Cross-relationships between microfinance and the banking sector: continuities and discontinuities in credit provision

Relations croisées entre la microfinance et le secteur bancaire: continuités et discontinuités dans l’octroi de crédit

Amélie Artis () and Kouassi N'Goran ()
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Amélie Artis: IEPG - Sciences Po Grenoble - Institut d'études politiques de Grenoble, PACTE - Pacte, Laboratoire de sciences sociales - IEPG - Sciences Po Grenoble - Institut d'études politiques de Grenoble - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UGA [2016-2019] - Université Grenoble Alpes [2016-2019]
Kouassi N'Goran: UMR ART-Dev - Acteurs, Ressources et Territoires dans le Développement - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - UPVM - Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 - UPVD - Université de Perpignan Via Domitia - UM - Université de Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: Microfinance became popular thanks to the success of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and the Nobel Peace Prize. Today, this type of finance for the poor is considered a social innovation because of its values, which are in opposition to the dominant financial logic, but also because of its financing methodology, which aims to integrate people who do not have access to credit. In fact, over several decades of practice, microfinance has spread to other economic actors in the financial system (banking institutions, finance companies, fund managers, etc.). Thus, despite the contradictory credit granting logics of its two market actors, microfinance has been able to influence, through its practices, the way traditional finance operates. The mobilization of a recent literature review and a case study allows us to consider that the convergence of their interactions, in a formal political and regulatory context, explains the mission drifts of microfinance described in the literature. In this paper, we attempt to demonstrate the extent to which international donors and academics have fostered the process of microfinance-specific profit-sharing by showing that banks have adopted and adapted many of the practices of microfinance. We shed light on this point by using the case of microfinance in Côte d'Ivoire. This contribution also draws on the sociology of innovation, in particular the model of profit-sharing (Akrich, Callon, Latour, 1988) to describe the process of social innovation in which microfinance takes place. This theoretical model demonstrates that the diffusion of innovation is made possible by the success of its intrinsic qualities. The paper also describes, through the work of Bensebaa and Béji-Bécheur (2007), the process of institutionalization of norms coming from the solidarity economy sector to the conventional capitalist economy. Certain limits linked to the institutionalization process of this social innovation are presented in order to allow an understanding of the criticisms and limits of microfinance.

Keywords: Microfinance; Innovation sociale; Développement; Finance solidaire; Institutionnalisation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-12-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-fdg, nep-mfd and nep-pay
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Published in 7èmes rencontres du GESS (Gestion des Entreprises Sociales et Solidaires) - L’ESS comme source d'inspiration : Quelles perspectives de diffusion des valeurs et des pratiques de l'ESS à l'ensemble de l'économie?, Dec 2019, Valence, France

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