Regulation and Performance of Ghana’s Multi-tiered Rural and Microfinance Industry

William F. Steel

Chapter 5 in Promoting Microfinance, 2013, pp 77-100 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract The World Bank’s ‘Comparative Review of Microfinance Regulatory Framework Issues’ concludes that ‘recognizing different tiers of both regulated and unregulated institutions in a financial structure facilitates financial deepening and outreach’, yet warns that ‘legislation intended to promote microfinance may impose untenable supervisory burdens, while an excessively restrictive approach may constrict innovation and expansion’ (Gallardo et al., 2005, p. iii). Ghana represents a regulatory framework that has evolved to permit several tiers of both regulated and unregulated institutions engaged in microfinance, sometimes facilitating new institutional forms and sometimes responding to evolution of the market. Indeed, Ghana has been an innovator since the introduction of the first African credit union in 1955 and the first rural bank in 1976. It offers a contrast to countries that have only in the last decade created regulated tiers suitable for microfinance (for example, Uganda, Kenya), sometimes severely restricting their form (West African Monetary Union, Ethiopia), or that leave regulation to apex bodies (Bangladesh, Philippines; Meagher, 2002).

Keywords: Credit Union; Loan Portfolio; Community Bank; Microfinance Institution; Internal Audit Function (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-137-03491-5_5

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9781137034915

DOI: 10.1057/9781137034915_5

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().