1、 外文翻译 原文 Mainstreaming MicrofinanceQuo Vadis Microfinance Investments? Material Source： Ingrid Matthus-Maier J.D von Pischke Microfinane Investment Fund M Spring， 2007 Author： Klaus Glaubitt,Hanns Martin Hagen,and Haje Schtte MicrofinancePast and Present Microfinance is a relatively new term.Its roo
2、ts lie in the 1970s when tiny,subsidised loans were provided to low-income groups with a focus on the agricultural sector.With the failure of the donor-sponsored development banks that typically provided these services in developing countries through the 1980s(Gonzalez-Vega 2003),microfinance gained
3、 momentum and began to expand at break-neck speed.Donor-dependent microcredit programmes were implemented by non-governmental microcredit organisations(MCOs).These organisations successfully issued loans to poor households and microenterprises in the informal sector.The most important effect of thes
4、e pivotal efforts was to demonstrate that the target groups(micro and small enterprises and poor households and individuals)were bankable even though they did not possess the usual marketable collateral.In spite of this important achievement,the overall developmental impact remained meagre,primarily
5、 for the following reasons: the range of microfinance services was restricted to credit, regional outreach was limited and the number of clients was small. Moreover,these microcredit initiatives often lacked a systematic approach,leading to the prevalence of fragmented projects without a sound visio
6、n.And,they were heavily dependant on external grant funding. The 1990s saw the emergence of microfinance programmes that sought gradual integration into the finance sector.Financial sustainability became a key concept and the objective of many microfinance practitioners and specialists.They viewed c
7、ost-covering operations as an imperative.This development was based on the realisation that only a financially viable institution could gain the trust of the target group that would be necessary to mobilise savings or to attract dual-objective private investors seeking development impact as well as
8、meeting financial objectives.Consequently,there was a proliferation of microfinance models.These included,for example,the Grameen Bank,the scaling-up of MCOs into licensed microfinance banks championed by Accin International,or the establishment of greenfield specialised microfinance banks such as t
9、he ProCredit model,all of which aimed at integrating microfinance into the mainstream financial system. By the end of the 1990s,an institutional framework was created that could increase outreach on a large scale and offer a variety of microfinance products.An example is the creation of networks of
10、microfinance institutions(MFIs),such as the ProCredit Banks(discussed below)that enable these specialised microfinance banks to provide a broad range of retail financial services such as credit,savings products and money transfers for low income households on an unprecedented scale.By doing so,they
11、empower economically weak sections of society by giving them the tools to improve their standard of living.The rapid growth of these institutions was made possible through funding provided from a group of public and private institutions,among them KfW Entwicklungsbank.1 The UN has designated 2005 as
12、 the Year of Microcredit(YOM),demonstrating that microfinance is now well established on the international development agenda.There is a widely acknowledged track record of successful MFIs.Their operations prove that banking the“unbankable”is commercially viable and that this target group of the wor
13、king poor wants access to a broad range of services: credit,money transfers,savings and other financial products.Contrary to expectations,the solid portfolio quality of mainstream MFIs shows that uncollaterised loans are repaid.Even weaker MFIs in developing countries and transition economies often
14、show a portfolio at risk(balances in accounts affected by a delay in loan repayment of greater than 30 days)of less than 5%.Moreover,MFIs in urban areas have succeeded in implementing cost-covering delivery mechanisms, allowing them to operate in a sustainable manner.These experiences have convinced
15、 even the strongest sceptics that financial services can be extended to microenterprises and households in ways that benefit both the private financial sector and the rest of the economy.Successful microfinance projects provide an excellent example of a development process that does not by-pass the
16、poor but that is driven by them. As a consequence,the meaning of“microfinance”has altered in the course of the two decades since the term was coined.Only a few years ago it meant,“a credit methodology that employs effective collateral substitutes to deliver and recover short-term,working capital loa
17、ns to microentrepreneurs”(CGAP 2003).Today the term encompasses a broad range of financial services,including microcredit,sav ings,insurance and money transfers. There is a general consensus that 2005 marked yet another shift:microfinance services are no longer considered a niche market confined to
