KfW has been assigned responsibility by the German government and several other donors for projects designed to reconstruct the financial landscapes of Southeast Europe. These activities are recognized as quite successful in building sustainable financial institutions that serve the small end of...

This paper discusses the so-called commercial approach to microfinance under economic and ethical aspects. It first shows how microfinance has developed from a purely welfare-oriented activity to a commercially relevant line of banking business. The background of this stunning success is the...