Abstract:
Worldwide, microfinance is regarded as a vehicle for extending financial
services to the poor and financially excluded in society. ADB (2000) defines
microfinance as the extension of a broad range of financial services such as
loans, deposits, payment services, money transfers, and insurance to poor
and low-income households and their microenterprises. Microfinance has
been hailed as a ‘‘silver bullet’’ approach to development because of its supposed
ability to transform the poor and marginalized (Aach, 2008).
As one type of microfinance institution, credit unions (CUs) have
become an integral part of the world financial economy