Paper short abstract:

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, this paper analyses the recent trajectory of several microfinance institutions in Cameroon's Adamawa and East Regions, two of country's regions with the lowest penetration of formal financial services.

Paper long abstract:

After one of the deepest crises of the banking sector in the African region, Cameroon's formal banking network has been slowly reconstituted and expanded since the mid-1990s. This has also been a period during which, enabled by a 1992 liberalising law, a fast-growing microfinance sector has emerged. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, this paper analyses the trajectory of several microfinance institutions that have opened branches in Adamawa and East Regions during the last decade. What has been the impact of national and international programmes providing training, equipment, technical and financial support? How have the financial regulator for the Central African Economic and Monetary Community and the national authorities enforced the more strict requirements and controls adopted in the last decade? How was the establishment of new branches prepared for, negotiated and achieved in the contexts of locations that are far from the country's political and economic centres? What is the place of the services that these microfinance institutions provide within the broader repertoire of financial options? What is the relationship of these institutions with different public authorities, outside donors and partners, competitors and different kinds of clients? How have they changed their organisation, strategies, and public image since they opened their doors? These are some of the questions the paper grapples with.