Microfinance provides financial services, including credit, savings and insurance, to poor customers with little or no access to the traditional banking sector. It has come to be regarded as a very important component of strategies aimed at reducing poverty. Over the last decade, the microfinance industry has experienced rapid growth creating a constant demand for new knowledge to help guide its development.
CERMi, which is part of the Académie Wallonie-Bruxelles, was created with the goal to become an active participant in this process. It aims to study the management of a wide range of microfinance financial institutions, represented by NGOs, cooperatives and commercial companies. With an interdisciplinary approach, CERMi hopes to make substantive contributions to the body of knowledge on microfinance which will help the industry deal more effectively with its future challenges.
From a microeconomic and managerial perspective, CERMi will undertake research on institutional aspects including governance and risk management of microfinance institutions, as well as the concept of a customer driven approach toward the development of financial services and products. From a macroeconomic and sociological point of view, CERMi will focus on matters of regulation and local government policy, as well as the roles played by central banks and international donors. Links between microfinance and the traditional banking sector will also be analysed, and throughout this research, special attention will be given to ethical considerations that are specifically relevant and critical to the evolution of the microfinance industry. |
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