No. of MFIs

No. of Borrowers (thousands)

Total Population (mill.)

Poor Population (mill.)

Penetration Rates

Borrowers / pop. (%)

Borrowers / poor (%)

Bhutan

1

16

1

0.3

2.5%

6.2%

Cambodia

18

834

14

5.1

5.8%

16.5%

China

9

118

1,320

60.7

0.0%

0.2%

East Timor

2

14

1

0.5

1.3%

3.0%

Indonesia

84

7,410

226

37.7

3.3%

19.7%

Korea

1

1

48

1.0

0.0%

0.1%

Laos

1

0

6

1.9

0.0%

0.0%

Malaysia

2

188

26

2.4

0.7%

7.8%

Myanmar

6

260

48

23.2

0.5%

1.1%

Papua New Guinea

1

7

6

2.4

0.1%

0.3%

Philippines

94

2,434

88

22.1

2.8%

11.0%

Samoa

1

4

0

0.1

2.0%

5.8%

Thailand

3

5

64

8.7

0.0%

0.1%

Vietnam

18

7,144

85

24.6

8.4%

29.0%

Aggregate EAP

241

18,433

1,940

190,444

Average in EAP Countries

32.1

2,458

258

12,709

2.0%

7.2%

Accion
One of the largest international microfinance Networks, Accion is an NGO that provides technical service and consulting. Headquartered in the United States, ACCION is an innovator in financial access, having pioneered many of the best practices and emerging standards in the industry. It provides a full range of technical assistance and management services, as well as investment and governance support to help financial institutions build institutional capacity and financial strength in order to serve low-income households. Established in 1961 and a leader in microfinance since 1973, ACCION has over 45 years of experience in the field of international economic development. ACCION has helped to build and strengthen some of the most successful MFIs in the world. Its emphasis on commercial viability and institutional growth has helped its partner MFIs reach scale and financial self-sufficiency. ACCION partners with 32 microfinance organizations throughout Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and Africa, and serves U.S. microentrepreneurs through the U.S. ACCION Network. In 2008, ACCION and its partners served over 3.7 million borrowers, and since 1998 has loaned $23.4 billion to more than 7.7 million people.
Website: www.accion.org
Regions of Operation:East Asia and Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, North America, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia

Asia-Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (APRACA)
The establishment of a Regional Association that promotes cooperation and facilitates mutual exchange of information and expertise in rural finance was proposed in October 1974 and APRACA was formally launched during in 1977. The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has provided APRACA with a five–year technical and financial assistance grant covering the period under the Regional Program for Accelerating the Financial Empowerment of Poor Rural Communities in Asia and the Pacific through Rural Finance Innovations - or the APRACA FinPower Programme.  APRACA, with its wide network of member rural financial institutions and central banks, is a viable and strong partner for IFAD to engage with senior policy makers and central banks on key policy issues.
Website: http://www.apraca.org
Region of Operation: East Asia and Pacific, South Asia

Association of Asian Confederation of Credit Unions (AACCU)
ACCU supports members to strengthen the credit union by providing technical assistance, training, and information. ACCU takes active development role in credit promotion and project development and evaluation. The Association of Asian Confederation of Credit Unions (ACCU) is the Asian regional based representative organization of credit cooperatives/unions and similar cooperative financial organizations. It aims to make credit unions more relevant community-based financial institutions and promote them as effective instruments of socio economic development of the people. Since its establishment in 1971 it has served more than 16,000 credit unions with 20.5 million individual members in 26 countries in the region along with 17 affiliates promoting credit unionism in Asia.
Website: http://www.aaccu.coop
Regions of Operation: East Asia and Pacific, Middle East and North Africa, South Asia

Banking with the Poor Network

The Banking with the Poor Network (BWTP Network) is Asia’s microfinance network that works towards building
efficient, large-scale sustainable organisations, through co-operation, training and capacity building with the aim of
achieving innovative, appropriate and demand-driven financial services for the poor. The Network is an association of
a diverse range of microfinance stakeholders committed to improving the quality of life of the poor through
promoting and facilitating their access to sustainable financial services. The BWTP Network is an initiative of the
Foundation for Development Cooperation and its Secretariat is based in Singapore.

