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Author: MicroCapital team
MicroCapital: How is it different evaluating lenders to SMEs versus microlenders? Lucia Spaggiari: One difference is the language used. For instance, SME lenders speak of “sustainable performance” more than “social performance.” Beyond language, a key difference is scale. By definition, SME lending requires a larger balance sheet, and this means complying with prudential regulation and attracting investors expecting to earn (at least) market returns. Laura Foose: Based on investor demand expressed at the European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP) Investor Action Group meeting at European Microfinance Week 2016 and the March 2017 Social Performance Task Force (SPTF) Social Investors Working Group, we have been exploring how best to evaluate the environmental and social performance of SME finance institutions. We began by mapping the ESG frameworks of four development finance institutions (DFIs) and then surveyed our member microfinance investment vehicles to learn what indicators were most important to them. The high quality of the DFIs’ tools was very helpful in designing an evaluation framework that is feasible for our member funds’ smaller investments.

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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).