18、the development community and carried out solely by specialised MFIs.Rather,it is apparent that for microfinance to achieve its full potential,it must be fully integrated into the financial systems of transition and developing countries.Full integration requires access to vast amounts of human,physi
19、cal,and financial resources and management know-how(ADB 2005).To become fully integrated into the mainstream financial sector,microfinance must be driven by private commercial actors.This process will open increasing opportunities for new strategic partnerships between MFIs and the private sector th
20、at will help MFIs expand their range of products and services,and reach more low-income households in a sustainable manner.These partnerships provide MFIs not only with critical expertise and a point of entry into the mainstream,but also offer socially and financially rewarding opportunities for inv
21、estors(KFW 2005). Lessons LearntMainstreaming Microfinance Is Key Studies by the World Bank,the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor(CGAP), the Department for International Development(DFID)and others demonstrate the effectiveness of the promotion of financial sector development.Research has long c
22、onfirmed that financial development boosts overall long-term economic growth. Recent studies highlight the fact that development of financial intermediaries is pro-poor because it reduces income inequality,disproportionately boosting the income of the poor and reducing poverty(Beck et al 2004).These
23、 studies indicate that microfinance can contribute to the UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG)of halving world poverty by 2015(Littlefield et al 2003).In this respect, MFIs are vehicles that reduce poverty.This research is supported by KfWs first-hand experience with the MFIs it has sponsored,such a
24、s ACLEDA Bank in Cambodia,SEWA Bank in India,Credit Mongol in Mongolia and ProCredit Bank Ukraine.This experience shows that microfinance services help poor people to diversify and increase their sources of income and empower women to confront systemic gender inequities. A Comprehensive Strategy to
25、Mainstream Microfinance For many years KfW Entwicklungsbank has pursued a comprehensive strategy that has as its core objective increased access to microfinance services and to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises.A cornerstone of this strategy is the promotion of complementary approaches:
26、 1.Greenfield approach(founding of new MFIs)and establishment of a microfinance network. 2.Down-scaling approach:restructuring local commercial banks that are willing to commit themselves to microfinance. 3.Up-grading approach:transformation of MCOs into microfinance banks. 4.Linking approach:connec
27、ting MFIs with the national or international banking market. In the majority of transition economies and developing countries in which it operates,KfW implements these approaches simultaneously to foster competition and to contribute efficiently to the sound development of the finance sector. KFWs s
28、trategy aims to integrate MFIs into the financial system.It also seeks to re-orient the business model of mainstream financial institutions by expanding their client focus and product range to include micro,small and medium-sized enter- prises.The appropriateness of this comprehensive strategy has b
29、een confirmed by World Bank research that underlines the pro-poor impact of a strong mainstream financial system and the complementary and overlapping roles that microfinance and mainstream finance play in tackling poverty(Honohan 2004). Greenfield Approach The success of specialised microfinance ba
30、nks is demonstrated by their strong growth record in providing financial services to the poor in a financially sustainable way.This performance is based on a clear vision and strategy that firmly positions MFIs as integrated players in mainstream finance.Outstanding examples include the ProCredit Ba
31、nks2 mentioned above,and the Microfinance Bank of Azerbaijan,which began operations with a full banking license and a strategy to provide its clientsmicro and small enterprises as well as low-income households-with an entire range of financial services on a commercial basis. The success of the ProCr
32、edit Banks led to the creation of Internationale Micro Investitionen AG(IMI AG)in 1998,and to its successor,ProCredit Holding AG, in 2005 as a specialised microfinance investment fund with equity participation in 19 ProCredit Banks.These banks do not ask for preferential treatment or continuing gran
33、ts from donors,and they conform to banking law.In 2004,IMIs equity in the ProCredit Banks was increased to a majority holding by“swapping”the shares of the various owners for shares in ProCredit Holding AG.This makes it possible to manage the ProCredit banks strategically as a single business group
