Rentabilidad versus profundidad del alcance: un análisis de las entidades microfinancieras peruanas, 2006-2011

The rise of commercialization in microfinance we have witnessed in the last two decades has revived the debate about the trade-off between the sustainability and depth of outreach of the Microfinance Organizations (MFOs). We find evidence of such trade-off for the Peruvian MFOs (meaning that greater sustainability is attained at the expense of reducing the depth of outreach), a result that is entirely explained by the formal, regulated, MFOs. The inexistence of such trade-off for the unregulated MFOs (NGOs) is consistent with a profitable portfolio management, attained while still attending low-income individuals (no mission drift)