小额信贷市场整合与分割
2024-04-16 10:00阅读：
Market Segmentation and Integration of Microfinance
in China（中英文）
Bai Chengyu
Integration
of microfinance into the financial system is the mainstream policy
strategy for microfinance development in the world. The market
segmentation has bound the development of microfinance, and limits
the achievement of its social development goals that is to provide
financial service to the poor and low-income people.
Financial
market is a system of dialectical unity of segmentation and
integration. We shall know the reasons and factors of the
segmented market than can find the approaches of integration; and
even in an integrated market, there always be some specialized
markets.
Integration of
microfinance into financial system
has two aspects to deal with:
First is the
legal and policy arrangement - legalization and regulation.
Legalization of microfinance is based on official supervision and
regulation, not only on microfinance institutes but also on
products. That means the microfinance institutes can be registered
as commercial banks, microfinance products must be supervised by
regulatory agency and microfinance business must be included the
statistics of the financial system.
Second is the integration of microfinance products. The
products shall be replicated or operated by the commercial banks.
And at the same time, the microfinance institutes can mobilize
savings as the other banks. Further more, new products of
insurances and other financial services can also be innovated for
the microfinance clients. All these kind of market integration will
help the poor to be integrated into the mainstream of economy
development and benefit from the process.
Why microfinance is segmented by the
financial system?
First, from the regulation point of
view:
1、The traditional microfinance is existed
for a long time in form of moneylenders and other kind of private
or collected activities. They are always be forbidden by the
government because they are too small, unstable, high interest,
high risks and difficult to be supervised. The illegal status of
microfinance makes supervision and regulation be almost impossible.
2、The modern microfinance makes
regulation be possible by innovations based on modern corporative
institution and financial management. But it is still a new
creation, needs time to be recognized by regulatory authority and
financial system. This recognition process includes not only the
change of attitudes among financial system, but also the
improvement of microfinance institutes
themselves.
Second, from the business point of
view:
1、The business of conventional banks is
based on the credit system and their approach is collaterals and
guarantees. So that the poor and the other clients who cannot
provide collaterals and guarantees are always be kept out of the
financial services. And the services for these clients is also
segmented.
2、Although the modern microfinance has
find the way to control the risk on lending to the poor, the price
paid is the high operational cost. That means, even though the
conventional banks dispel the misgivings of risks on lending to the
poor, they will still be terrified by the high cost.
How to integrate the
microfinance into the financial
system?
Integration
of microfinance into the financial system is the mainstream policy
strategy for microfinance development in the world. The market
segmentation has bound the development of microfinance, and limits
the achievement of its social development goals that is to provide
financial service to the poor and low-income people.
Financial
market is a system of dialectical unity of segmentation and
integration. We shall know the reasons and factors of the
segmented market than can find the approaches of integration; and
even in an integrated market, there always be some specialized
markets.
Integration of
microfinance into financial system has two aspects to deal
with:
First is the legal and policy arrangement -
legalization and regulation. Legalization of microfinance is based
on official supervision and regulation, not only on microfinance
institutes but also on products. That means the microfinance
institutes can be registered as commercial banks, microfinance
products must be supervised by regulatory agency and microfinance
business must be included the statistics of the financial system.
Second is the integration of
microfinance products. The products shall be replicated or operated
by the commercial banks. And at the same time, the microfinance
institutes can mobilize savings as the other banks. Further more,
new products of insurances and other financial services can also be
innovated for the microfinance clients. All these kind of market
integration will help the poor to be integrated into the mainstream
of economy development and benefit from the process.
Why microfinance is segmented by the
financial system?
First, from the regulation point of
view:
1、The traditional microfinance is existed
for a long time in form of moneylenders and other kind of private
or collected activities. They are always be forbidden by the
government because they are too small, unstable, high interest,
high risks and difficult to be supervised. The illegal status of
microfinance makes supervision and regulation be almost impossible.
2、The modern microfinance makes
regulation be possible by innovations based on modern corporative
institution and financial management. But it is still a new
creation, needs time to be recognized by regulatory authority and
financial system. This recognition process includes not only the
change of attitudes among financial system, but also the
improvement of microfinance institutes
themselves.
Second, from the business point of
view:
1、The business of conventional banks is
based on the credit system and their approach is collaterals and
guarantees. So that the poor and the other clients who cannot
provide collaterals and guarantees are always be kept out of the
financial services. And the services for these clients is also
segmented.
