1. "War on Poverty": The bail process for petty crimes is leading to increasingly high incarceration rates for the poor. Many are not able to access funds to cover even a comparatively low bail of a few hundred dollars. In fact, 69% of the households below the poverty line in the US Financial Diaries project would not have emergency savings balances high enough to post a $500 bail. The New York Times
2. Mobile Banking: India's central bank "pre-approved" 11 applications for banks that would take deposits and handle cash transfers. While this could positively impact financial inclusion efforts, the real winners are the Indian telecomms who are set to launch digital services like mobile savings and remittances. The Wall Street Journal
3. Product Design: One Moroccan bank's attempt to offer savings accounts to the poor is a illustrative example of the importance of product design to the success of banking the unbanked... The Guardian
4. ...as is Evelyn Stark's examination of why being customer-centric is a supply-side strategy for the financial inclusion sector. CFI
5. Global Poverty: You won't believe how one blog post deftly analyzes this one amazing chart. Cherokee Gothic
Source: CSFI
Editor’s Note: I’m going to assume that you are seeing plenty of AI content (news and papers, not AI slop, though I’m sure you’re getting plenty of that too) from other sources, so I’m trying to think hard about the marginal value that the faiV can provide. As far as I’ve gotten so far: a) make sure that directly AI-related content does not take up more than 2 of the 5 items, and b) try to focus specifically on the cybersecurity issue for financial inclusion. Beyond that, I’m open to feedback on the value you get from the faiV in relation to AI to help guide us in the future. On a different note, I’ll be making a brief cameo appearance at the e-MFP Inclusive Finance Conference to moderate the opening plenary. If you haven’t registered, do so and I hope to see you there! - Tim Ogden