakers more regulation. Yet G-20's financial inclusion initiative, and the sub- microfinance partici- ject of several CGAP analyses. The respondents to pants seem to hope that this survey were not highly concerned, however, regulation directed specifically at financial service ranking it only 20th as an obstacle. This may reflect providers and at client protection can build greater the relative lack of involvement of microfinance legitimacy and a more orderly market environment. institutions in implementing new technologies. "Regulation and supervision are indispensable tools for strengthening the financial system and making A few respondents were, however, moved to the industry credible," writes Teresa Rivarola de Vel- comment. "Mobile banking is the 'wave of the lila, a provider from Paraguay.7 future' – yet regulators lag on regulating this field. This opens an opportunity for microfinance, and Some respondents see regulation as an antidote to financial inclusion institutions have a role in de- the industry's recent ills. "To counter the concern veloping self-policing practices for this industry," about mission drift or unethical activities, the third says Michael Rauenhorst, an investor. The chal- key opportunity must be to improve regulation and lenge of keeping regulations current as technolo- supervision—not just to restrict MFIs (as seems to gies change is evident in a comment from Tomas be the thrust post-A[ndhra] P[radesh]) but to cata- Gomez, a regulated financial services provider lyze better MFI performance and outreach, such as from the Philippines: "Regulatory oversight on by allowing MFIs to take deposits," writes Barclay outsourcing (cloud computing for example) needs O'Brien, from a support organization. "Competition to be updated as present outsourcing rules are re- from new entrants and better regulation (i.e., trans- strictive." Gomez' comment connects the pace of parency) and supervision are keys to motivating regulatory change with another key obstacle, the management to lower prices, improve operating ef- cost of service provision (7th and 12th). ficiencies, reach new populations and introduce new products," says another support organization observ- Items linked to regulation in general and the broad- er, Bill Harrington. Another respondent mentioned er policy environment attracted relatively little at- tention. Respondents were somewhat concerned 7. Comment translated from Spanish. about prudential regulation and supervision of the 16 Opportunities and Obstacles to Financial Inclusion SURVEY REPORT banking system as a whole (13th opportunity) and a potentially rapid- weak legal infrastructure (13th obstacle), but were scaling trend. While OPPORTunITIeS not worried about collateral and secured transactions there are a number 17. Village savings and loan associa- (22nd opportunity) or a non-business-friendly envi- of successful bank tions/self-help groups ronment (19th obstacle). downscaling mod- 19. Microfinance transformation els, in this survey 20. Building investor markets 8. Funding and Transformation Aren't as it appears that the 21. Commercial bank downscaling Pressing as They used to be (and Other concept of banks setting up micro- ObSTACleS Mid-Ranked Items) lending subsidiar- 15. Appropriate funding A number of items that were focal points in earlier ies has niche rel- 15. Limited know-how of main- microfinance debates have receded into the middle evance, particularly stream providers ground in this survey. Among these items were mi- in South America, crofinance transformation (19th), building investor but will not be a markets (20th) and the related obstacle of appropriate major contributor to financial inclusion. funding (15th), and commercial bank downscaling • Village savings and loan associations and the (21st), with the related obstacle of limited know-how related phenomenon of self-help groups also of mainstream providers (15th). One other mid- occupy a middle range in this survey, probably ranked opportunity, village savings and loan associa- because they are methods embraced strongly by tions/self-help groups (17th) is possibly a rising item. their devotees but which are largely ignored by A brief comment on each of these: the proponents of regulated microfinance. The advocates of these semi-informal mechanisms in • The transformation of microfinance institutions Africa and South Asia have been attracting atten- from non-profits into for-profits has been an impor- tion in recent years, as their models have spread tant industry-building process during the past two to reach more people and have shown resilience decades. Today, in the more developed regions, in the face of crises in microfinance. particularly South America, transformation's low ranking probably reflects an opinion that most 9. Thumbs Down to Direct Government of the needed transformations have already hap- Interventions pened and that new transformations are unlikely to change the landscape of financial inclusion. In In discussions among representatives of public sector less mature areas, such as Central America, trans- and donor organizations, programs operated by, with, formation scored somewhat higher. or at the direction of the • During the past two decades the microfinance public sector are often seen as key actions for OPPORTunITIeS industry focused strongly on building the links to capital markets that would allow for growth. increasing financial in- 24. Matched savings/cash transfer These efforts have succeeded so well that fund- clusion. Such programs schemes ing is no longer seen as a major obstacle. Inves- include provision of ser- 26. Linking government transfers to tor markets exist, allowing the focus to move vices by public sector deposit accounts from the building blocks of financial transpar- or state-owned banks. 28. Mandates to provide no-frills ency to those of social performance and the cli- They include directed bank accounts ent experience. credit mandates like 29. State bank reform • Some participants in microfinance in the past the well-known priority 30. Directed credit/service mandates two decades have hoped that once the business sector lending rules in models of microfinance were proven, main- India. They also include more recent innovations, like stream commercial banks would adopt them and mandates for no-frills bank accounts (the Mzanzi ac- build microloan portfolios of their own. Bank count in South Africa, for example), and the payment downscaling projects such as Banco Pichincha's of government benefits through electronic means as Credifé were heralded as the first movers in a a way to introduce new clients to banking services. SURVEY REPORT Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International 17 Matched savings accounts, widely used in the U.S. as essential for financial inclusion. Maes was one of and U.K., are designed to encourage asset-building by only 14 percent of all respondents who selected gov- adding a cash grant to a clients' own savings. These ernment-linked cash transfers as relevant. This and three latter initiatives have been enjoying quite a related items accumulated at the very bottom of all vogue in development circles. There are many reasons opportunities, occupying 24th and 26th through 30th for this. For example, matched savings and govern- (i.e., last) place. ment transfer payments are favored by those seek- ing to build the beginnings of a social safety net. Jan This is a very strong message about the perception Maes, from a support organization, explains: "Cash of the role of the public sector. While respondents transfer schemes have enormous potential to set very supported and even requested public sector action poor people on a path towards self-reliance and capac- in the realm of regulation, they did not favor public ity to use financial services. The microfinance sector service provision. Explanations for the low rankings itself should not be the source of such funds, but needs may include simple lack of awareness about such to help linking government transfer to recipients who initiatives; perhaps there is an opportunity for edu- become their new clients." Another reason is surely cation and dialogue. The rankings are undoubtedly because these government-led programs seem to of- also influenced by the tendency for people to rate the fer policymakers ready levers they can pull to create things they are involved with as highly important. a great effect, without having to rely on the decisions Nevertheless, the message comes through that the of other actors. providers, investors, and support organizations who completed this survey do not view the public sector With very few exceptions, however, respondents to as a key provider, nor do they want the government this survey do not favor such initiatives or see them to tell them what products to offer or to whom. 18 Opportunities and Obstacles to Financial Inclusion SURVEY REPORT Part II. What You Think Depends on Where You Sit – Responses by Stakeholder As might be expected, providers think differently from investors about financial inclusion, support organiza- tions, or regulators. Segmenting the survey responses by stakeholder group shows how each group's priorities in financial inclusion align with its main interests as well as its day-to-day realities.8 It also allows us to con- sider the unique roles played by actors at different levels of the financial inclusion ecosystem. The majority of survey respondents (82 percent) belong to one of three stakeholder groups: support organi- zations, such as networks, consultants, and promotional organizations (40 percent), financial service provid- ers (26 percent), and investors (16 percent). These three groups play distinct roles in the financial inclusion ecosystem and their responses to the survey reflect their vantage point on financial inclusion. The remaining categories of respondents included regulators, donors, academics, and others. Their views are not directly compared to those of the other groups because the number of respondents in each category was too small, but we do take note of the responses from regulators and donors at the end of this section. Several cognitive biases are worth keeping in mind when analyzing the differences in how various stakeholder groups ranked the opportunities and obstacles. These are tendencies everyone shares: no group is any more prone to the foibles of human nature than the others. • Others are the culprits. One of the first explanations to come to mind may be an aversion to seeing oneself as the problem. For example, providers ranked an obstacle that is in their realm of control, microfinance's single-product approach, lower (8th) than investors (5th) or support organizations (2nd). The faintly visible game of hot potato that might be affecting rankings could also stem from a relative lack of in-depth under- standing about what other stakeholders do, compared to the understanding about one's own work. • Trees vs. forest. The farther a respondent is from operations in the field, the more their work tends to fo- cus on the big picture, including understanding general trends and more theoretical concepts. As a result, Table 2. Survey Results: Opportunities by Stakeholder Group PROVIDeRS InVeSTORS SuPPORT ORGAnIzATIOnS 1 Financial education (1) 1 Credit bureaus (3) 1 Financial education (1) 2 Expanding the range of products (2) 2 Expanding the range of products (2) 2 Client protection regulation (5) 3 Credit bureaus (3) 3 Client protection regulation (5) 3 Expanding the range of products (2) 3 Capacity building for microfinance 4 Capacity building for microfinance 4 Mobile (phone) banking (3) institutions (6) institutions (6) 5 Full-inclusion financial institutions (7) 5 Full-inclusion financial institutions (7) 5 Mobile (phone) banking (3) 6 Capacity building for microfinance 6 Client protection regulation (5) 6 Improved regulation and institutions (6) 7 Mobile (phone) banking (3) supervision of