The efficiency of Microfinance Institutions compared to Norwegian Savings Banks : Looking outside the industry in the pursuit of Microfinance efficie…

2016

Master thesis Business Administration - University of Agder 2016 Microfinance institutions (MFIs) are seeing high growth in their industry, but faces challenges when it comes to financial viability. The Norwegian savings banks have one of the world’s most efficient banking systems and have focused on cost-efficiency over a period of 50 years. We examine the possibilities for MFIs being more efficient by learning from Norwegian savings banks. We employ a large dataset of 473 MFIs from 77 different countries spanning 15 years, and 81 Norwegian savings banks spanning 20 years. We find that both industries statistically improve their efficiency with time by reducing operational expenses in perc…