1. Digital Payments: "Digitizing government payments can serve as a catalyst, spurring further innovation in this space and paving the way for more involvement by private sector actors and the international community." The World Bank - Let's Talk Development
2. Postal Banking: While the US continues to debate the impact of postal banking, a new paper reviews how these services evolved in the developing world. University of Freiburg
3. Savings: Airtel Uganda, in conjunction with Grameen Foundation, has developed a service that will allow savings groups to store their group’s cash as mobile money. Grameen Foundation
Week of August 18, 2014
1. Savings: Will increased access to formal savings accounts in India translate to greater financial inclusion? Live Mint
2. Remittances: FAI's Timothy Ogden spoke with The New York Times' editorial board about some of the macro challenges of remittance systems and the role that the World Bank could play in alleviating the costs and burdens of anti-money laundering regulations. The New York Times
3. Financial Diaries: A financial diaries project in Kenya provides new insights into how low-income Kenyans use and think about their money. FSD Kenya
Week of August 11, 2014
1. Cash Transfers: Conditional cash transfers in the US encounter ridicule and skepticism, but this "foreign import" for the war on poverty has promise. Politico
2. Payday Lending: A new app allows hourly workers to immediately access wages they’ve already earned, without having to wait for their employer’s standard pay cycle or relying on payday lenders for quick cash. Wired
3. Mobile Banking: How can regulatory “best practices” in digital financial services move away from focusing on enabling participation in the market to fostering competition? Ignacio Mas outlines a few strategies. The World Bank - All About Finance
Read MoreWeek of August 4, 2014
1. Retail Banking: Banks may continue to go digital but this doesn’t mean the brick and mortar branch is disappearing. Customers who use mobile and online banking more than once a week are over 60% more likely to be active retail-branch users than those who do not. McKinsey&Company
2. Labor Trends: The increasingly common practice of scheduling workers' shifts just before they begin can wreak havoc on the financial and personal lives of many low-wage workers, leading to income volatility and difficulty in arranging childcare. Al Jazeera America
3. Banking Transparency: "Low-income consumers want to know not just what the prices are, but in some ways, how banks’ decisions are made. Banks’ failure to communicate a rationale makes clients feel cheated...Clients who feel cheated, often feel justified in 'cheating back.'" Center for Financial Inclusion
Read MoreWeek of July 28, 2014
1. Language of Money: The nuances of financial jargon provide clarity in conversation, but exclude many. The New Yorker
2. Biometric Identification: Many countries, including India and Nigeria, continue to roll out biometric identity cards which can improve access to financial services. Alliance for Financial Inclusion
3. Islamic Microfinance: How can Sharia-compliant microfinance help bring financial tools to the 650 million Muslims living on less than $2 a day? The World Bank
Read MoreWeek of July 21, 2014
1. Microcredit: Easing liquidity constraints of smallholder farmers during the hungry season may help break the cycle of inadequate crop yields and low-wage off-labor farm work by helping to smooth consumption (with the added bonus of raising local wages!). Jobs Knowledge Platform
2. African Financial Markets: African banks continue to expand their regional footprints, which creates an interesting policy balancing act - how to reap the benefits of financial integration while protecting systems against "cross-border contagion and fragility." The World Bank: All About Finance Blog
3. Income Distributions: Africa’s middle class doubled in the last 30 years - but the poor and rich classes grew as well, so income distributions have gone largely unchanged. The New York Times
Read MoreWeek of July 14, 2014
1. Psychology and Poverty: An increasing number of scholars are studying how poverty affects the way people feel, think, and act. This may mean more widespread use of stress and happiness as metrics of success for development programs. Foreign Affairs
2. Microfinance: Despite the growing complexity of the microfinance industry, the most pressing risk it faces remains the same - overindebtedness. CFI
3. Poverty in the US: A few members of Congress participate in a simulation of lives of poor households. None of them stick around until the end. The Washington Post
Week of July 7, 2014
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
Read MoreWeek of June 23, 2014
1. Microfinance: FAI affiliate Daniel Rozas takes a in-depth look at multiple borrowing and overindebtedness and warns of an potential credit crisis in Mexico. European Microfinance Platform
2. Credit: As it turns out, the most honest borrowers are not necessarily the best borrowers. Quartz
3. Transfers: Segovia, a spin-off of GiveDirectly, has plans to build a platform for goverments and other institutions to distribute cash transfers efficiently and on a large scale. Council On Foreign Relations
4. Mobile Money: "On paper, digital financial services can sound like a silver bullet to reach millions of rural, underserved smallholder farmers. In reality, the challenges can be greater than the deployment of a low-tech solution." CGAP
5. The World Cup: Root for the soccer outcome that will produce the largest aggregate increase in happiness. The New York Times
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Week of June 16, 2014
1. Microfinance: New evidence from Morocco is the latest addition to the debate on whether microcredit can raise income and reduce poverty. The Economist
2. Credit: Arguing about fees in the small-dollar credit market distracts from more productive debates for providers and consumers. American Banker
3. Research Methodology: Creative approaches to qualitative research - balancing survey questions with "deep hanging out." Chris Blattman