microfinance (8) 7 Credit bureaus (3) 8 Improved regulation and supervision 7 Correspondent/Agent banking (9) 8 Improved regulation and supervision of microfinance (8) 8 Financial education (1) of microfinance (8) 9 Correspondent/Agent banking (9) 9 Full-inclusion financial 9 Correspondent/Agent banking (9) 9 Strengthening financial infrastructure institutions (7) 10 Improved demand-side for electronic transactions (11) 10 National identification information (10) documentation (15) Note: n = 248. Responses from other categories of respondents have been excluded. Numbers in parentheses indicate item's overall rank. 8. For a full comparison of how providers, investors, and support organizations ranked opportunities and obstacles, see Appendix IV. SURVEY REPORT Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International 19 Table 3. Survey Results: Obstacles by Stakeholder Group PROVIDeRS InVeSTORS SuPPORT ORGAnIzATIOnS 1 Costs of building/operating branches (12) 1 Lack of credit bureaus (6) 1 Limited financial literacy (1) 2 Political interference (5) 2 Political interference (5) 2 Microfinance's single- 2 Limited understanding of client 3 Inadequate regulatory framework product approach (3) needs (4) for providers to the poor (8) 3 Limited institutional 4 Lack of credit bureaus (6) 4 Limited institutional capacity capacity among 5 Limited institutional capacity among among microfinance microfinance institutions (2) microfinance institutions (2) institutions (2) 4 Inadequate client protection (10) 6 Product cost-structures (7) 5 Insufficient infrastructure (9) 5 Limited understanding of client 7 Limited financial literacy (1) 5 Microfinance's single-product needs (4) 8 Insufficient infrastructure (9) approach (3) 6 Political interference (5) 8 Microfinance's single-product 7 Inadequate client protection (10) 7 Insufficient infrastructure (9) approach (3) 7 Product cost-structures (7) 8 Poor business practices (11) 10 Inadequate regulatory framework for 9 Limited understanding of client 8 Product cost-structures (7) providers to the poor (8) needs (4) 10 Lack of credit bureaus (6) 10 Limited financial literacy (1) Note: n = 248. Responses from other categories of respondents have been excluded. Number in parentheses indicates item's overall rank. support organizations and regulators may be less banking, received a slightly lower ranking from provid- inclined than providers to mention issues rele- ers than from investor and support organizations. vant at the operational level and might put more weight on sexy silver bullets. At the same time, microfinance institutions are • Less control over something makes it scarier. aware that they could do more to advance financial When a problem is outside one's ability to con- inclusion. Specifically, respondents pointed out that trol or anticipate, it appears as a bigger risk or in order to expand the product range, MFIs need to obstacle. For example, investors rank political build their internal capabilities. "There is the issue interference, something they have little or no of skilled manpower to run microfinance enterprises control over, as the 2nd obstacle. and the attendant inability of the institutions to de- sign product suitable to the various client segments," 1. Financial Service Providers look on the writes John Muhimbise from Uganda. Practical Side As the main implementers of financial inclusion, The financial service providers who took the survey providers prioritized very practical issues. Their came from a variety of organizational types: non-prof- first-ranked obstacle is the cost of building branch- its (27 percent), regulated microfinance banks (48 per- es—which did not even make the top ten in the all- cent), commercial banks (18 percent), cooperatives (3 respondents list (it was 12th). As John Lwande, a percent), and others (5 percent). Most would probably practitioner from Tanzania, explains: "The costs of be characterized as microfinance institutions. building/operating branches are generally high, the Bank of Tanzania's physical security policy renders Providers' top opportunities—financial education, branch infrastructure too expensive to set up, taking product range, institutional capacity building, and credit branches longer to break even and cater for a larger bureaus—suggest that the microfinance industry might number of customers on a profitable basis." The rank- be pausing in its pursuit of scale in order to focus on im- ing of this obstacle offers the following insights: first, proving its value proposition to the client (Table 2). Op- that providers do not currently see alternative chan- portunities typically associated with rapid growth, such nels like mobile and agent banking as the sole or even as mobile (phone) banking, and correspondent agent key solution to reaching new clients; and second, that 20 Opportunities and Obstacles to Financial Inclusion SURVEY REPORT regulators can help providers make branches less 2. Investors See the World in Terms of Risk costly by modernizing physical branch requirements. Investors are one step removed from the end users The second-biggest obstacles listed by providers of financial services, and while they share the goal were political interference and limited understand- of expanding financial inclusion, their more immedi- ing of client needs (Table 3). These are not what ate concern is prudent selection and management of we might imagine providers listing as the greatest their investments. They view the industry through a challenges in previous years; they evidence reflec- risk assessment lens. tion on the crises in Andhra Pradesh, Nicaragua, and Morocco, as well as messages from recent impact Investors in the survey voted credit bureaus as both studies that point beyond credit. These two obstacles their top opportunity and top obstacle (Tables 2 and confirm the pause observed from the list of opportu- 3). More than 80 percent of investors placed credit nities—providers may be shifting attention less to- bureaus in their opportunity list and more than 70 ward pursuing new clients and more to understand- percent did the same on the obstacle side (see Appen- ing better how to serve the clients they have. dix Figures 3 and 4). As one investor notes: "Lack of data both at the sector level and at the client level is Compared to other stakeholder groups, providers an important obstacle. It creates an environment that place less weight on client protection. In the list of is vulnerable to over-indebtedness." opportunities, client protection regulation is ranked in 6th place compared to 3rd place for investors and The other top opportunities and obstacles for inves- 2nd place for support organizations. The difference tors also focused on minimizing risk. Expanding the is even greater on the obstacles side—there provid- range of products (2nd) was referenced by inves- ers ranked inadequate client protection nearly last tors as a way to manage risks associated with credit, (27th) compared to its 7th place rank for investors and competition, political interference, and liquidity. The 4th for support organizations. Apparently, providers first three of these risks are ranked in "Microfinance feel that they are protecting their own clients well. Banana Skins" within the top five risks facing the They may, however, worry about other providers. microfinance industry, political interference (Ob- This could explain why client protection regulation stacle 2) in particular. In the latest "Banana Skins" (which implies action by the government) is ranked survey taken just as the Andhra Pradesh crisis was relatively higher by this group than inadequate client breaking, investors ranked political interference as protection (which could be understood to imply poor the fifth most important risk. Since then, more un- actions by providers). ease has surfaced about the future of microfinance in India and how changes in India might affect microfi- Providers are hungry for good information about nance on a global level. their clients. The lack of demographic informa- tion on the excluded (15th) and client risk (19th) are Investors look to regulators to play a risk-mitigat- rated higher by providers than by other stakeholder ing role, as evidenced by their high rankings for groups, as is limited understanding of client needs client protection regulation (Opportunity 3) and in- (2nd) and lack of credit bureaus (4th) but they also hint adequate regulation for providers to the poor (Ob- at the complexity of the client-provider relationship. stacle 3). They ranked inadequate regulatory frame- Providers need to understand clients on a variety of work for MFIs significantly higher than did other levels—not only how they manage their resources groups—over 65 percent of investors placed it in (and thus how to design more demand-responsive their top ten obstacles, versus about 40 percent of services) but also more basic information such as providers and support organizations (see Appendix where new clients live and who they are. Providers Figure 4). An investor summarizes: "Sustainable have a direct understanding of how heterogeneous continued growth of the sector and diversification today's financially excluded population is and how of product offer requires strong regulations and little they know about both the excluded as well as client protection mechanisms to ensure better con- those already served. trolled growth." SURVEY REPORT Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International 21 Comments from investors reveal that they also see a focus on wellbeing of clients is lost. But if you place for industry self-regulation alongside formal turn it around; if the focus is on serving clients regulation. "Self-regulation should focus on doing no with good products and services that meet their harm (especially tackling over-indebtedness) and pro- needs, then profits will follow. moting a dialogue of how MFIs can move towards sus- tainable banking in a broader sense," writes investor As an example, Tanir Helayel, a partner at PMD Capi- Jacco Minnaar. tal, points to the value of understanding market seg- ments. "Without the ability to differentiate clients, it's Naturally, investors look for growth, and this can be extremely difficult to understand and price the risk seen in the number of opportunities and obstacles on the associated with lending to different client segments. investors' list about expanding access. Mobile phone Therefore all clients are priced as the most risky. With banking (5th), agent banking (7th), and national identi- a more developed data collection infrastructure such as fication documents (10th) were ranked slightly higher credit bureaus, providers can begin to expand to lower by investors than by others. Els Boerhof from the Neth- risk client segments by offering less expensive credit." erlands writes, "For the next growth stage of financial inclusion, most elementary are new ways of distribut- Nor do investors only want to understand the client for ing products, via mobile phones or branchless banking. the sake of the financial bottom line. "If we better under- Only then can we achieve scale and penetrate deep into stood the impact of financial inclusion we'd more accu- new territories." On the obstacles side, insufficient infra- rately market this impact to donors and investors thereby structure (5th) and product cost-structure (7th) highlight avoiding some of the current mismatch in expectations," key growth barriers from the investor perspective. points out Caroline Bressan from Calvert Foundation. Better information on clients, not only in terms of needs, Investors connect to financial inclusion primarily but also in terms of the impact of financial access, is through microfinance institutions, and that explains crucial for achieving the goals of investors. the high rankings for limited institutional capacity among MFIs (4th) and microfinance capacity build- Investors prioritized several items higher