Microfinance's Midlife Crisis, a recent article on WSJ.com, examines an issue of great concern to Women's World Banking and quotes WWB Trustee Marilou van Golstein Brouwers. Speaking on the affect of increasing commercialization on microfinance, Ms. van Golstein Brouwers says, "If the mission of microfinance institutions is only to maximize profit, then the social goal of helping people out of poverty is not reached.

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MyKRO.org recently interviewed WWB’s Africa Relationship Manager, Mariama Ashcroft, about microfinance commercialization following her presentation on the subject at Nigeria´s 3rd Annual Microfinance Conference. She explains that formalization is a strategy that allows MFIs to expand access to financial services by fully integrating into the financial system. She emphasizes the need for this integration—demand for financial services among microentrepreneurs is far greater than supply.

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On June 05, 2008 WWB's publication "Stemming the Tide of Mission Drift: Microfinance and the Double Bottom Line," was cted in a Time magazine article, The Big Trouble in Small Loans, on interest rates and commercialization. According to the article, "financiers are increasingly convinced that there is huge money to be made in microfinance, and this increased interest is causing alarm bells to go off for many industry insiders.

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