1. Financial Inclusion: India’s vision of boosting financial inclusion by building thousands of bank branches may be inadequate if those branches actively prevent customers from purchasing low-cost products. IFMR
2. Insurance: How can small firms protect themselves against risks and continue with expansion plans even in an environment of uncertainty? The World Bank - Development Impact
3. Housing: A new study finds that relative to homeowners, renters in the U.S. comprise a financially fragile population that is burdened by debt and lacks emergency savings. FINRA
4. Payments: Plastc wants to replace your entire wallet with a single card. The Verge
5. Impact Investing: Mobile phones have positive effects for billions - but do socially-conscious investors see Nokia as an "impact company"? Interest in impact investing may be growing, but the field needs more concrete definitions and metrics. Stanford Social Innovation Review
Despite conventional wisdom, poor families DO save. However, they do not always have access to safe, reliable systems to build savings. Savings groups are one tool that help poor households better manage their financial lives.
Editor's Note:
If you were hoping that the faiV would be a pleasant distraction from the overwhelming flow of AI-related content, sorry. For the record, the faiV had “ai” built in before Anthropic existed. And a housekeeping note: we’ve finally jumped ship from Mailchimp to NYU’s mailing platform—I guess if you’re reading this it’s been a seamless transition and if you’re not, well, you’re not. Feedback on the faiV’s content and format and delivery methods is always welcome, just drop me an email.
- Tim Ogden