Responsible Finance in Eastern Europe and Central Asia: Measuring Over-Indebtedness
IFC developed a market indebtedness assessment tool in Bosnia and Herzegovina that allows an assessment of the extent of the over-indebtedness problem.
Case Studies
Ghana: Promising Results from a Concerted Approach with Multiple Stakeholders
A GIZ/BMZ initiative with multiple Ghanaian stakeholders shows the effectiveness and challenges of a multiplayer initiative across several responsible finance pillars.
Responsible Finance: Stories of Impact in Bosnia-Herzegovina
This Case Study shows how IFC focused its earliest efforts to provide debt counseling for over-indebted clients in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A decade of implementation lessons learned from this first financial education and debt counseling initiative continues to be adapted, and is expanding into other parts of Europe and Central Asia.
Responsible Finance: Stories of Impact in India
This Case Study provided early lessons of experience in India's microfinance sector. IFC has worked with its clients on product design, process optimization, grievance mechanisms, and risk-management, applying responsible finance practices to these areas. Find out more about IFC's recent work in supporting sustainable and responsible finance practices in India, and their positive outcomes for women.
The India Microfinance Story: Putting the Focus on Borrowers
This case study shares the lessons learned during the implementation of components of the Responsible Finance program of IFC’s advisory Services—and how that program is having a clear and defined impact on India’s microfinance industry.
Serving China’s Frontier Regions through Sustainable, Prudent Financial Inclusion
This case study uses recent projects in China to show how responsible finance is breaking new ground for IFC in microfinance, enhancing IFC's relationships with its existing partners, and providing demonstration results to share with potential new partners, within the microfinance sector and beyond.
Factors Influencing Poverty Outreach Among Microfinance Institutions: Ecuador
Ecuador has exhibited impressive resilience to the effects of the global financial crisis of 2008, given that two of its main sources of foreign earnings were simultaneously hit and that it is a dolarized economy and thus has constrained access to macroeconomic tools.
Factors Influencing Poverty Outreach Among Microfinance Institutions: Bolivia
The Global Microscope 2013 report placed Bolivia second in the ranking of best business environments to foster microfinance, after Peru, citing a strong and supportive regulatory framework.
Factors Influencing Poverty Outreach Among Microfinance Institutions: Nicaragua
The microfinance sector in Nicaragua is undergoing a process of consolidation and recovery after being faced with an array of challenges between 2008 and 2011.
Anatolian Banking Keys to Success in Serving Craftsmen, Micro, and Small Enterprises
Many banks around the world have been successful by focusing their serves around micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) banking. However, there is a tendency for such banks to focus on the higher end of the MSME market, avoiding the risks and administrative costs that come with serving smaller businesses.