Since this discovery, microfinance, or financial services for the poor, has been hailed as the most important tool in poverty alleviation. However, not everyone agrees. According to Nimal Fernando, “There are three camps of thought on the issue of financial services for the poorest. The first camp rejects the hypothesis that the poorest can be reached with financial services on a sustainable basis. The second camp advocates that the poorest of the poor can be reached not only on a sustainable basis but also on a large scale. The third camp recognizes that the potential for reaching the poorest on a sustainable and a large-scale basis is limited but that the search for innovative approaches to expand the outreach to the poorest must be continued."

Policy-makers have an important role in facilitating this debate and also in creating the legal and economic environment within which suppliers of micro financial services can operate successfully.