A Technical Guide to Rural Finance: Exploring Products

This guide discusses a spectrum of rural finance products and delivery mechanisms that contribute to advancing the provision of the following financial services to rural areas:

• Lending;
• Savings;
• Leasing;
• Insurance;
• Remittances.

Drawing on cases of innovative practices in rural finance, the guide makes suggestions for rural financial institutions. As rural households have diverse strategies for accumulating assets and minimizing vulnerabilities, rural financial institutions, in order to provide better services, need to:

• Assess the demand of rural clients for multiple financial services;
• Identify and examine all income sources and expenses of their clients at the household level;
• Assess environmental credit risks associated with production and market cycles.

The authors intend that this guide will be a useful tool for rural banks to improve their product offerings.