1. Mobile Money: Vodafone and MTN announced plans to allow money transfers between East and Central African customers of either provider, marking a big step toward interoperability on the continent. The Wall Street Journal
2. Financial Management: FAI affiliate Ignacio Mas analyzes common behaviors and decision-making practices that underpin the financial management strategies of poor households. Upsides
3. Digital Payments: A new blog series explores mobile merchant payments in developing markets, with a focus on the factors it will take to build out the extensive networks necessary to provide value for both merchants and customers. CGAP
4. Financial Inclusion: When we talk about financial inclusion, we generally talk about national statistics. Researchers funded by BBVA have made an impressive attempt to better understand financial inclusion in the United States by measuring it, and some possible determinants of inclusion or exclusion, for individual metropolitan areas. BBVA
5. Microinsurance: This week marked the launch of the first edition of The State of Microinsurance, a magazine-style publication aimed at taking stock of the microinsurance sector from the point of view of various stakeholders. The Microinsurance Network

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