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.
