2004 Philippines Benchmarking Report

This benchmarking report provides an overview of the microfinance sector in Philippines. It analyzes 25 MFIs which include NGOs, rural banks, credit cooperatives, and thrift banks.

The report states that Philippines has a well defined policy and regulatory architecture for microfinance that has enabled MFIs to flourish and thereby improve the living conditions of hundreds of thousands of low income Filipinos. Key findings include:

• Rural banks and cooperatives have much larger loan portfolios and assets when compared to their NGO counterparts because they are legally able to mobilize savings, attract commercial sources of funds to expand, as well as offer a diverse range of loans;
• Rural banks and cooperatives, with their three times greater debt to equity ratio, achieved a much higher degree of leverage than their NGO counterparts;
• Philippine MFIs are among the top MFIs in the world in terms of depth of outreach;
• Majority of MFIs in the Philippines have achieved operational and financial self-sufficiency;
• Government and donors will continue to help develop programs on technical assistance to MFIs in areas such as financial management, audit and control system, risk management.