than did oth- ing (also 4th). Investors, like providers, see room er respondents: insufficient infrastructure, inadequate for improvement within microfinance institutions. regulatory framework for providers to the poor, and An investor from Mexico offers his view on what national identification documents. These items repre- kind of capacity is most lacking in MFIs: "[T]he sent key elements in the enabling environment, and in- lack of technical skills and IT systems necessary to vestors look at them when assessing potential deals. adequately manage financial risk is the single most destabilizing force in the market." The items that investors ranked lower than other groups are equally interesting. The first one to stand Although a level removed from the client, investors, out is microfinance transformation—something that like providers, expressed concerns about limited under- in the past was encouraged because it was an entry standing of clients. Marilou van Golstein Brouwers, of point for investors. In the survey, however, it ranked Triodos Investment Management, summarizes the case: 21st, well below the rankings by other groups (12th among providers and 18th among support organiza- In inclusive finance we need to focus on offer- tions). Investors may feel that most MFIs that could ing a diverse range of financial services that benefit from transformation have already done so. meet real needs of clients. This is essential for a sound and sustainable development of the Lack of network cooperation is another item that sector. In that sense we do not see a tension be- investors ranked especially low (23rd compared to tween social mission and long term profitabil- 14th for support organizations and 11th for provid- ity. There can however be a tension between ers). The item, which addresses the environment for short term profit maximization and social mis- electronic banking, is a reference to one of the key sion; if focus is only on growth and profits, challenges for innovative scaling solutions, such as over-indebtedness of clients can be a result and mobile phone banking, which investors ranked 5th. 22 Opportunities and Obstacles to Financial Inclusion SURVEY REPORT Since investors are less involved in implementing without education are dangerous and create opportu- these channels, they might be less concerned with nities to take advantage of the poor." Her comment practical implementation issues. highlights another clear priority for support organi- zations—client protection. Client protection regula- Items related to the strength of the microfinance in- tion was the 2nd ranked opportunity for support orga- dustry, such as expansion and improvement of mi- nizations compared to 6th for providers. Inadequate crofinance associations and having a weak industry client protection was the 4th ranked obstacle, com- voice, were also ranked lower by investors than oth- pared to 7th for investors and 27th for providers. This ers. It may be that investors are less concerned with range in the rankings for inadequate client protection the quality of the global microfinance industry as a was wider than for any other item. This points to- whole because their work focuses on individual in- ward a need for honest dialogue among stakeholder stitutions and their market context. groups to come to terms with industry practices: per- haps support organizations have exaggerated the cli- 3. Support Organizations Keep the Social ent protection issue, or perhaps providers view their Mission in Mind own and prevailing practices with complacency. In all likelihood, there is some truth in both views. Support organizations represent the biggest stake- holder group in the survey, with 121 respondents, 40 Microfinance's single-product approach was also percent of the total. This group is heterogeneous— ranked high as a problem by support organizations (2nd it includes microfinance associations and networks, compared to 5th for investors and 8th for providers). raters, technical advisors, and others who special- One respondent from a support organization stresses ize in assisting, assessing, or advising microfinance the importance of expanding the range of products and providers. Many members of support organizations what that would require. "The microfinance industry work directly with providers. This heterogeneity has been a mono-product for too long and generating creates a mixed list of opportunities and obstacles a more holistic approach to meet the poor's financial not easily aligned with a particular viewpoint. In needs requires far better demand-side information." addition, many support organizations work in more than one country and even region. Their combined The rest of the top ten opportunities and obstacles perspective, therefore, can be considered to apply at of support organizations are similar to those of other the global, industry-wide level. Finally, because of groups, with one exception—poor business practices, their weight in the sample, the views of support or- which support organizations ranked 8th, higher than ganizations strongly influence the overall rankings. other groups. The survey defines poor business prac- tices as "Financial institutions that poach staff and The items that topped the support organization list clients, use abusive collections practices, pursue ex- track the overall responses in most ways, including cessive profits, and over-indebt clients hurt the whole the top items: financial literacy and education, ex- industry." A number of respondents commented on the panding the range of products, client protection, and pursuit of excessive profits. Ruben de Castro de Lara institutional capacity (Tables 2 and 3). Support or- from the SHED Foundation in the Philippines writes, ganizations' top priorities are in step with the indus- "If you look at practitioners in financial inclusion, most try's efforts to steer itself back towards focusing on if not all of them are driven by the profit opportunities the client by strengthening clients' financial capabil- they can generate by just rendering microfinance ser- ity, ensuring that they are not inadvertently harmed vices. Nothing wrong about generating profits because by providers, and offering them diverse products. viability is crucial. However, there is simply too much focus on profit at the expense of the poor." Support organizations are responsible, in fact, for the overall top ranking of limited financial literacy De Lara's comment and others like it point toward the as an obstacle. They ranked it 1st as an obstacle com- view that commercially oriented entrants are a rea- pared to 7th place for providers and 10th for investors. son for poor business practices, specifically because Lindsey Gleason, from ACCION, writes: "Options of the pursuit of excessive profits. Geetha Nagarajan SURVEY REPORT Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International 23 comments, "Poor business practices are going to be Emerging trends include the recognition that the 'major' obstacle for microfinance industry in fu- the role of policymakers is changing and lead- ture. This is partly due to new entrants with no clear ership is important to successful financial inclu- understanding of microfinance and due to some in- sion strategies and response; that microfinance dustry actors that convey messages in a loud voice can be used as an entry point for improving ac- that microfinance is very profitable, microfinance can cess; that new technology (opportunity 3), is a be commercialized and that commercialization means very important but not the only consideration making profits in any way possible with not much of for developing country policymakers looking contextualization." The concern that "[c]ommercially to improve access; that savings are the funda- oriented entrants tend to focus on the quick profit gen- mental element of financial inclusion initia- eration business" is also expressed by providers like tives (opportunity 2); that banks have an im- Alice Lubwama from FINCA Uganda. portant role to play in reaching the poor with their services (opportunity 21) and that finan- 4. A note on Regulators and Donors cial inclusion policy should focus not only on supply concerns, but on consumer demand as Although the number of regulators (16) and donors well (obstacle 4 and opportunity 10). (17) participating in the survey was too small to merit an in-depth comparison to other stakeholder groups, Commonly identified barriers include market we took a quick look at how they responded. response, the need for greater stakeholder coor- dination (obstacle 13), lack of reliable data (op- The regulators who participated in the survey agreed portunity 10) and national identity documents and with other respondents in placing financial education systems (opportunity 15), and the need for greater and financial literacy as the number one opportunity and consumer understanding (obstacles 1 and 4), trust obstacle, with nearly all the regulators selecting those (obstacle 27), and protection (opportunity 5).9 items. Alternative delivery channels such as mobile and agent banking were also highly valued by the regulator The only significant divergence of message is the respondents. Regulators, like others, saw little value in relatively higher ranking given to commercial banks government initiatives for financial inclusion. Opportu- as agents of financial inclusion, which reflects the nities such as directed credit/service mandates, matched regulators' strong focus on institutions they regulate, savings schemes, mandates to provide non-frills bank while our survey respondents are predominantly as- accounts, and linking government transfers to deposit sociated with smaller providers. Again, however, the accounts, all ranked near the bottom of the list. small number of regulator responses makes any con- clusion from this survey tentative. Regulators ranked obstacles similarly to other groups in most respects—with issues focused on clients, insti- For the 17 donors who completed the survey the pri- tutional capacity, and costs ranked at the top. The big- oritization of opportunities closely matches the over- gest surprise among the regulator responses was their all rankings. On the obstacles side we see greater di- low ranking for microfinance's single-product approach versity. In particular, two obstacles that are ranked as an obstacle—only three placed it in their top ten list. low by respondents as a whole—non-business- Their response suggests that regulators may have a friendly environment (19th overall) and lack of inter- broader financial inclusion perspective when consider- est by providers and policymakers (25th overall)— ing microfinance crises like the one in Andhra Pradesh. were placed in the top ten by many donors. On the other hand, donors ranked obstacles that are more These results are in line with the findings of the mem- closely related to operations near the bottom—client ber survey conducted by the AFI, an organization of risk, costs of building branches, and lack of demo- regulators, in 2010. In the following quote from that graphic information. survey we have inserted notes to indicate how the over- all rankings from this survey coincide with the AFI sur- 9. Alliance for Financial Inclusion, "The 2010 AFI Survey Re- vey findings. port on Financial Inclusion Policy in Developing Countries," 2. 