1. Financial Inclusion: Lisa Servon asks: Are banks too expensive to use? The New York Times
2. Savings: A newly launched micro-pension platform in India links employers and domestic workers to a streamlined enrollment process for a National Pension Scheme product. CFI
3. Human-Centered Design: Seven human-centered design projects in eight countries testing 30 prototypes for 175 concepts for financial products or services. All in one report. CGAP
4. SMEs: A companion case study to the Doing Business 2015 report underscores the importance of credit reporting and secured transactions for small and medium firms around the world. The World Bank
5. Cash Transfers: An early evaluation of Family Rewards 2.0, the second iteration of a conditional cash transfer program active in New York City, suggests that tweaks to the program have been successful in engaging more families. MDRC
Savings groups are a popular and effective way of helping poor households increase their savings. But why do they work? We explore the mechanisms that make savings groups effective in this video.
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