Microleasing - A means for scaling up microfinance? (PDF)

Diploma Thesis from the year 2007 in the subject Business economics - Investment and Finance, grade: 1,5, University of Applied Sciences Bremen (School of International Business), language: English, abstract: Leasing as a means for scaling up microfinance is a relatively new and untapped topic. A lot of information about regular leasing in developed countries is available. In addition, some projects on leasing in developing countries have been successfully carried out. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), for example, successfully pioneered in entering the South Korean market and from there India, Pakistan, Turkey, and Russia. Surprisingly, information on leasing at the very micro-level of such economies is rare.
In times of commercialization and product diversification among microfinance institutions, insurance and remittance services as well as savings products have gained much attention. Leasing still is underdeveloped in that respect. This paper aims at the analysis of leasing in microfinance institutions and its potential to increase and upgrade the institution itself as well as its customers. As there clearly is a shortage of research and data in that field, the author will present the most recent literature available, including the state of microfinance and leasing in developing countries. Due to the lack of academic and practical information, this paper can not contain a complete analysis of all aspects of microleasing. It rather discusses the main features of microleasing with respect to the success factors of microinsurance, microcredit, microsaving and other products already introduced in microfinance institutions. The author will highlight the major opportunities and threats to the microleasing business that are likely to be faced by its stakeholders. The distinctive features of more advanced countries on the one hand and less developed and informal economies on the other hand will be part of the paper, as well.