24 Opportunities and Obstacles to Financial Inclusion SURVEY REPORT Part III. Similar Opportunities, Different Obstacles – Responses by Region10 1. Africa: Will Mobile banking leapfrog Infrastructure Challenges? Among African respondents the top items were expansion of the product range and limited institutional ca- pacity, both well ahead of the next-ranked items (Table 4). African respondents did not rank limited financial literacy and financial education in first place; however, at 2nd and 4th place they were still strongly prioritized. A typical comment, from John Muhimbise, a provider in Uganda, was: "The majority of the rural population are either illiterate or are of humble educational backgrounds. It is therefore difficult to convince them that financial services are for them as they wrongly believe they are for the well educated. Financial education is therefore absolutely necessary if this substantial segment is to be brought on board." Within broad agreement with their colleagues around the world, African respondents offered a few special pre- occupations. For example, infrastructure gaps took 3rd place, significantly higher than overall. These gaps were linked to the high cost of opening branches (6th in Africa). From Nigeria, financial service provider Pauline Nsa writes: "Insufficient infrastructure like electricity, water and transportation makes the cost of delivering fi- nancial services to the poor very expensive." From Tanzania, John Lwande, CEO of Akiba Commercial Bank, notes: "The costs of building/operating branches are generally high, the Bank of Tanzania's physical security policy renders branch infrastructure too expensive to set up, taking branches longer to break even and cater for a larger number of customers on a profitable basis." His message points not only to gaps in basic infrastructure, but also to regulations that value security over inclusion and that in all likelihood have not caught up with the alternatives to physical security that new technologies make available. One particular infrastructure item shows up repeatedly: the problems caused by the lack of unique identifica- tion documents. Globally, this item ranked 15th as an opportunity and 24th as an obstacle, but in Africa, it was Table 4. Survey Results: Africa OPPORTunITY ObSTACle 1 Expanding the range of products (73) 1 Limited institutional capacity among microfinance 2 Mobile (phone) banking (62) institutions and other providers to the poor (68) 2 Capacity building for microfinance institutions (62) 2 Limited financial literacy (59) 4 Financial education (59) 3 Insufficient infrastructure (57) 5 Credit bureaus (54) 4 Political interference (54) 6 National identification documentation (49) 4 Lack of credit bureaus (54) 7 Client protection regulation (46) 6 Costs of building/operating branches (51) 7 Full-inclusion financial institutions (46) 7 Limited understanding of client needs (49) 7 Reaching out to new client groups (46) 8 Poor business practices (41) 10 Strengthening financial infrastructure for electronic 9 Documentation requirements (38) (non-cash) transactions (43) 10 Inadequate client protection (35) 10 Product cost-structures (35) Note: n = 37. Numbers in parentheses indicate the percentage of respondents placing an item in their Top Ten. 10. There is no section here on responses from Western Europe, Canada, and the United States. These responses track the overall re- sponses, given their heavy weight in the survey. Moreover, respondents from these countries generally replied from a global rather than regional or national perspective. For more information on how each region's responses compare to the overall rankings of all respon- dents, see Appendix V. SURVEY REPORT Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International 25 the 6th opportunity and 9th obstacle. Many commen- utilize financial institutions reveals that most users tators addressed this problem. From Victoria Col- value convenience followed by cost of the services. lins, with an enterprise development program for With 30 percent of the population currently owning young women in Kenya: "One major obstacle for mobile phones, there is no better, more convenient the girls' access to financial services is their lack of and cost effective financial services delivery channel national identification cards which are required to than a mobile phone," writes John Muhimbise, and open bank accounts in the formal banking system." his thoughts on the customer side are echoed by John From John Lwande: "In Tanzania credit bureaus Lwande, who points to the provider-side advantages, would play a great role in streamlining selections, namely, allowing the bank to reach a lower-income however this cannot easily be achieved without na- population segment at a lower cost. tional IDs in place which would ensure that clients have a unique identification number cutting across 2. Asia: A Medley of Distinct Microfinance all transactions." Furthermore, "The account open- Markets ing requirements in a country like Tanzania, where there is no national IDs, no residence address sys- The financial inclusion landscape in Asia varies tem or in general street addresses makes it hard to widely among countries. The Philippines and Cam- fast track customers' account opening." From John bodia have thriving microfinance sectors, India's Muhimbise in Uganda: "With no national identity microfinance is in crisis but other financial innova- cards it becomes difficult to trace borrowers as they tions are in the works, and China's state-controlled simply default and disappear in thin air." It is im- approach is unique. Diverse situations partly account portant to note that the documentation problem has for the lack of clear signals when Asian responses major effects on both savings and credit provision, are aggregated. as it inhibits account opening as well as the sharing of credit information. The top ranks are very close (Table 5). Capacity building for microfinance institutions is ranked as While Africa lags on IDs, there is palpable excite- the most important opportunity, with expansion ment about mobile phones, the 2nd ranked oppor- of product range, financial education and credit tunity. The advantages to clients are great. "My bureaus close behind. On the obstacles side, three research on why only 3 percent of the population items tied for first place: limited financial literacy, Table 5. Survey Results: Asia OPPORTunITY ObSTACle 1 Capacity building for microfinance institutions (71) 1 Inadequate regulatory framework for providers to 2 Expanding the range of products (69) the poor (55) 3 Credit bureaus (67) 1 Limited financial literacy (55) 3 Financial education (67) 1 Limited understanding of client needs (55) 5 Client protection regulation (64) 4 Political interference (52) 6 Mobile (phone) banking (55) 4 Lack of credit bureaus (52) 7 Full-inclusion financial institutions (52) 4 Limited institutional capacity among microfinance 8 Improved regulation and supervision of institutions and other providers to the poor (52) microfinance (45) 7 Inadequate client protection (48) 9 National identification documentation (40) 7 Microfinance's single-product approach (48) 9 Village savings and loan associations/self-help 9 Product cost-structures (43) groups (40) 10 Poor business practices (40) 10 Costs of building/operating branches (40) Note: n = 42. Numbers in parentheses indicate the percentage of respondents placing an item in their Top Ten. 26 Opportunities and Obstacles to Financial Inclusion SURVEY REPORT inadequate regulatory framework, and limited un- sponsibly and on a sustainable basis. It is a con- derstanding of client needs. In fact, the results for stant battle to stop donors from pushing 'dis- Asia are quite similar to the overall results: the top bursement and outreach' when a functioning seven opportunities are exactly the same in Asia as pipeline doesn't exist. One large program de- in the overall rankings, though in a slightly differ- signed to provide financial access to rural areas ent order. and agricultural enterprises in particular, was originally envisioned as working through the Only a few exceptions stand out. Asia was the only existing financial service providers e.g. com- region to rank inadequate regulatory framework at mercial banks, MFIs, etc. Given no providers the top of the obstacles list. A comment from Tomas were offering agriculture-related products, had Gomez of the Philippines, however, recognizes that an infrastructure to distribute or ability to judge regulators are moving forward: quality of borrowers or enforce repayment (not to mention geography), there were no willing The creation of a Credit Bureau in the Philip- and qualified institutions to partner with this pines is already mandated by law, with private program in a meaningful manner. sector participation through equity invest- ment…. We expect the company to be orga- The inclusion of a great number of responses from nized within the year. The Bangko Sentral ng India undoubtedly influences the Asian rankings, so Pilipinas (BSP) has very recently issued regula- we took a closer look (see Box on page 28). tions that effectively allow banks of all sizes to execute correspondent banking activities. New 3. latin America and the Caribbean: regulations from the BSP also paves the way Sub-Regions Face Different Realities for a wider range of services for low-income segments. Latin American respondents agreed with their peers in the rest of the world on the core messages. They Asian respondents were less likely than others to strongly endorsed financial education as the num- endorse commercial microfinance (ranking com- ber one opportunity (Table 7). More broadly, they mercially oriented entrants 12th as an obstacle) and emphasized better understanding of and response to ranked competition lower as a driver of inclusion client needs. The consensus about financial educa- (16th compared to 13th). They see village savings tion among South American respondents was espe- and loans as a more exciting opportunity (9th com- cially high, with 86 percent selecting it. This focus pared to 17th overall). This may be linked to their on financial education is seen as closely linked to recognition of population groups who are particu- the two challenges of reaching still-unserved groups larly hard to reach through formal means (reflected and broadening the product range. Jose Luis Aguela, in the ranking of transient, migrant, and displaced from a support organization in Peru, states: "Finan- populations 16th compared to last place overall). cial education is very important for expanding the The effects of the Indian crisis can be seen in the product range, so that clients understand and will use relatively high rankings given to self-regulation and the products wisely."11 associations as opportunities and to negative press image as a problem. Within the broad consensus about client needs and product range, however, Central and South America Some countries in the region face unique situations. offer divergent perspectives. South America emerges Consider this anonymous response from Afghani- as a mature market facing the stresses that come with stan, reminiscent of earlier days in many countries a more advanced phase of industry development. It when microfinance was a largely donor-driven ac- has moved beyond the basics of building a microfi- tivity. nance industry and is now focused on specific com- petitive and mission-related challenges. In the face The problem in Afghanistan is not funds for on-lending but the ability to use the funds re- 11. Comment translated from Spanish. SURVEY REPORT Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International 27 India: Still Reeling from the Andhra Pradesh Crisis Table 6. Survey Results: India OPPORTunITY ObSTACle 1 Expanding the range of products (72) 1 Political interference (72) 1 Financial education (72) 2 Inadequate regulatory framework for providers to 3 Client protection regulation (67) the poor (61) 4 Capacity building for microfinance institutions (61) 2 Microfinance's single-product approach (61) 4 Credit bureaus (61) 4 Lack of credit bureaus (56) 4 Limited financial literacy (56) Note: n = 18. Numbers in parentheses indicate the percentage of respondents placing an item in their Top Ten. Operating at the epicenter of the events that have shaken microfinance, respondents from India are attempting to come to terms with the causes of and potential solutions to their crisis.a While the opportunities they see echo the worldwide