To anyone familiar with banking in the rich world, the world of microfinance can seem rather odd. The main providers have not been motivated by anything as straightforward as making money, at least until recently. The core of the industry today consists of some three dozen multinational networks of microfinance providers, which despite their superficial similarities and inspirational rhetoric compete fiercely and fight over everything. The main areas of strategic disagreement are whether the financial needs of the poor are best met by group or individual loans; by market or capped interest rates; by catering for all the poor or only the very poorest; by concentrating on credit only or offering savings accounts and insurance too; and whether financial services should be provided alone or in conjunction with education, health care and, in a few cases, religion.
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