financial inclusion

Portsmouth Business School was delighted to host the recent 5th European Research Conference on Microfinance from 12th to 14th June in England. Thankfully the weather gods obliged with over 130 delegates attending the event over each of the three days. A mix of established researchers with a number of leading practitioners infused the financial inclusion debate with insights and thought-provoking panel presentations. Topical themes across gender, Islamic microfinance, Fintech, research and the future of microfinance were probed in wide-ranging panel discussions. The event was opened by Andy Thorpe (Portsmouth Business School) and Christoph Pausch (e-MFP) and commenced by asking whether microfinance would live to the year 2030, a chilling prospect in itself. If so, under what guise would it do so – is there still the well-trodden ‘promise’ of microfinance? What are the challenges to its realisation? In the opening session chaired by Dirk Zetzsche (University of Luxembourg) perspectives were shared by Marek Hudon (Université Libre de Bruxelles and CERMi), Annette Krauss (University of Zurich), Sam Mendelson (Financial Inclusion Forum UK and Arc Finance) and Kimanthi Mutua (Sidian Bank Kenya). The panellists set the tone for the ensuing debate across increasing risks and regulation in the sector, the likelihood or not of possible downscaling by commercial banks and upscaling by microfinance institutions and the growing need for institutions to have appropriate strategies to survive. The panel arrived at a broad consensus as to the requirement to adjust to increasingly emerging technology-driven solutions in the context of growing levels of private capital and related product solutions offered by new market participants.

Financial Inclusion. Housing. How often have you seen the two concepts appear together? If you think rarely – you’re not alone. Housing finance is that mysterious niche that crops up from time to time, but rarely makes headlines in our sector. And that’s both a conundrum and a shame. Housing is a core human need and a top investment priority for families anywhere. Whether rich or poor, housing is often the single largest capital investment these families will ever make, that is to say, it cries out for effective products to help finance it. Unsurprisingly, housing finance is a core of financial services in wealthy nations. Indeed, if you’re over 40, chances are that a home mortgage is the single largest loan that you, dear reader, ever held. And yet in the financial inclusion and microfinance sector, housing gets notoriously short shrift. Habitat for Humanity, the world’s leading NGO dedicated to housing, estimates that while 1.2 billion people need improved shelter, just 2% of microfinance portfolios are dedicated to housing.

Last week saw two nearly identical financial scandals hit two very different parts of the world. One was the revelation that Wells Fargo, one of the leading US banks, had falsely created some 2 million accounts for customers who never asked for them and were largely unaware of their existence. The other was about banks in India secretly depositing 1 rupee (0.015 euro) into their customer’s accounts. What’s remarkable is the sheer silliness of the scandals – for the most part, this was not a case of money being stolen or fraudulently taken from customers. Instead, the scandals were being driven by the need to meet targets. In the case of Wells Fargo, staff were under pressure to meet sales goals. In the case of India, the banks needed to comply with government targets aimed at expanding savings accounts to financially excluded populations. In both cases staff managed to meet the targets, while completely missing the objectives the targets were meant to achieve. The financial writer Matt Levine put this brilliantly: “Measurement is sort of an evil genie: It grants your wishes, but it takes them just a bit too literally.”