Website: http://www.bwtp.org/

Regions of Operation: East Asia and the Pacific, South Asia

Développement international Desjardins (DID)
DID is a Canadian organization specialized in providing technical support and investment to community-owned and operated institutions worldwide. Its technical support services include drafting legislation for savings and credit cooperatives; setting up new institutions and organizing them into networks; introducing new financial products, and designing supervision strategies. In addition, DID’s investment funds provide financing and investment capital to microfinance institutions and to funds specializing in microfinance. 
Website: http://www.did.qc.ca/en
Regions of Operation: East Asia and Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia 

Freedom from Hunger (FFH)
Freedom from Hunger is an international development organization working in seventeen countries across the globe. In 1988, it developed the world's first integrated microcredit, health and nutrition education program. Today, it is best known for its ‘Credit with Education’ program that combines microfinance with health and lifeskills services and serves over 750,000 families in Africa, Asia and Latin America. It partners with more than 50 in-country organizations including credit unions, cooperatives, rural banks and NGOs to provide savings and credit facilities, and integrate education into lending services.
Website: http://www.freedomfromhunger.org
Region of Operation: East Asia and Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa
Partners: Bandhan (India), CARD (Philippines), CRECER (Bolivia), PADME (Benin), and RCPB (Burkina Faso)

Grameen Foundation
The Grameen Foundation USA is a non-profit, tax exempt organization based in Washington D.C., USA aimed to increase MFI outreach and capabilities. The Foundation’s microfinance program support includes funding, technical assistance and training for MFIs. In addition, the foundation helps to secure financing through capital markets, develop strategies to attract and maintain a workforce, and social performance evaluation to track poverty alleviation while technology initiatives focus on helping MFIs increase efficiently and serve more people. Partners include MFIs, credit unions, cooperatives and poverty-focused organizations.
Website: http://www.grameenfoundation.org
Regions of Operation: East Asia and Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, North America, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia 

International Network of Alternative Financial Institutions (INAFI)
A network of NGOs from Africa, Asia and Latin America. It facilitates interaction amongst, and improvement of services and activities of member institutions, provides consulting services, and organizes regional and international seminars. It also maintains a specialized data bank on microfinance topics. 
Website:
Regions of Operation: East Asia and Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa 

Microfinance Council of the Philippines, Inc.
The Microfinance Council of the Philippines, Inc. (MCPI) is a network of 45 institutions working towards the rapid development of the microfinance industry in the Philippines. The institutions include 36 practitioners and9 service providers. While membershipamong the practitioners is currentlydominated by non-government organizations (NGOs), the roster of practitioners alsoincludes microfinance-oriented rural banks and one thrift bank.
Website: http://www.microfinancecouncil.org
Regions of Operation:East Asia and Pacific

Microfinance Pasifika Network
The Microfinance Pasifika Network is an initiative of the Foundation for Development Cooperation. The creation of the Microfinance Pasifika Network came out as a result of key constraints facing practitioners. Small, spread-out and isolated population spreads with limited regional experience. One of the primary objectives of the network is dissemination of relevant information to assist practitioners and supporters of microfinance operations to increase outreach and better perform. The Microfinance Pasifika network is unique for three main reasons: It's an exclusively Pacific-based network; It capitalises on the diversity represented within the membership; It acts as the primary information hub for all stakeholder groups. Currently the member base consists of 12 financial members, including major donors, 10 provisional and 15 associated organisations from across the Pacific; the main composition being made up of NGOs and commercial banks. Countries represented within the membership are: Australia, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu.
Website: http://www.microfinance-pasifika.org
Regions of Operation:East Asia and Pacific

Mindanao Microfinance Council (MMC)
The Mindanao Microfinance Council is a network of 45 Mindanao-based institutions engaged in retail microfinance. Member institutions are comprised of banks, NGOs and cooperatives. MMC is focused on the development of MFIs in Mindanao to ensure the effective delivery of financial and capacity development services to the poor in Mindanao, Philippines.
Website: http://mindanaomicrofinance.org
Regions of Operation:East Asia and Pacific

Opportunity International - Australia
The Opportunity International Network continues today through the commitment and shared vision of five support partners and 44 implementing partners throughout Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe. Opportunity International Australia currently focuses its work in three countries - Indonesia, India and the Philippines. As of December 2008, Opportunity International Australia was serving 1,378,527 active clients. Opportunity International Australia is part of the global Opportunity International Network. OI raises and invests funds to establish and grow the implementing partners, local MFIs. Also, OI takes a leading role in the provision of enterprise development programs, non-financial services that play a vital role in helping clients on their journey out of poverty.
Website: http://www.opportunity.org.au
Regions of Operation:East Asia and Pacific, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, South Asia, Sub Saharan Africa

PinoyME
PinoyME (Filipino Micro Enterprise) is a private sector, multi-stakeholder social consortium that aims to reduce poverty by providing financial and non-financial services and mobilizing P5 billion in new capital for microfinance in 5 years. It will achieve these goals through capacity building, resource mobilization, business development services, and knowledge management. The PinoyME Foundation is a social investment banker for microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the Philippines. It is the flagship project of the PinoyME consortium, a group of leaders from the business, academic, and social development sectors that was convened by Former President Corazon C. Aquino in 2006 to bolster microfinance and microentrepreneurship in the Philippines.
Website: http://www.pinoyme.com/
Regions of Operation:East Asia and Pacific

