Beyond Basic Credit and Savings: Developing New Financial Service Products for the Poor

Publication Date: Sep 1997
Published by: MicroSave
Document Type: Paper

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How can a microfinance institution (MFI) carve out a niche in a competitive microfinance market?

Presents the experience of BURO Tangali, a Bangladeshi MFI, committed to providing flexible and responsive financial services to its clients and operating in a competitive microfinance market

States that the competition between MFIs in Tangali is growing intense in many villages as clients have opportunities to shop around for financial services, resulting in widespread multiple membership of MFIs

Posits that BURO Tangali is a market leader in open access voluntary savings and loan products and that it is also currently testing a wide range of savings products. Identifies and explores the methods used to develop these financial services: research to identify needs and opportunities, design and pilot testing, monitoring and evaluation of the pilot test, and revision and scale-up implementation

Concludes that BURO Tangali is unique in Bangladesh as it has always offered its members access to all their hard-earned savings and is committed to further enhancing and improving the flexibility and responsiveness of its savings and credit facilities to meet the need of its members. [Adapted from author]