Appraisal of the problems affecting microfinance banks in emerging economies and the mitigating factors: Nigeria’s experience

Abstract

This study appraised the problems of microfinance banks in Nigeria and evaluated the mitigating factors. Survey research design through the administration of structured questionnaire was adopted for data collection. The targeted population was 250 microfinance banks operators and micro, small and medium entrepreneurs. The respondents validly returned 223 copies of the questionnaire. Descriptive statistics like table, mean, standard deviation and percentages were used for data analyses. The findings revealed that high operating and financial expenses (99.6%); low revenue base (99.6%); lack of effective corporate governance (99.6%); lack of standard and uniformity in financial transactions (99.6%); insiders’ abuse (99.6%); and ineffective monitoring of the allocated funds to ensure the utilisation as intended (99.6%) are highly critical among the twenty identified problem confronting microfinance banks in Nigeria. The results also showed that majority of the respondents believed that among the twenty identified mitigating factors to the problems of MFBs in Nigeria, timely preparation of financial statements (99.6%); adoption of cost efficiency mechanism (99.6%); investing more on information technology for enhancement of operations (99.6%); standardisation of the quality, experience and qualifications of management of microfinance (99.6%); and effective background check of staff and customers are the most important. The study, therefore, recommends the need for government to evaluate these findings and timely deploy the mitigating factors for the enhancement of the growth of microfinance banks in Nigeria.