1. M-Pesa: All 85,000 M-Pesa agents are now free to sell rival services after a long battle for open networks comes to an end. IT Web Africa
2. Remittances: Tougher regulation intended to fight illicit use of international money transfers shutters low-cost remittance services for migrants and raises the cost of sending money home. The New York Times
3. Mobile Money: Global smartphone penetration is expected to double by 2017, leading to faster new product development and more competition in the mobile money industry… GSMA
4. ...but for the present, lack of awareness still hinders the spread of the service. New data shows only 6% of India's population is even aware of mobile money and only 0.3% has accessed it. CGAP
5. Digital Financial Services: Kenya's Equity Bank is hoping to shake up the mobile banking market dominated by M-Pesa by offering slimline SIM cards that lie on top of existing phone SIM cards, allowing users to access bank account information without changing their number or provider. BBC News
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