2、Although the modern microfinance has
find the way to control the risk on lending to the poor, the price
paid is the high operational cost. That means, even though the
conventional banks dispel the misgivings of risks on lending to the
poor, they will still be terrified by the high cost.
How to integrate the
microfinance into the financial
system?
Between the two aspects
mentioned above, the legal and policy arrangement is comparatively
easy to deal with. The key issue is how to make the MFIs can be
supervised and regulated. There are several
conditions:
1、The organizational structure of the MFIs shall be in
conformity with the principle of modern corporative
institution;
2、The financial management must be in accordance with
national and international standard;
3、The management staff must be
professional;
4、Financial products must be mature and
stable;
5、Quality of loan portfolio must be high and risks must
be low.
The international and domestic best practices show that
it is possible for MFIs to realize the above conditions for
legalization. The regulation on microfinance might not be the same
as on the conventional banks. International experiences have given
some cases of specialized regulation arrangement on MFIs. Actually,
the financial regulation system in China is under the
decentralization process, supervision and regulation become more
specialized.
Considering the present situation of MFIs in China, the
regulation policy can be arranged in three levels:
a.
Integrate the microfinance business operated by the
existing financial institutes into the supervision and regulation
system, and encourage its development;
b.
For those MFIs already achieve financial sustainability,
allow them to be registered as commercial banks or financial
institutes by lowering the entry condition. Allow the establishment
of new private microfinance banks;
c.
For those MFIs in form of NGOs and cannot be
registered as banks at present, they need to be authorized on
microfinance operation with limitation on saving. It is suggested
to setup a microfinance association to conduct self-regulation
among MFIs. It can also provide policy guidance and technical
support, help the regulatory agency to conduct monitoring and
statistics, and mobilize fund for the MFIs, finally improve them to
be qualified for registration.
It is more difficult to integrate the microfinance into
the operation of conventional banks. It will depend on the status
of market competition and financial liberalization. RCC have
successfully taken use of microcredit to improve their quality of
portfolio during the reform. Because the high operation cost of
microfinance is the main obstacle to the bank, it is better for the
government to provide subsidies to the bank operating microfinance,
instead of providing subsidies to the clients. The client subsidies
