Tugas baru yang saya peroleh dari dosen saya berkenaan dengan merangkung pembelajaran tentang produk yang terdapat di mikrofinance itu sendiri. Tugas ini sendiri merupakan lanjutan dari tugas-tugas terdahulunya.
oke mari kita sama-sama melihat dan membaca mengenai produk-produk apa saja yang dihasilkan micro finance
PRODUK
Products delivered by MFIs are many and include loans, savings, insurance and
money transfer. Non financial products such as training or consulting are also often
delivered by microfinance institutions. This session analyses the main features of these
products. Loans, and increasingly savings, constitute the main products actually
offered by MFIs but as the industry matures additional products have been introduced
by many institutions.
A. Loans
The specific features that microfinance institutions should implement to deliver
valuable services for their clients are listed below. These characteristics are met quite
well by moneylenders giving them a competitive advantage. But MFIs that have been
able to include these features into their credit services successfully replicated this
competitive advantage.
1. Fast access
Rapid loan approval and fast disbursement is crucial for clients and it is often
the main reason why many people deal with moneylenders even at very high
interest rates.
2. Clear, easy and flexible conditions
It is important to provide the credit service at convenient conditions for the
clients. Transaction costs, which include transportation costs (to pay the
instalments or get the money) or time away of work, throughout the life of the
loan must be kept low.
3. Permanent services
Credit services must be provided on an ongoing basis, not only for a limited
period of time.
4. Alternative collaterals and collateral substitutes
Poor people often lack traditional collateral. To overcome this obstacle many
MFIs use other kinds of collaterals known as collateral substitutes and
alternative collaterals.
B. SAVINGS
MFIs typically offer two types of savings accounts: voluntary and forced. Voluntary
savings replicate the savings services provided by traditional commercial banks while
forced savings serve as collateral for the loan. These accounts do not necessarily
provide a return on deposit and are kept by the institution until the balance of the loan
has been paid off.
Liquid accounts are flexible saving products often with no or small minimum
balance but they usually do not provide or pay very little interests. Time deposit
accounts, on the other hand, usually offer higher interest rate but clients have to leave
their money in the account for a specified period of time.
term deposit accounts, in addition to more liquid accounts. This to meet the diverse
needs of liquidity and rates of return of the clients.
Savings will also attract more clients than loans alone and constitute an important
source of funds for the institution. Furthermore it should also be a less expensive
source compared to traditional commercial loans as for most MFIs it does not
represent a big additional cost. This is due to the already available infrastructure
required to collect savings (branches, trained staff, clients relationships).
If deposit services are successfully implemented, the provision of these kind of
services will also help MFIs to reach financial sustainability. Introducing savings
facilities will better serve the clients’ needs, reducing the cost of capital and allowing
MFIs to accumulate resources for expansion. The main challenge for MFIs in
establishing these services is the transformation of their corporate culture and also the
involvement of the governments is equally important in the regulation and supervision
of institutions taking savings from the public.
C. MICROINSURANCES
Insurance is a financial service that some MFIs are starting to add to their portfolio
to respond to this need of protection. Providing savings and insurance services besides
credit make the MFI a full service financial institution delivering microfinance, i.e. a
full set of financial services to low income people.
Insurance products to the target group of microfinance institutions must be designed
to fit their specific needs and protect their specific risks: they may include health
insurance, livestock insurance and crop insurance. At present few MFIs are offering
insurance services but as the industry grows they start to be included among the set of
products offered.
D. MONEY TRANSFER
Money transfer service is another critical financial service: the business of remittances,
i.e. the money that emigrants send home to relatives, is growing strongly and is often
managed by informal arrangements with high charges and high risks.
Depending on the local regulation and costs this service can be delivered directly or
in partnership with money transfer companies. MFIs owns the competitive advantage of the relationship with their clients and such service can also be linked to other
products or can be taken into account when calculating the repayment capacity of each
client. There is the possibility to link remittances with credit products when
remittances are not used for consumption but for production purposes, combining the
different sources of funds.
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