view (prod- uct range, financial education, client protection regulation, MFI capacity building, and credit bureaus), the top obstacles might even be considered a self-diagnosis of what went wrong in Andhra Pradesh (Table 6). It's no surprise that political interference leads the way, followed by inadequate regulation for microfinance and the mono- product approach. There's a succinct apportionment of blame: the crisis was caused by political interference made possible by inadequate regulation that channeled microfinance to take a single-product focus. The next five items (absence of a credit bureau, low levels of financial literacy, lack of understanding of client needs, inadequate client protection, and poor business practices) further laid the basis for the crisis. Other crisis-linked obstacles that scored significantly higher in India than in other regions include negative press image (10th) and unsustainable growth (12th). The top-ranked opportunities comprise a to-do list of priorities for building a more client-friendly microfinance industry: widen- ing the product range, educating clients, improving client protection, creating credit bureaus, and strengthening the capacity of MFIs. (Though it is ironic to note that weak institutional capacity of MFIs, ranked globally in 2nd place, was only 16th in India.) At the same time, Indian microfinance is attempting to better organize itself to patrol market conduct, ensure client protection, and interface effectively with regulators. Self-regulation and strengthened microfinance associations came in both at 9th among opportunities, much higher than in other regions. Only after dealing with these crisis-linked issues do the longer term opportunities and challenges in India arise. The top technol- ogy-assisted effort is national identification (in 6th place), which is linked to the pressing need for credit bureaus (4th). Self-help groups are also relatively high on the opportunity list (12th). On the obstacles side, India is one of the only places where transient and displaced populations (12th) appear as significant. Branchless banking through mobile phones (11th) and banking agents (12th) is still relevant, but these have fallen well below their rankings in most other regions. Finally, in a country where public sector banks dominate the financial landscape, and where the regulators have not hesitated to give banks mandates on how to operate, the respondents to this survey gave very low marks to government initiatives (state bank reform; no-frills account mandates), with the exception of matched savings and cash transfer schemes (18th). In the country where priority sector lending requirements have fueled microfinance growth, not one Indian respondent chose directed credit among the top ten opportunities, placing it at the very bottom rank. a. In November 2010, reports of client over-indebtedness in southern India's rapidly growing microfinance sector prompted controversial new regulation by the Reserve Bank of India to curtail unsustainable growth. of high competition and the saturation of some mar- attended in the main cities."12 He advocates pushing kets, South American providers are concerned about out from the highly contested cities into the rural ar- reducing costs and finding market segments that eas, as do a number of his peers. have not yet been well served. For example, Ramón Larrea notes: "Peru is a big market, but sufficiently 12. Comment translated from Spanish. 28 Opportunities and Obstacles to Financial Inclusion SURVEY REPORT Table 7. Survey Results: latin America SOuTH AMeRICA OPPORTunITY ObSTACle 1Financial education (86) 1 Limited financial literacy (70) 2Correspondent/Agent banking (70) 2 Product cost-structures (62) 3Capacity building for microfinance institutions (59) 3 Lack of network cooperation (51) 4Client protection regulation (57) 3 Costs of building/operating branches (51) 4Mobile (phone) banking (57) 5 Political interference (49) 6Full-inclusion financial institutions (54) 5 Inadequate regulatory framework for providers to the 7Improved regulation and supervision poor (49) of microfinance (51) 5 Limited understanding of client needs (49) 8 Credit bureaus (49) 8 Insufficient infrastructure (46) 8 Expanding the range of products (49) 8 Microfinance's single-product approach (46) 10 Competition (46) 10 Poor business practices (41) CenTRAl AMeRICA AnD THe CARIbbeAn OPPORTunITY ObSTACle 1 Financial education (72) 1 Limited understanding of client needs (72) 1 Expanding the range of products (72) 2 Limited institutional capacity among microfinance 3 Credit bureaus (69) institutions and other providers to the poor (59) 4 Correspondent/Agent banking (66) 2 Product cost-structures (59) 5 Capacity building for microfinance institutions (59) 4 Insufficient infrastructure (53) 6 Full-inclusion financial institutions (50) 5 Lack of credit bureaus (50) 7 Improved regulation and supervision of 6 Microfinance's single-product approach (47) microfinance (47) 7 Limited financial literacy (41) 8 Improved demand-side information (44) 7 Costs of building/operating branches (41) 8 Expansion and improvement of microfinance 7 Political interference (41) associations (44) 7 Weak legal infrastructure (41) 8 Microfinance transformation (44) 7 Inadequate regulatory framework for providers to the poor (41) 7 Poor business practices (41) 7 Appropriate funding (41) Note: South America: n = 37; Central America and the Caribbean: n = 32. Numbers in parentheses indicate the percentage of respondents placing an item in their Top Ten. The main obstacle to rural outreach, however, is cost. for transporting cash, etc," writes Teresa Rivarola Cost issues ranked 2nd and 3rd among South American de Velilla.13 respondents, much higher than in other regions. The costs of reaching out to rural areas are daunting, and The need for rural expansion and its attendant costs include physical infrastructure, which is seen as a ma- help explain the high hopes for agent and mobile jor barrier (8th). In Paraguay, for example, "We should phone banking, the 2nd and 4th top opportunities in note the great insecurity that persists in Paraguay, South America. In this region (and Central America which requires great costs for investment in metal de- and the Caribbean), unlike others, agent banking tector entryways, guards in all the branches, high costs 13. Comment translated from Spanish. SURVEY REPORT Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International 29 ranks higher than mobile phone banking. This is not The fear of interest rate caps reflects a more general surprising, given that the agent model originated in concern about the relationship between microfinance Brazil and spread to other South American countries, and political actors. Political interference ranked as while mobile phone banking has yet to take off in any the 5th most important obstacle in South America. But country on the continent. Among the constraints now there are some unconnected dots here: negative press preventing the expansion of agent and mobile bank- image was dead last, cited as a key obstacle by only ing is a lack of network cooperation, an item that one person in the region. Similarly, weak industry appears as the 3rd greatest obstacle in South America, voice was in the second half of the obstacle list. This though it is only ranked 13th overall. suggests that while participants in the sub-region are concerned about political interference, the interference Respondents from South America were less likely has not been stoked by the press, as in India. It also to cite the basic building blocks of the industry as suggests that participants do not see much advantage significant obstacles. Limited MFI capacity, the 2nd in raising the voice of the industry or initiating self- top obstacle globally, was only 11th among South regulation as a way to counter political interference. American responders. The lack of credit bureaus, 6th overall, was 21st, and other legal infrastructure items, Central America and the Caribbean present a differ- including national identification documentation, and ent picture. The stresses of competition and political collateral and secured transactions reform, were all interference are present, but these stresses are chal- near the bottom of the list. Inadequate client protec- lenging an industry that is not so well developed. Mi- tion, 10th overall, was 26th in South America. Micro- crofinance institutions in Central America are facing finance institution transformation was a low oppor- as much pressure as their peers in South America, but tunity – 20th. Presumably, the low rankings indicate are less prepared for it. Among the top ten obstacles, that these basic challenges have been solved. in addition to the ubiquitous limited understanding of client needs, are the following institutional and mar- At the same time, however, capacity building for ket basics: limited institutional capacity of MFIs (2nd), microfinance institutions still ranks high as an op- insufficient infrastructure (4th), lack of credit bureaus portunity, as does client protection regulation. Ex- (5th), an inadequate regulatory framework (7th) and planations for the discrepancy can be gleaned from lack of appropriate funding (also 7th). Central Amer- comments. For example, capacity building is needed ica is the only region placing microfinance transfor- in specialized areas such as staff training. Teresa Ri- mation and funding in the top ten. Surprisingly, in this varola de Velilla, who operates an MFI in Paraguay, region lack of financial literacy was not top-ranked; writes: "To develop good financial services in low- it shares 7th place with several other items. In Cen- income zones we have to make important invest- tral America, it appears, the basic gaps are so pressing ments in the training of staff, including attitude as that they crowd out financial literacy. well as aptitude."14 A respondent from Peru mentions the need for improved credit technologies that work At the same time, Central America faces cost pres- well during periods of high risk, in the aftermath of sure (2nd and 7th). Mercedes Canalda, the CEO of the global financial crisis. ADOPEM, a leading MFI in the Dominican Repub- lic, notes the high operating costs, including a lack In the case of client protection, the discrepancy of basic infrastructure that requires the purchase of may be that while respondents believe they treat electricity generators for each branch.15 Tanir He- clients well, they are worried about other providers layel, an investor, comments on better credit risk and would like regulation to establish a level play- management fueled by credit bureaus as a response ing field. Some respondents mentioned interest rate to competitive pressure: "With a more developed transparency as an important gap, as well as concerns data collection infrastructure such as credit bureaus, over looming interest rate caps. providers can begin to expand to lower risk client segments by offering less expensive credit." 14. Comment translated from Spanish. 15. Comment translated from Spanish. 