IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v39y2011i6p949-965.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does Regulatory Supervision Curtail Microfinance Profitability and Outreach?

Author

Listed:
  • Cull, Robert
  • Demirgüç-Kunt, Asli
  • Morduch, Jonathan

Abstract

Summary Regulation allows microfinance institutions to take deposits and expand their banking functions, but complying with regulation can be costly. We examine implications for institutions' profitability and their outreach to small-scale borrowers and women, using a newly-constructed dataset on 245 leading institutions. Controlling for the non-random assignment of supervision via treatment effects and instrumental variables regressions, we find evidence consistent with the hypothesis that profit-oriented microfinance institutions respond to supervision by maintaining profit rates but curtailing outreach to women and customers that are costly to reach. Institutions with a weaker commercial focus instead tend to reduce profitability but maintain outreach.

Suggested Citation

  • Cull, Robert & Demirgüç-Kunt, Asli & Morduch, Jonathan, 2011. "Does Regulatory Supervision Curtail Microfinance Profitability and Outreach?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 949-965, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:39:y:2011:i:6:p:949-965
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X11000519
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hartarska, Valentina, 2005. "Governance and performance of microfinance institutions in Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(10), pages 1627-1643, October.
    2. Robert Cull & Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Jonathan Morduch, 2009. "Microfinance Meets the Market," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 23(1), pages 167-192, Winter.
    3. Suresh de Mel & David McKenzie & Christopher Woodruff, 2009. "Returns to Capital in Microenterprises: Evidence from a Field Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(1), pages 423-423.
    4. Patrick Honohan, 2004. "Financial Sector Policy and the Poor : Selected Findings and Issues," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 14874, April.
    5. Robert Cull & Asli Demirguç-Kunt & Jonathan Morduch, 2007. "Financial performance and outreach: a global analysis of leading microbanks," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(517), pages 107-133, February.
    6. Frederick J. Schroeder, 1985. "Compliance costs and consumer benefits of the electronic fund transfer act : recent survey evidence," Staff Studies 143, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    7. Hartarska, Valentina M., 2005. "Governance and Performance of Microfinance Institutions in Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States," 2005 International Congress, August 23-27, 2005, Copenhagen, Denmark 24568, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    8. David McKenzie & Christopher Woodruff, 2008. "Experimental Evidence on Returns to Capital and Access to Finance in Mexico," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 22(3), pages 457-482, November.
    9. Barth,James R. & Caprio,Gerard & Levine,Ross, 2008. "Rethinking Bank Regulation," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521709309, June.
    10. Valentina Hartarska & Denis Nadolnyak, 2007. "Do regulated microfinance institutions achieve better sustainability and outreach? Cross-country evidence," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(10), pages 1207-1222.
    11. Mersland, Roy & Øystein Strøm, R., 2009. "Performance and governance in microfinance institutions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 662-669, April.
    12. Gregory E. Elliehausen, 1998. "The cost of banking regulation: a review of the evidence," Staff Studies 171, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gutiérrez-Nieto, Begoña & Serrano-Cinca, Carlos, 2019. "20 years of research in microfinance: An information management approach," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 183-197.
    2. Simon Zaby, 2019. "Science Mapping of the Global Knowledge Base on Microfinance: Influential Authors and Documents, 1989–2019," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-21, July.
    3. Niels Hermes & Marek Hudon, 2018. "Determinants Of The Performance Of Microfinance Institutions: A Systematic Review," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(5), pages 1483-1513, December.
    4. Mira Nurmakhanova & Gavin Kretzschmar & Hassouna Fedhila, 2015. "Trade-off between financial sustainability and outreach of microfinance institutions," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 5(2), pages 231-250, December.
    5. Namrata Gupta & Anita Mirchandani, 2020. "Corporate governance and performance of microfinance institutions: recent global evidences," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 24(2), pages 307-326, June.
    6. Cull, Robert & Harten, Sven & Nishida, Ippei & Rusu, Anca Bogdana & Bull, Greta, 2015. "Benchmarking the financial performance, growth, and outreach of greenfield MFIs in Africa," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 92-124.
    7. Karel Janda & Pavel Zetek, 2015. "Mikrofinanční revoluce: kontroverze a výzvy [Microfinance Revolution: Controversies and Challenges]," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2015(1), pages 108-130.
    8. Yimga, Jules, 2018. "Microfinance expansion and its effects on cost efficiency," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 205-216.
    9. Mulualem Getahun Abebe, 2022. "The effect of asset and liability management on the financial performance of microfinance institutions: evidence from sub-Saharan African region," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 1-12, December.
    10. Hermes, Cornelis & Hudon, M., 2018. "Determinants of the Performance of Microfinance Institutions: A Systematic Review," Research Report 2018008, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    11. Bibi, Uzma & Balli, Hatice Ozer & Matthews, Claire D. & Tripe, David W.L., 2018. "New approaches to measure the social performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs)," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 88-97.
    12. Janda, Karel & Zetek, Pavel, 2014. "Mikrofinanční Revoluce: Aktuální Kontroverze A Výzvy [Microfinance Revolution: Recent Controversies And Challenges]," MPRA Paper 54098, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Janda, Karel & Zetek, Pavel, 2014. "Survey of Microfinance Controversies and Challenges," MPRA Paper 56657, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Chrysovalantis Gaganis, 2016. "Assessing the overall performance of microfinance institutions," International Journal of Banking, Accounting and Finance, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 7(1), pages 52-83.
    15. Ahmad Nawaz & Sana Iqbal & Sadaf Ehsan, 2018. "Does Social Performance Drive Corporate Governance Mechanism In Case of Asian MFIs? An Issue of Endogeneity," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 19(4), pages 988-1012, August.
    16. Beisland, Leif Atle & Mersland, Roy & Randøy, Trond, 2014. "The Association between microfinance rating scores and corporate governance: a global survey," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 268-280.
    17. Annabel Vanroose & Bert D’Espallier, 2009. "Microfinance and Financial Sector Development," Working Papers CEB 09-040.RS, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    18. Kwame Ohene Djan & Roy Mersland, 2022. "Are NGOs and cooperatives similar or different? A global survey using microfinance data," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 26(2), pages 641-683, June.
    19. Barry, Thierno Amadou & Tacneng, Ruth, 2014. "The Impact of Governance and Institutional Quality on MFI Outreach and Financial Performance in Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 1-20.
    20. Ahmad, Syedah & Lensink, Robert & Mueller, Annika, 2020. "The double bottom line of microfinance: A global comparison between conventional and Islamic microfinance," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    microfinance regulation cross-country regression global;

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • L14 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:39:y:2011:i:6:p:949-965. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.