Microfinance
From TBLI Knowledge Base
Microfinance is the provision of a broad range of financial services such as deposits, loans, payment services, money transfers, and insurance to poor and low-income households and, their microenterprises. Microfinance services are provided by three types of sources:
* formal institutions, such as rural banks and cooperatives; * semiformal institutions, such as nongovernment organizations; and * informal sources such as money lenders and shopkeepers.
Institutional microfinance is defined to include microfinance services provided by both formal and semiformal institutions. Microfinance institutions are defined as institutions whose major business is the provision of microfinance services. [1]
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