30 Opportunities and Obstacles to Financial Inclusion SURVEY REPORT Political interference (7th) is also present in the sub- inadequate client protection and limited financial region, though not as strongly as in South America. literacy. Agent banking is not seen as a relevant op- Apparently, the political problems of Nicaragua have portunity. Surprisingly, for a region with younger not seriously affected microfinance in neighboring microfinance institutions, limited institutional ca- countries. The region has high hopes for the banking pacity among MFIs only received 1 vote from agent model (4th), but is not yet focused on mobile MENA respondents. phone banking (13th). In EECA, credit bureaus topped the opportunity list, 4. Other Regions: Middle east and north followed closely by improved regulation and super- Africa; eastern europe and Central Asia vision of MFIs. The highest-ranked obstacles were unique for this region: after limited financial liter- Although the survey responses from the Middle East acy, respondents from EECA placed commercially and North Africa (MENA) and Eastern Europe and oriented entrants, appropriate funding, and financial Central Asia (EECA) regions were too few (9 and regulatory priorities as the next-most important bar- 10, respectively) to merit significant analysis, we riers to inclusion. took a quick look at them. It is difficult to draw conclusions with this small sam- The top opportunities in the MENA region include ple size, but these responses may point toward ques- client protection regulation, expanding the range tions that can help develop greater understanding of products, and credit bureaus. Top obstacles are about financial inclusion in these unique regions. Mexico: excitement About Agent banking Table 8. Survey Results: Mexico OPPORTunITY ObSTACle 1 Correspondent/Agent banking (85) 1 Limited understanding of client needs (80) 2 Credit bureaus (80) 2 Limited institutional capacity among MFIs and 3 Expanding the range of products (75) other providers to the poor (60) 4 Financial education (65) 2 Product cost structures (60) 5 Capacity building for microfinance (55) 2 Insufficient infrastructure (60) 5 Competition (55) 5 Lack of credit bureaus (55) Note: n = 20. Numbers in parentheses indicate the percentage of respondents placing an item in their Top Ten. According to responses from Mexico, agent banking is the greatest opportunity for financial inclusion (Table 8). Mexican au- thorities recently released agent banking regulations, unleashing a spate of activity from financial institutions to be the first to develop strong agent networks. Mexicans strongly favor agent banking over mobile phone banking, which ranked only 15th. This may reflect both the status of regulation for mobile banking, and concerns about the coverage of cell phone networks in rural Mexico. The quest to create technology-enabled delivery channels is also reflected in the relatively high rankings given to insufficient infrastructure and regulation lagging technology as obstacles. Mexican respondents have greater confidence in competition as a driver of inclusion than most others, ranking it 5th, while in the global rankings competition placed 13th. They are still interested in microfinance transformations, possibly due to the intro- duction of the SOFIPO and other new regulatory categories; institutions are still contemplating what organizational form they aspire to take. Inadequate client protection ranked low, possibly reflecting the work of CONDUSEF, the consumer protection agency in Mexico, one of the better-developed regulatory efforts around the world. And financial literacy also ranked only 10th as an obstacle, though financial education still scored high as an opportunity. A final anomaly: in a country with demographic data available down to the last town block, lack of demographic data ranked 8th as an obstacle, far higher than it did in other places. Those who have data, it seems, want more. SURVEY REPORT Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International 31 Appendix I. The Survey Items and Their Definitions Appendix Table 1. Definitions: Opportunities building investor markets – Promoting private investment funds that responsibly provide debt and equity to financial institutions serving the poor. Capacity building for microfinance institutions – Improving microfinance management, governance, systems and opera- tions. Client protection regulation – Regulatory systems are established to ensure that providers are transparent with respect to pricing, avoid over-indebting their clients, and treat clients fairly. Collateral and secured transactions reform – Providing a stronger legal framework for lending through collateral registries, property rights reform, and improved court processes. Commercial bank downscaling – Commercial banks install operations to serve lower-income clients, either in their own organizations or by creating subsidiaries. Competition – Many financial institutions vying to serve a limited clientele can improve the prices and quality of products. Correspondent/Agent banking – Using existing retailers and retail networks (e.g. post offices, gas stations, etc.) as banking agents to cut providers' costs and help them expand to rural and remote areas. Credit bureaus – Enabling financial institutions to share information on borrowers' repayment histories and total debt. Directed credit/service mandates – Policies requiring providers to target certain products or client segments, such as Prior- ity Sector Lending requirements in India and CRA in the US. expanding the range of products – Development of new products for the poor such as: affordable housing finance, micro- insurance, savings, and loans for education, agriculture, and energy. expansion and improvement of microfinance associations – Industry associations can provide consumer and public edu- cation services, improve the industry's public relations and lobbying capacity, and provide a venue for pursuing sector- level projects. Financial education – Teaching clients how to manage financial resources, use services appropriately, and understand their consumer rights. Full-inclusion financial institutions – Microfinance and other financial institutions provide a full product range to lower- income clients: credit, savings, insurance, and payments. Improved demand-side information – Information on who lacks financial access and what kind of services they need. Improved regulation and supervision of microfinance – And other financial institutions oriented to the low-income market. linking government transfers to deposit accounts – Delivery of government benefits through deposit accounts or ATM cards to encourage new client outreach. Mandates to provide no-frills bank accounts – Governments require banks to offer low-income clients a simple product without a minimum deposit balance or maintenance fee. Matched savings and/or cash transfer schemes – Programs that incentivize savings by contributing an amount to a sav- ings account that depends on the amount put away by the saver. Microfinance transformation – Turning non-profit microfinance institutions into licensed financial institutions to allow them to provide more services and tap the capital markets to fund growth. Mobile (branch) banking – The use of transportable banking outlets (e.g. "banks on wheels") to reach rural or remote loca- tion with thin population density. Mobile (phone) banking – Creation of mobile money and use of mobile phones to conduct financial transactions. national identification documentation – Providing identification for all citizens to help individuals easily open a bank ac- count, register with a credit bureau, or take out a loan. non-traditional providers – Major corporations (non-financial) (e.g. Wal-Mex, Cemex, Western Union) can offer financial services to their customers. Product bundling and cross-selling – Practices in which providers group services (e.g. selling insurance together with cred- it) or sell existing clients a new product (e.g. marketing savings to borrowers) to decrease costs of offering new products. Prudential regulation and supervision (in general) – Preventing bank failures, inflation, and unreliable financial markets lays the foundation for inclusion. Reaching out to new client groups – Child and youth, rural and remote, disabled, marginalized groups, etc. Self-regulation – Institutions that allow microfinance institutions to develop commonly agreed-upon standards and moni- tor themselves for compliance without requiring formal government oversight. State bank reform – Making government-owned banks that serve the poor more financially viable and improving the qual- ity of their services. Strengthening financial infrastructure for electronic (non-cash) transactions – Making ATMs and POS devices more cost-efficient and user-friendly (e.g. multilingual or deposit-taking ATMs). Village savings and loan associations/self-help groups – Local, informal groups (that save and lend to each other) can meet financial needs when formal providers cannot. SURVEY REPORT Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International 33 Appendix Table 2. Definitions: Obstacles Appropriate funding – Lack of funding in appropriate forms from a reliable mix of local and international sources. This would include foreign exchange risk problems. Client risk – Many currently excluded segments are not suitable clients for financial services. Commercially oriented entrants – Actors lacking social motivation that enter either as investors (e.g. private equity funds) or as providers (e.g. consumer lenders) deflect financial inclusion efforts from focusing on benefiting clients. Costs of building/operating branches – High fixed and running costs make branches an expensive delivery channel for poor neighborhoods and sparsely populated areas. Documentation requirements – Policies for opening accounts or borrowing (e.g. Anti-Money Laundering/Know Your Cus- tomer policies) create barriers for poor people who lack required forms of identification. Financial regulatory priorities – Prudential regulation that prioritizes stability over access may tilt service providers away from pursuing inclusion. Impact of financial inclusion – Lack of evidence that access to financial services alleviates poverty. Inadequate client protection – Client protections ensuring that services are transparent, fair, and appropriate for their cus- tomers are not well-developed among providers or regulators. Inadequate regulatory framework for providers to the poor – Weak regulation and supervision of microfinance institu- tions and other institutions dedicated to serving the poor, such as policies preventing them from taking deposits. Insufficient infrastructure – Underdeveloped transportation, communication, and power grid structures limit delivery of financial services in rural and remote areas. lack of credit bureaus – Insufficient information about borrowers' debt and repayment history limits providers' ability to assess repayment capacity, discouraging them from serving new, poorer clients. lack of demographic information on the excluded – Insufficient demographic and geographic data about the financially excluded prevents appropriate action. lack of interest by providers and policymakers – Providers may not try to reach low-income clients because they do not believe that the poor can be viable clients. Policymakers may not promote inclusion if they do not value it. lack of network cooperation – Delivery channels like mobile banking and correspondent banking need a critical level of participation (by agents, telecoms, clients, etc.) or interoperability to generate value. limited financial literacy – Prospective clients lack knowledge about comparing and using financial services, running a business, and personal finance. limited institutional capacity among microfinance institutions and other providers to the poor –Many institutions that serve low-income clients face staff, management, and governance constraints that keep them from developing fully. limited know-how of mainstream providers – Mainstream financial service providers lack sufficient understanding of how to design, price, and market financial services to low-income people. limited understanding of client needs – There is too little market research about the financial elements of clients' life- styles—such as cash flow and asset accumulation—to promote the design of valuable services. Microfinance's single-product approach – Microfinance is overwhelmingly microcredit; many microfinance institutions have been unable to significantly broaden their product range. negative press image – Unfavorable criticism of microfinance casts doubts on financial inclusion as a legitimate develop- ment effort. non-business-friendly environment – Corrupt officials, stifling bureaucracies, and political instability prevent institutions from forming and growing. Political interference – Politicians advocate harmful policies for political gain; no-repayment movements or debt protests hinder operations of financial service providers. Poor business practices – Financial institutions that poach staff and clients, use abusive collections practices, pursue exces- sive profits, and over-indebt clients hurt the whole industry. Product cost-structures – Current operating and delivery methods involve high costs; this results in high prices for low- income clients (sometimes prohibitively so) and inhibits service provision to the poorest and most remote market segments. Public mistrust of financial institutions – Bank failures, unethical practices, and cultural paradigms (e.g. formal banks are for the better-off ) make the poor avoid formal institutions. Regulation that lags technology – Regulation and supervision that do not keep pace with (and therefore slow the spread of ) new technologies. Transient, migrant, displaced populations – People who move frequently are difficult to serve with current products, methodologies, and delivery channels. unsustainable growth – Rapid growth in already well-covered areas instead of developing new markets that still lack low- income finance providers. Weak industry voice – The providers of financial inclusion are not organized to advocate effectively for their interests with policymakers or to set standards for themselves. Weak legal infrastructure – Weak courts and poorly defined and/or enforced property rights and contractual agreements make it risky or costly for providers to serve low-income clients. 