Weathering the storm: Ownership structure and performance of microfinance institutions in the wake of the global financial crisis

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of the 2008 global financial crisis on the performance of different microfinance ownership types. The analysis in this study relies on a novel methodological framework that provides consistent productivity measures in the presence of undesirable outputs, while taking into account the technological heterogeneity among different ownership types. The results show that banks and non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) that performed better immediately before the crisis, suffered more during the crisis and early post-crisis periods. Cooperatives and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), on the other hand, were less affected by the crisis. Moreover, results indicate that the pattern of productivity growth of all ownership forms three years after the eruption of the crisis was remarkably similar to their productivity growth pattern in the very early phase of the pre-crisis period.