Surviving Microfinance in these trying times

1st Valley Bank provides microfinance services in the Philippines and has seen significant growth since 1999, but now faces challenges from the global financial crisis and a legacy of issues in the rural bank industry that have reduced client trust. The bank is implementing strategies like intensifying recovery of past due loans, expanding credit lines, and returning to microfinance best practices like short loan terms and frequent repayments to survive the difficult economic times.