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Tontines and the banking system – is there a case for building linkages?
01.03.1994
In Senegal, as in other parts of the world, tontines are a very important form of organized group savings for the informal sector, and the amounts raised are often substantial. This article describes the findings of a survey which took place in Dakar relating to how tontines are run, who takes part, and for what purposes the savings are used. It identifies the strengths of tontines, and suggests that in spite of the apparent desirability of linking tontines into the banking system through the mechanism of mutual guarantee associations, the informality of tontines is unlikely to be compatible with bank regulations, and similarly bank procedures are unlikely to meet tontines members' requirements of speed and flexibility.