34、consisting of a network of microfinance banks.Gains are created from efficiency and synergy in liquidity management,auditing,corporate culture,business polices,funding for lending activities,and other areas.Surplus liquidity of the ProCredit Bank in Kosovo for example,can be channelled to microfinan
35、ce institutions in the net- work which require liquidity.ProCredit Bank Holding AG has vowed to maintain its target group orientation and to prevent“mission drift”. Up-grading Approach As noted,MCOs have demonstrated their value as development instruments that reach the poor.While there have been a
36、number of outstanding success stories of MCOs that have been transformed into licensed microfinance banks,such as Ban- coSol,ACLEDA or more recently Compartamos(Dugan 2005),many MCOs are severely constrained by their initial status as unlicensed institutions,often non-governmental organisations(NGOs
37、)and sometimes even with no experience with target group finance.Usually endowed with start-up grant funding,they often lack the human,financial and physical resources as well as the management know-how to prosper as financial institutions.Experience shows that up-grading MCOs into licensed financia
38、l institutions and eventually into microfinance banks entails a complex transformation process that requires profound institutional changes which are time-consuming and costly. For those that have the willingness and potential to commit to up-grading,it is crucial to establish an institutional envir
39、onment which ensures their sustainability. First,it is necessary to end the strong dependence of these MFIs on the financial support(grants)of donors and to encourage refinancing via local commercial banks.Second,MFIs have to professionalise in order to meet the regulatory demands of banking law tha
40、t are required for formalisation and for their integration into the banking system. Shortcomings of the up-grading approach are illustrated by MCOs in Bosnia and Herzegovina.These MCOs have a strong commitment to the target group, which are mostly micro and small enterprises.However,as the last majo
41、r donor programmes which fund these MCOsoperations are being phased out,and due to their ambiguous ownership structureas registered NGOs they are unable to at- tract private equitytheir capacity to expand the outreach of their microfinance services is limited.These problems exemplify the institution
42、al fragility of many MCOs.Moreover,they indicate that MFIs relying on a continuous flow of donor grants for operational purposes may eventually end up in a blind alley.While it is difficult to predict how long grants will be available to MFIs,the market is a reliable source for refinancing at all ti
43、mes for MFIs that are well-managed and profitable.3 Most MCOs therefore remain in an“institutional trap:”their initial mission did not include a vision and strategy to become part of the mainstream financial sector.While this may imply a waste of energy and resources,it has broader implications for
44、the development of the microfinance industry at large.Recent surveys and research on the global scale of outreach and the financial depth of MFIs(or alternative financial institutions4)generally show that the few countries in which MFIs have comparatively high penetration ratios are characterised no
45、t by numer- ous MFIs but by a few large-scale operations(Christen et al 2004,Honohan 2004).Investing in the growth of a few high-performing MFIs therefore seems a wiser strategy than endowing numerous hopefuls Downscaling Approach Evaluations indicate that the establishment of new microfinance banks
46、 has been more successful than the restructuring of local commercial banks committed to microfinance through the“downscaling approach”(Glaubitt,Schtte 2004). One of the main criticisms of down-scaling is the limited outreach to the target group that these local commercial banks achieve in providing
47、financial services to microenterprises.Their focus on small and medium-sized enterprises rather than microenterprises is often criticised as a lack of success.However,it would be detrimental to microfinance to concentrate only on the greenfield approach. KFWs experience is that local commercial bank
48、s often imitate the successful strategy and instruments of greenfield microfinance banks when confronted by their strong performance.This experience affirms the recent argument that greater competition in the financial sector is good for business(Claessens 2005).The latest research indicates also a
49、strong correlation between the provision of financial services to small enterprises and economic growth.It seems that one of the main ways in which financial sector development accelerates economic growth is by removing growth constraints on small firms(Beck et al 2005). The mixed results of classical down-scaling projects have led to their modification.The new approach stresses commercial bankscommitment of their own funds and co-investment in their institutional strengthening.Accin International has successfully established service and distribut