will further segment the business from the financial system.
Even if the microfinance is
integrated into the financial system in the future, some
specialized microfinance institutes will still be play an important
role in the market. The specialization will improve the efficiency,
reduce risks and increase the innovation capacity. This will be
also helpful to the achievement of the social development goals of
microfinance development.
(Jan. 2004)
小额信贷的市场分割与整合
一个小额信贷实践者的思考
金融市场的整合已成为金融发展的潮流，银行、保险、证券、信托这四大金融业务正相互融合，一些金融业务正在被各种类型的金融机构开展，打破了机构限制；各类金融机构也正在突破原有的经营范围，兼营其他机构的业务。将小额信贷整合到金融改革和发展的统一体系中，也是当今小额信贷发展的一种主流观念。因为被分割的小额信贷市场束缚了它自身的发展，也限制了其为更多贫困和低收入人口提供全方位金融服务的社会发展目标的实现。
市场整合是与市场分割相对应的。市场的分割和整合应该是辨证统一的关系。首先，没有分割也就无所谓整合，要整合金融市场，就要分析分割产生的原因和根源。第二，金融体系即使整合在一起，也会存在一些相对专业化的市场，而不可能成为毫无差异的同一体。金融市场从来是分久必合，合久必分。
小额信贷的市场整合包括以下两个方面的含义：
首先，将小额信贷作为一种金融创新，纳入金融监管体系中，使其合法化，受到法律和政策的保护。在现行体制下，要合法首先要被监管。监管即包括对机构的监管，也包括对产品和业务的监管。这意味着要允许小额信贷机构注册成合法的金融机构，小额信贷服务产品要受监管部门核定，小额信贷业务要进入金融监管的统计体系。小额信贷不能被打入另册统计和管理，排斥于金融体系之外。此为法律和政策上的整合。
第二、小额信贷不仅要成为合法了的小额信贷机构的业务，也要被原有的金融机构所采用，得到普遍推广。同时，小额信贷机构也可以开展储蓄等其他金融业务。更进一步，应该在保险等其他金融业务领域创新出可以针对小额信贷客户的新产品，使得小额信贷客户可以享受全方位的金融服务。这样才能将贫困和低收入者整合到经济发展的时代潮流中一起前进。此为业务上的整合。
为什么小额信贷存在目前的被分割状态呢？
首先，从监管角度看。
1、小额信贷的对象是分散的个体城乡居民或分散的微型企业。传统的小额信贷是以地下钱庄等民间金融形式存在的，它们因规模小、不稳定、高利贷、容易产生金融风险等原因而难以被政府金融监管部门承认和管理，所以始终被排斥在法律体系之外。这种非法性使其变得更加隐秘和难以控制而几乎没有监管的可能。
2、现代小额信贷产生于战后重建和发展援助的实践中，它通过借鉴现代企业和现代银行的管理模式进行制度创新，解决了传统民间金融机构可持续发展的制度问题，从而使金融监管成为可能。但是它毕竟是新生事物，要被金融监管和法律体系接纳需要一个过程，这既包括小额信贷机构自身的完善过程，也包括监管部门的认识转变过程。
第二，从金融业务发展角度看
1、现代金融机构特别是银行机构难以开展小额信贷业务。现代银行制度是在现代工业化发展过程中，为了满足企业生产和流通的融资需要而产生的，是建立在信用制度基础上的。因此，工商企业成为银行的服务对象，而抵押担保成为银行的运作手段。没有抵押担保能力的低收入者和微型企业自然被分割在外。
2、虽然现代小额信贷通过制度创新解决了没有抵押能力的客户的风险管理问题，但其代价是很高的管理成本。传统银行即使消除了对风险的顾虑，高昂的管理成本也会使它们望而却步。
如何实现小额信贷与金融体系的整合？
以上的原因使得小额信贷作为金融创新至今没有被整合到金融体系当中。在上述的两个方面中，法律和政策的整合容易，业务的整合较难。
首先，在法律和政策方面，主要是解决新兴小额信贷机构的可持续发展能力与可监管性。有几个方面的要素：
1、机构的体制和治理结构，必须符合现代企业制度的要求；
2、财务管理必须遵循财务和会计准则，作到公开透明；
3、从业人员必须具备专业素养和职业精神；
4、产品必须要成熟和稳定；
5、贷款质量必须要高，风险要小。
从国际经验和国内小额信贷发展状况来看，小额信贷机构具备上述条件是有可能的，因此在适当的时候给予这些具备条件的小额信贷机应有的构法律地位并纳入监管体系是可以实现的。而且，所谓纳入监管体系，不一定是简单地纳入对现有银行的监管框架，可以是制定专门针对小额信贷机构和业务的监管制度。这在国际上已经有先例。事实上，中国金融监管机构实际已经纷纷从人民银行独立出来，监管工作也日益专业化。
在中国目前的小额信贷发展状况下，小额信贷的监管应该分以下几个层次：
1、应该将正规金融机构的小额信贷业务纳入银行业务监管范围并予以鼓励。
2、对于业已成熟但尚未合法化的小额信贷机构，降低准入的门槛，使其注册成为专业的小额信贷金融机构，允许开展储蓄业务；也可以允许创建新的小额信贷银行，并有针对性地加以监管。
3、对于大量以非政府机构形式存在但尚未具备注册条件的小额信贷机构，中央银行应该给予适当的经营权，限制其储蓄业务。同时，建立小额信贷行业协会，采用行业自律的监管方式，并提供政策协调、技术支持、统计监督、宣传筹资等服务，帮助它们逐步成熟和壮大，最终具备注册条件。对于那些把小额信贷当作手段开展社会发展项目的非政府机构，不必监管。
第二，在业务方面，要让传统银行开展小额信贷业务存在一定难度，但是也并非不可能，要看金融市场竞争和金融深化的程度。由于限制银行机构开展小额信贷的最大障碍是操作成本，要鼓励银行机构开展小额信贷，政府应该采用对银行进行补贴的方式，而不应该采用对客户提供补贴和担保的方式。因为补贴和担保会将小额信贷业务从银行业务中分割出来。
即使小额信贷最终被整合到金融体系中，也会存在相对专业化的小额信贷市场和专业机构，因为专业化意味着效率的提高，意味着风险的减少，也意味着创新能力的加强。毕竟金融市场整合的目的是为了提高金融机构的效率、减少金融体系的风险，加强竞争，促进金融创新和深化。这也符合小额信贷发展的目标。
（本文为作者学习和实践中的思考，供同仁们交流批判。曾经阅读的资料这里不一一列举。）2004年1月
