CURRENT SITUATION
Asia has a protracted track record in the provision of financial services to microenterprises that shapes the current state of its microfinance industry. It was a pioneering region in modern microfinance in the 1970s, together with Latin America, and its sector has undergone major development over the past decade, both in terms of growth and the deepening of its scope as in the formalisation of operators and the consolidation of its regulatory frameworks. Nonetheless, although the prevailing trend within the sector is a commercial approach, its microfinances continue to be characterised by the major direct and indirect involvement of the state, and by the operations of NGOs, of particular significance in certain large markets such as Bangladesh.
In spite of the deregulation of the financial markets at the beginning of the 90s and the existence of a wide offer of financial services for microenterprises, the level of banking penetration varies widely across the region, recording a figure that normally falls within the range of between 18% and 40% of the population, considering savings over GDP, with exceptions such as Sri Lanka or Mongolia, which record levels of banking penetration that exceed 50% of the population. Asia is the world’s largest potential and effective microfinance market.
