This paper summarizes the data collected by the Microfinance Centre (MFC) through a survey  of microfinance institutions in Europe to assess the impact of COVID-19 crisis on the situation of microfinance institutions and their clients. The results show that while the pandemic touched all countries in the EU, the severity of its impact was markedly different, from very strong in ...

JULY – AUGUST SURVEY A resumption of activities under operational and financial constraints Inpulse joined forces with ADA and the Fondation GCA – Grameen Crédit Agricole to keep monitoring the effects of the COVID-19 crisis among our MFI partners. The results of the survey carried out between July 23rd and August 6th, 2020, based on 91 partners from 42 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, and ...

  Microfinance Centre is inviting you to watch two webinars where we will be presenting the findings of our research. The surveys aimed at assessing the impact of the pandemic both on microfinance institutions and their clients. READ THE SUMMARY PAPER   The results were presented by Kinga Dąbrowska and Justyna Pytkowska from MFC and their Guests. events took place ...

The case studies present findings on the current state of the fintech industry in six countries: (UK, Netherlands, Poland, Ukraine, Turkey and the Czech Republic) in the context of their potential contribution (positive and negative) to financial inclusion and financial health of individuals and small businesses. The summary paper offers a comparative analysis of fintechs’contribution to financial inclusion and health ...

  The Global SME Finance Forum 2020 meeting connects more than 650 senior bankers, tech leaders and policymakers from 75 or more countries. It is the largest, most high-level, technically in-depth meeting on SME financing that occurs in the world each year. Visit Global SME Finance Forum 2020 official website.   To celebrate the new decade, this year’s Global SME ...

The paper presents the concept of financial health for small businesses and describes the MFC’s approach to constructing a comprehensive measure of financial health. First, the paper argues for the need to develop a measure of financial health for a small business that goes beyond traditional balance sheet and income statement-based financial indicators. Next, the paper consolidates emerging understanding of ...

Download the Report   In the report “From Buzzword to Business Model: How industry executives view financial health”, the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) reveals how financial institutions are approaching financial health as they seek to engage customers meaningfully and profitably.  As the vast majority of Americans struggle financially, improving customer financial health is a top priority for many industry ...

Read MFC’s latest case study  “Riding The Technology Wave in European Microfinance: The Case of Qredits”. This case study traces the origins and the digital evolution of Qredits, a Dutch microfinance foundation that is the only national program providing an alternative source of funding to new- and early-stage businesses.  Qredits, from its inception, has banked on the intensive use of ...

This case study reviews digital applications and experimentation in digital transformation by European microfinance institutions. Using a digital transformation framework developed by the Microfinance Centre, the case explores the application of technology to core business processes and analyzes the use of various applications such as social media, virtual collaboration, mobile tools, data analytics and artificial intelligence. In addition to presenting ...

This case study reviews how European MFIs incorporate high-tech solutions with the traditional high-touch personal approach to providing microfinance services and discusses the emergent models that MFIs are applying to combine these two approaches. Unlike FinTechs, MFIs retain the personal touch as a distinctive feature and a unique sales proposition of microfinance but there are differences as to when and ...