34 Opportunities and Obstacles to Financial Inclusion SURVEY REPORT Appendix II. The Survey and Who Took It The survey presented two lists—an opportunities list Appendix Figure 1. Respondents by Industry and an obstacles list. Each contained 30 items. Re- spondents were asked to select, but not rank, the most 14 3 2 1 important ten items in each list. In a second step, re- 16 spondents were asked to select the three items from their own top ten that they judge most important. The 17 top ten question aimed to gauge which opportunities and obstacles are perceived as generally important, while the top three question sought to identify items 121 perceived as more urgent. 48 The diversity of opinion about the 30 opportunities and obstacles was great. All of the items were per- ceived by individuals as important (meaning that all items were selected by at least some respondents in their top ten). The answers to the top three question are even more widely dispersed, show even less con- 79 sensus, and are not as telling. The analysis in this Support organization, including network, report focuses on how people answered the top ten consultant, rater, etc. question, unless noted. Financial service provider Investor The survey was in English, Spanish, and French. Donor There were 301 complete responses, and they form Government or regulatory body the basis for the results presented here. It was carried out from January through March, 2011. Research or academic organization Private company, not a financial institution In keeping with the stakeholders with whom the (e.g. technology, telecommunications company) Center for Financial Inclusion works most often, Other most of the 301 people who answered this survey Student work in microfinance institutions or in the organiza- Note: n = 301. tions that invest in, promote, advise, or analyze mi- crofinance institutions. Thus, these results should be rect providers of financial services, with 79 respons- seen as representing the voice of the microfinance es. The majority of practitioners (75 percent) repre- industry, rather than everyone associated with finan- sented in the survey are microfinance institutions, cial inclusion. relatively evenly split between regulated MFIs and non-profits. The rest of the providers are commercial Respondents by Industry banks (18 percent), cooperatives (3 percent), and other (5 percent). The biggest group of respondents, with 121 re- sponses, came from "support organizations" (see The third group, with 48 responses, was investors. Appendix Figure 1). Support organizations include There is good representation of both debt and equity consultants, networks, technical assistance provid- investors. Donors (17), regulators (16), and academ- ers, raters, and other organizations that provide re- ics (14) together make up 16 percent of respondents, sources, assistance, or advice. and a handful of non-financial service providers (e.g. technology companies) and others round out the rest The second-biggest group was practitioners, or di- of the participants. SURVEY REPORT Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International 35 Appendix Figure 2. Respondents by Region North America and Western Europe were support organizations or investors and stated that they have 9 5 a global perspective. Another way to view to the 10 results is that nearly half of respondents gave rank- 16 ings applicable to the global financial sector while the rest based their responses on the local realities of 26 their region or nation. 129 The survey is not a rigorous scientific survey. Its re- sults should be seen as indicative rather than conclu- sive, as is consistent with its primary aim, to spark 37 discussion and debate. Reading the Rankings. In analyzing responses, we determined the rankings presented here based on 32 the number of people who placed a given item in 37 their top ten group. To illustrate: financial education was the most popular opportunity, since 199 of the North America, Western Europe and Australia 301 respondents (66 percent) placed it among their Africa top ten opportunities. The second-most popular op- Central America and the Caribbean portunity, expanding the range of products, was South America selected by 197 participants (65 percent). The ten highest ranked opportunities and obstacles were se- South Asia lected by at least 40 percent of all respondents (with East Asia and the Pacific one exception). Thus, while there are a number of Eastern Europe and Central Asia very clear messages, readers should keep in mind Middle East and North Africa that there was also a wide range of opinion among Undisclosed responses. Note: n = 301. We checked responses by looking at the top three Respondents by Region rankings (see Appendix III). This question was in- tended to compensate for the possibility that an item The respondents came from 67 countries. The ma- might be ranked high overall because many people jority were from the United States, Canada, West- thought it somewhat important, even though it was ern Europe, and Australia (129). The second-biggest not of greatest importance. As it turned out, the top regional group represented is Latin America with three and top ten rankings were very similar, particu- 37 respondents from South America and another 32 larly for opportunities. The number one opportunity from Central America and the Caribbean. In Asia, overall, financial education, was also the lead oppor- there were 26 respondents from South Asia and 16 tunity in the top three, as it was placed in the top from East Asia and the Pacific. Ten survey partici- three by 32 percent of all respondents. The number pants came from Eastern Europe and Central Asia. two opportunity (mobile phone banking) was cho- Africa brought in 37 responses; another 9 came from sen by only 23 percent of respondents. There were a the Middle East and North Africa. few shifts in sequence, but most of these were not of great moment: mobile phone banking, for example, Additionally, respondents were asked to state if their ranked 3rd overall (top ten), but 2nd among the top work took on a global, regional, or national perspec- three, showing some intensity of opinion about the tive and were instructed to apply that perspective outlook for mobile banking but not changing the pic- in their rankings. Nearly all the respondents from ture significantly. 36 Opportunities and Obstacles to Financial Inclusion SURVEY REPORT Among obstacles, the top ten and top three differed some- Many people took the time to explain their answers what more, in keeping with the general greater diversity in written comments. These comments assist inter- of opinion about obstacles. The number one obstacle pretation and add greatly to the richness of the re- among the top three rankings was political interference, sults. Many comments illustrate the interconnections selected as a top three by 21 percent of respondents. between items on the list. In this report we have at Given that this item ranked only 5th in the overall top times taken the liberty of editing spelling and punc- ten rankings, the likely message is that in those countries tuation, recognizing that survey-takers may not fo- where political interference is a factor, industry partici- cus on dotting every "i" and crossing every "t". pants are highly concerned, while in many or most coun- tries, such interference is simply not present. SURVEY REPORT Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International 37 Appendix III. Results from the 'Top Three' Question Appendix Table 3. Survey Results: Responses to 'Top Three' Question OPPORTunITY ObSTACle 1 Financial education (1) 1 Political interference (5) 2 Mobile (phone) banking (3) 2 Limited understanding of client needs (4) 3 Expanding the range of products (2) 3 Limited institutional capacity among microfinance 4 Client protection regulation (5) institutions and other providers to the poor (2) 5 Capacity-building for microfinance institutions (6) 4 Inadequate regulatory framework for providers to 5 Credit bureaus (3) the poor (8) 7 Correspondent/Agent banking (9) 5 Limited financial literacy (1) 8 Improved regulations and supervision of 6 Product cost-structures (7) microfinance (8) 7 Microfinance's single-product approach (3) 9 Full-inclusion financial institutions (7) 8 Poor business practices (11) 10 Improved demand-side information (10) 9 Insufficient infrastructure (9) 11 Reaching out to new client groups (12) 10 Unsustainable growth (17) 12 Prudential regulation and supervision (13) 11 Lack of credit bureaus (6) 13 Building investor markets (20) 12 Inadequate client protection (10) 14 Village savings and loan associations/self-help 13 Appropriate funding (15) groups (17) 14 Costs of building/operating branches (12) 14 Competition (13) 15 Financial regulatory priorities (21) 16 Mobile (branch) banking (15) 16 Commercially orientated entrants (18) 17 Expansion and improvement of microfinance 17 Regulation that lags technology (20) associations (17) 17 Client risk (28) 18 National identification documentation (15) 19 Weak legal infrastructure (13) 18 Strengthening financial infrastructure for electronic 20 Lack of network cooperation (13) (non-cash) transactions (11) 21 Impact of financial inclusion (23) 18 Microfinance transformation (19) 21 Limited know-how of mainstream providers (15) 21 Collateral and secured transactions reform (22) 23 Weak industry voice (26) 22 Commercial banking downscaling (21) 23 Non-business-friendly environment (19) 23 Matched savings and/or cash transfer schemes (24) 25 Documentation requirements (24) 24 Linking government transfers to deposit 26 Negative press image (29) accounts (26) 27 Lack of interest by providers and policymakers (25) 24 Self-regulation (23) 28 Lack of demographic information on the 26 Non-traditional providers (25) excluded (21) 27 Mandates to provide no-frills bank accounts (28) 29 Public mistrust of financial institutions (27) 28 Product bundling and cross-selling (26) 30 Transient, migrant, displaced populations (30) 28 State bank reform (29) 30 Directed credit/service mandates (30) Note: n=301. Numbers in parentheses indicate the percentage of respondents placing an item in their Top Ten. 38 Opportunities and Obstacles to Financial Inclusion SURVEY REPORT