Given that financial reform has had, at best, limited developmental effect in the region, a research project on 'Financial Integration and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa' has been undertaken at ODI. This study set out to examine the performance of financial systems for resource mobilisation and intermediation for economic development in sub-Saharan Africa. Field work has been conducted in Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria and Tanzania, based on common questionnaires addressed to formal, semi-formal and informal institutions and borrowers.

This present paper is one of a series that will provide initial presentation of results of the country case studies. It presents the Malawian case study, reporting the results of the field work on the behavioural characteristics of formal financial organisations/agents and the operational constraints in urban and rural areas.