Small Enterprise Education Promotion Network (SEEP)
Based in Washington, DC, the SEEP Network is a leading international network and promoter of best practice in enterprise development and financial services. Its mission is to connect microenterprise practitioners in a global learning community. Since its inception in 1985, it has worked to research and document best practices and convene key industry stakeholders in its well known annual conference. The primary way it undertakes practitioner-driven research is through working groups composed of its members which number 77 across 180 countries.
Website: http://seepnetwork.org
Regions of Operation: East Asia and Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia 

Vietnam Microfinance Working Group (MFWG)
The Microfinance Working Group (MFWG) was reactivated in 2004 out of a desire among microfinance practitioners in Vietnam to learn from one another and come to a consensus on general principles and guidelines, in order to speak with a unified voice. Currently, 50 organisations are participating in the MFWG. The goal of the MFWG is to enhance the impact of microfinance on poverty alleviation by promoting the quality and sustainability of microfinance in Vietnam both in the practices of institutions and in terms of helping to develop an improved enabling environment.
Website: http://networks.seepnetwork.org/en/node/1051
Regions of Operation: East Asia and Pacific

Women's World Banking (WWB)
Headquartered in New York City, Women's World Banking is an international NGO Network, which provides technical services and consulting. WWB was established in 1979 to be a voice and change agent for poor women entrepreneurs. Its goal is to build a network of strong financial institutions around the world and ensure that the rapidly changing field of microfinance focuses on women as clients, innovators and leaders. WWB provides support, advice, training and information to a global network of more than 54 microfinance institutions and banks in 30 countries worldwide. Its network members offer credit and other financial services directly to more than 11 million poor entrepreneurs, 70 percent of them women. Members include 24 commercial banks and other financial institutions in the Global Network for Banking Innovation (GNBI).
Website: http://www.swwb.org
Regions of Operation: East Asia and Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, North America, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia

Asia Microfinance Analysis and Benchmarking Report 2009

Analyzing financial performance, outreach and scale of Asian MFIs. This report based on data collected from 283 microfinance institutions (MFIs) throughout South Asia, East Asia, and the Pacific, as well as analysis of outreach and growth, funding structure, MFI operations, and a special case study on currency risk in Cambodia.

Published by: Microfinance Information Exchange (The MIX)

March 2010

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Microfinance in Asia: Trends, Challenges and Opportunities

This report compiles the wide-ranging and voluminous content presented at the Asia Microfinance Forum 2008 convened in Hanoi, Vietnam, in 2008, also drawing on various regional country reports. The report seeks to address questions for the future. How can the supply of microfinance services begin to match unmet demand in Asia? This report highlights many of the challenges in addressing this demand, particularly in relation to limited funding and the dearth of adequate regulatory frameworks to address this shortfall.

Jamie Bedson (Ed.)

Published by: The Foundation for Development Cooperation

March 2009

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Financial Crisis in Asia and the Pacific Region: Its Genesis, Severity and Impact on Poverty and Hunger

Understanding implications of the financial crisis on growth and poverty reduction. Building on a vast recent literature on finance, growth and hunger, the report examines the experience of 9 Asian countries over the period 1960-2006, using econometric methodology to test the effects of finance development on inequality and hunger require cautious interpretation. While microfinance has the potential to ameliorate some of the worst forms of deprivation, the contraction of credit in general and risk aversion of investors, together with a looming global recession underlie gloomy prospects for the poor in this region.

Imai Katsushi, Gaiha Raghav. and Thapa Ganesh

Published by: The University of Manchester

November 2008

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Islamic Microfinance: An Emerging Market Niche

In recent years, Islamic microfinance emerged as a new market niche, however it is still in its infancy, and business models are just emerging. This Focus Note provides an overview of the current state of the Islamic microfinance sector and identifies possible challenges to its growth. It is intended as an introduction to Islamic microfinance primarily for the donor community and other potential entrants into the market. It is based on a 2007 global survey on Islamic microfinance, where CGAP collected information on over 125 institutions and contacted experts from 19 Muslim countries. Unlocking the potential of this niche could be the key to providing financial access to millions of Muslim poor who currently reject microfinance products that do not comply with Islamic law.

Nimrah Karim, Michael Tarazi, and Xavier Reille

Published by: Consultative Group to Assist the Poor - CGAP

August 2008

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