Appendix IV. Results by Stakeholder Group Appendix Figure 3. Survey Results: Opportunities by Stakeholder Financial education Expanding the range of products Credit bureaus Capacity building for microfinance institutions Full-inclusion financial institutions Client protection regulation Mobile (phone) banking Improved regulation and supervision of microfinance Strengthening financial infrastructure for electronic (non-cash) transactions Correspondent/Agent banking Reaching out to new client groups Prudential regulation and supervision (in general) Microfinance transformation Competition Expansion and improvement of microfinance associations Building investor markets National identification documentation Mobile (branch) banking Product bundling and cross-selling Improved demand-side information Collateral and secured transactions reform Self-regulation Village savings and loan associations/self-help groups Commercial bank downscaling Linking government transfers to deposit accounts Non-traditional providers Matched savings and/or cash transfer schemes Mandates to provide no-frills bank accounts Support Organizations State bank reform Investors Directed credit/service mandates Providers 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Percentage of respondents placing item in their Top Ten Note: n=248. MFIs = microfinance institutions. Opportunities are listed in order of the providers' rankings. SURVEY REPORT Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International 39 Appendix Figure 4. Survey Results: Obstacles by Stakeholder Costs of building/operating branches Political interference Limited understanding of client needs Lack of credit bureaus Limited institutional capacity among MFIs and other providers to the poor Product cost-structures Limited financial literacy Microfinance's single-product approach Insufficient infrastructure Inadequate regulatory framework for providers to the poor Lack of network cooperation Poor business practices Weak legal infrastructure Non-business-friendly environment Lack of demographic information on the excluded Appropriate funding Financial regulatory priorities Commercially oriented entrants Client risk Regulation that lags technology Weak industry voice Unsustainable growth Public mistrust of financial institutions Support Organizations Negative press image Investors Impact of financial inclusion Providers Documentation requirements Limited know-how of mainstream providers Lack of interest by providers and policymakers Inadequate client protection Transient, migrant, displaced populations 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Percentage of respondents placing item in their Top Ten Note: n=248. MFIs = microfinance institutions. Obstacles are listed in order of the providers' rankings. 40 Opportunities and Obstacles to Financial Inclusion SURVEY REPORT Appendix V. Results by Region Appendix Figure 5. Survey Results: Opportunities in Africa Expanding the range of products Mobile (phone) banking Capacity building for microfinance institutions Financial education Credit bureaus National identification documentation Client protection regulation Full-inclusion financial institutions Reaching out to new client groups Strengthening financial infrastructure for electronic (non-cash) transactions Correspondent/Agent banking Village savings and loan associations/self-help groups Expansion and improvement of microfinance associations Microfinance transformation Mobile (branch) banking Improved regulation and supervision of microfinance Collateral and secured transactions reform Building investor markets Self-regulation Improved demand-side information Prudential regulation and supervision (in general) Competition Matched savings and/or cash transfer schemes Commercial bank downscaling Product bundling and cross-selling Linking government transfers to deposit accounts Mandates to provide no-frills bank accounts State bank reform All Respondents Non-traditional providers Africa Directed credit/service mandates 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Percentage of respondents placing item in their Top Ten Note: n=37. Opportunities are listed in order of the Africa rankings. SURVEY REPORT Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International 41 Appendix Figure 6. Survey Results: Obstacles in Africa Limited institutional capacity among MFIs and other providers to the poor Limited financial literacy Insufficient infrastructure Political interference Lack of credit bureaus Costs of building/operating branches Limited understanding of client needs Poor business practices Documentation requirements Product cost-structures Inadequate client protection Inadequate regulatory framework for providers to the poor Weak legal infrastructure Limited know-how of mainstream providers Appropriate funding Public mistrust of financial institutions Microfinance's single-product approach Commercially oriented entrants Non-business-friendly environment Weak industry voice Lack of network cooperation Lack of interest by providers and policymakers Negative press image Unsustainable growth Lack of demographic information on the excluded Transient, migrant, displaced populations Financial regulatory priorities Client risk All Respondents Regulation that lags technology Africa Impact of financial inclusion 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Percentage of respondents placing item in their Top Ten Note: n=37. MFIs = microfinance institutions. Obstacles are listed in order of the Africa rankings. 42 Opportunities and Obstacles to Financial Inclusion SURVEY REPORT Appendix Figure 7. Survey Results: Opportunities in Asia Capacity building for microfinance institutions Expanding the range of products Financial education Credit bureaus Client protection regulation Mobile (phone) banking Full-inclusion financial institutions Improved regulation and supervision of microfinance Village savings and loan associations/self-help groups National identification documentation Expansion and improvement of microfinance associations Reaching out to new client groups Strengthening financial infrastructure for electronic (non-cash) transactions Improved demand-side information Prudential regulation and supervision (in general) Self-regulation Correspondent/Agent banking Competition Mobile (branch) banking Commercial bank downscaling Collateral and secured transactions reform Microfinance transformation Product bundling and cross-selling Building investor markets Matched savings and/or cash transfer schemes Linking government transfers to deposit accounts State bank reform Non-traditional providers All Respondents Mandates to provide no-frills bank accounts Asia Directed credit/service mandates 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Percentage of respondents placing item in their Top Ten Note: n=42. Opportunities are listed in order of the Asia rankings. SURVEY REPORT Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International 43 Appendix Figure 8. Survey Results: Obstacles in Asia Limited understanding of client needs Limited financial literacy Inadequate regulatory framework for providers to the poor Political interference Limited institutional capacity among MFIs and other providers to the poor Lack of credit bureaus Microfinance's single-product approach Inadequate client protection Product cost-structures Poor business practices Costs of building/operating branches Insufficient infrastructure Commercially oriented entrants Weak legal infrastructure Lack of demographic information on the excluded Unsustainable growth Transient, migrant, displaced populations Negative press image Limited know-how of mainstream providers Appropriate funding Non-business-friendly environment Lack of network cooperation Lack of interest by providers and policymakers Financial regulatory priorities Documentation requirements Client risk Impact of financial inclusion Weak industry voice All Respondents Regulation that lags technology Asia Public mistrust of financial institutions 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Percentage of respondents placing item in their Top Ten Note: n=42. Obstacles are listed in order of the Asia rankings. 44 Opportunities and Obstacles to Financial Inclusion SURVEY REPORT Appendix Figure 9. Survey Results: Opportunities in latin America Financial education Expanding the range of products Mobile (phone) banking Credit bureaus Client protection regulation Capacity building for microfinance institutions Full-inclusion financial institutions Improved regulation and supervision of microfinance Correspondent/Agent banking Improved demand-side information Strengthening financial infrastructure for electronic (non-cash) transactions Reaching out to new client groups Prudential regulation and supervision (in general) Competition National identification documentation Mobile (branch) banking Village savings and loan associations/self-help groups Expansion and improvement of microfinance associations Microfinance transformation Building investor markets Commercial bank downscaling Collateral and secured transactions reform Self-regulation Matched savings and/or cash transfer schemes Non-traditional providers Product bundling and cross-selling Linking government transfers to deposit accounts All Respondents Mandates to provide no-frills bank accounts South Amerca State bank reform Directed credit/service mandates Central America 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Percentage of respondents placing item in their Top Ten Note: South America n=37; Central America and the Caribbean n= 32. Opportuniteis are listed in order of the general rankings. SURVEY REPORT Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International 45 Appendix Figure 10. Survey Results: Obstacles in latin America Limited financial literacy Limited institutional capacity among microfinance institutions and other providers to the poor Microfinance's single-product approach Limited understanding of client needs Political interference Lack of credit bureaus Product cost-structures Inadequate regulatory framework for providers to the poor Insufficient infrastructure Inadequate client protection Poor business practices Costs of building/operating branches Weak legal infrastructure Lack of network cooperation Limited know-how of mainstream providers Appropriate funding Unsustainable growth Commercially oriented entrants Non-business-friendly environment Regulation that lags technology Lack of demographic information on the excluded Financial regulatory priorities Impact of financial inclusion Documentation requirements Lack of interest by providers and policymakers Weak industry voice Public mistrust of financial institutions All Respondents Client risk South Amerca Negative press image Central America Transient, migrant, displaced populations 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Percentage of respondents placing item in their Top Ten Note: South America n=37; Central America and the Caribbean n= 32. Obstacles are listed in order of the general rankings. 46 Opportunities and Obstacles to Financial Inclusion SURVEY REPORT Cover Photograph Photographer Credit: John Rae for ACCION International. Caption: Jamila Jiendeleze, cupcake business owner and client of ACCION partner Akiba Commercial Bank in Tanzania. The CenTer for finanCial inClusion pursues the proposition that low-income people deserve high-quality financial services and that these services can best be provided through commercial models that incorporate social purpose. The Center works on behalf of the microfinance industry as a whole, serving as a bridge to leverage private sector interest in microfinance. In collaboration with others, the Center works to bring the best minds and expertise to bear on industry problems. We are outcomes-focused, setting specific goals and measures of accountability for real-world change. www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org