The new microfinance handbook : [electronic resource] a financial market system perspective / edited by Joanna Ledgerwood, with Julie Earne and Candace Nelson

Includes bibliographical references and index

Understanding demand and the financial ecosystem. The evolving financial landscape / Joanna Ledgerwood and Alan Gibson ; Clients / Stuart Rutherford, Daryl Collins, and Susan Johnson ; The role of government and industry in financial inclusion / Stefan Staschen and Candace Nelson ; The role of donors in financial inclusion / Mayada El-Zoghbi and Barbara Ghwiler ; Measuring financial inclusion and assessing impact / Joanna Ledgerwood -- Financial service providers. Community-based providers / Candace Nelson ; Institutional providers / Joanna Ledgerwood -- Financial services and delivery channels. Savings services / Joanna Ledgerwood ; Credit / Joanna Ledgerwood and Julie Earne ; Agricultural finance / Calvin Miller ; Insurance / Craig Churchill ; Payment services and delivery channels / Joyce Lehman and Joanna Ledgerwood ; Beyond products : building integrated customer experiences on mobile phones / Ignacio Mas -- Institutional management for scale and sustainability. Monitoring and managing financial and social performance / Joanna Ledgerwood, Geraldine O'Keeffe, and Ines Arevalo ; Governance and managing operations / Peter McConaghy -- Supporting financial inclusion. Funding / Julie Earne and Lisa Sherk ; Regulation / Kate Lauer and Stefan Staschen ; Infrastructure and outsourced support services / Geraldine O'Keeffe, Julie Earne, Joakim Vincze, and Peter McConaghy ; Building inclusive financial markets / David Ferrand

The New Microfinance Handbook takes a market systems approach to financial inclusion, oriented by client needs. Framing the book with the client as the central element recognizes the emerging awareness that financial needs of the poor are many and are provided by multiple market players beyond the scope of any single institutional form. The book explores the fundamentals of this expanded view through examining client needs (demand), products and providers (supply), and the support systems required to increase financial access to the poor with a focus on operational support, rules and regulations, infrastructure and delivery channels, information, and funding. The objective of the New Microfinance Handbook is to provide a strategic guide to help assess the financial service needs of the poor and to determine how a diversified financial sector can address these needs. The New Microfinance Handbook takes a different approach from the original Microfinance Handbook. Rather than write from the institutional perspective (supply driven), this time we consider first and foremost the clients and their needs (demand side) and how the market can better meet their needs. The result is a book which is less of a how-to guide but rather a description of financial markets and how they work, or do not work, in serving the needs of the poor and what is needed to improve the market. The book aims to facilitate access to and usage of financial products and services that genuinely meet the many needs of the poor through various sustainable financial service providers