Author: Georgina Vázquez - Calmeadow
Today, the microfinance industry is much more than microloans. New products have been included in microfinance’s offering of financial products. Complementary products such as savings, remittances, and insurance, among others, are commonly offered by microfinance institutions (MFIs), and give them comparative advantages allowing them to differentiate themselves, in order to retain their clients and ensure their own growth. As part of that change in the international microfinance scenery, we have witnessed many MFIs around the world expanding beyond micro loans to include SME loans. Such decision, many times deemed as a “natural growth path”, is caused by more competitive markets that make it more difficult for MFIs to retain traditional clients, higher costs for regulated MFIs, and a natural pursuit of continued growth. Under those circumstances, many MFIs have considered the possibility of “crossing over,” offering loans in higher amounts to their own clients and seeking to enter a new market segment: small and medium enterprise loans (SME loans).
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