TY - BOOK ID - 133744304 TI - Banks and Microbanks AU - Cull, Robert AU - Demirguc-Kunt, Asli AU - Morduch, Jonathan PY - 2009 PB - Washington, D.C., The World Bank, DB - UniCat KW - Access to Finance KW - Bank branch KW - Banking system KW - Banks KW - Banks and Banking Reform KW - Collateral KW - Commercial banks KW - Debt Markets KW - Deposit KW - Economic Theory and Research KW - Finance and Financial Sector Development KW - Financial Access KW - Financial depth KW - Financial institutions KW - Financial services KW - Group lending KW - International Bank KW - Loan KW - Loan sizes KW - Low-income borrowers KW - Microfinance KW - Microfinance institutions KW - Outreach KW - Profitability KW - Repayment UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:133744304 AB - Using two new datasets, the authors examine whether the presence of banks affects the profitability and outreach of microfinance institutions. They find evidence that competition matters. Greater bank penetration in the overall economy is associated with microbanks pushing toward poorer markets, as reflected in smaller average loans sizes and greater outreach to women. The evidence is particularly strong for microbanks relying on commercial funding and using traditional bilateral lending contracts (rather than the group lending methods favored by microfinance nongovernmental organizations). The analysis considers plausible alternative explanations for the correlations, including relationships that run through the nature of the regulatory environment and the structure of the banking environment; but it fails to find strong support for these alternative hypotheses. ER -