MIX • About Microfinance

MIX Market is a public, web-based microfinance information platform. It provides data on microfinance institutions worldwide as well as public and private funds that invest in microfinance, microfinance networks, raters/external evaluators, advisory firms, and governmental and regulatory agencies.

The MicroBanking Bulletin (MBB) is the premier benchmarking source for the microfinance industry. Its analysis and benchmarks are widely used by investors, donors and other service providers to facilitate greater standardization and a better understanding of developments in the microfinance sector.

The Heat Map is an interactive graphical interface which uses geometric forms and colors to visualize up to three different layers of abstract data at once. The values of a chosen indicator are represented by sized and in color, their placement on the map refers to their ranking amongst peers.

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Microfinance describes small-scale financial services, such as loans, savings, insurance, remittances and other services. The diversity of microfinance services reflects the heterogeneity of financial needs of individuals, households and enterprises over time. Because of these varied needs and the fungible nature of money, microfinance services are essentially characterized by their size instead of the formality of a client's enterprise, collateral requirements, methodology, geographical context, originating institution or the use of services for production or consumption. A definition based on size reflects the general assumption that lower income groups and those with restricted access tend to use smaller scale financial services. MIX recognizes many general definitions of microfinance but employs a functional definition of microfinance for reasons of analysis. Microfinance services – as opposed to financial services in general – are retail financial services that are relatively small in relation to the income of an individual, household or enterprise. Specifically, the average balance of microfinance services is no greater than 250% of the average income per person (GNI per capita) . The definition can alternatively be expressed in the following terms, using the example of a lending institution:

Gross National Income [GNI] per Capita from the World Bank's World Development Indicators.