1. Bank Transparency: Wal-Mart is known as a low-cost retailer, but customers of the independent banks inside its outlets are among America's highest payers of bank fees. The 5 banks with the most Wal-Mart branches ranked among the top 10 in fee income as a percentage of deposits in 2013. The Wall Street Journal (paywall)
2. Financial Sector Investment: A new report finds that the financial sector is now the largest beneficiary of World Bank Group investment, receiving $36 billion between July 2009 and June 2013 the IFC. Over the same period the World Bank’s public sector arms committed $22.1 billion to health and $12.4 billion to education. Bretton Woods Project
3. Credit: "There are two housing markets in America. It's not one for student debtors and one for non-student-debtors. Rather, it's one market for healthy corporations, who are buying at a historic rate; and one market for families, which is still quite sick." The Atlantic
4. Research Methodology: A newly revised working paper from Hunt Alcott explores the challenges of generalizing data from a single site to a larger context using data from an energy conservation program in the US and analyzing impact evaluations involving MFIs. The World Bank - Development Impact Blog
5. Regulatory Reform: Richard J. Parsons, a former Bank of America executive vice president, proposes public policy changes to help give smaller community banks the opportunity to survive independently. American Banker
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