Microfinance for profit?

I may be a little late to this debate, but I attended a conference last week where the keynote speaker, president of ACCION International, was asked about the growing trend of microfinance NGOs morphing into microfinance banks with a for-profit goal.

Micro-finance began with the goal of increasing access to credit for some the world's poorest people who otherwise would never have the means to get a loan with a non-exploitative interest rate. It's not that the poor had no access to loans in the past, it's that when they did, the terms and interest rates were so excessive it only drove them further into poverty.

Micro-finance, which gaves loans at reasonable rates, used a more community-based model that held people accountable to a small group of other investors if they defaulted on their loan. The result was near zero default rates, community empowerment, and the chance for many to finally embark on sending a child to school, starting a business, seeking medical care, etc.

The success of micro-finance has propelled some to take it to a for-profit model, typically by starting micro-finance or micro-credit banking institutions. As I understand it, there is not a lot of regulation in this area yet. Further, one has to wonder about the goals of such an institution with two bottom lines: decrease poverty but make money for the bank owners.

The NYT had two recent articles on this very topic:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE4DD113DF930A3575AC0A966958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/05/business/worldbusiness/05micro.html?em&ex=1207713600&en=a2d7c7eef5743078&ei=5087%0A