Lisa Mensah, Executive Director of the Aspen Institute Initiative on Financial Security (Aspen IFS), moderated the “Savings: The Future of Microfinance” plenary session at the 2011 Microfinance USA conference. The two-day conference, which took place May 23-24, 2011 in New York City, convened over 800 of the nation’s leading microfinance champions to exchange ideas and information that set the agenda for the future of the field.
The “Savings: The Future of Microfinance” panelists included Robert Annibale, Citi Microfinance and Community Development; Dean Karlan, Yale University; and Stephen Rasmussen of the World Bank. Panelists discussed the research, investment, and products that drive today’s rise in microsavings deposits by the world’s and America’s poor. Mensah touched on legislative proposals to complement these savings, specifically the Automatic IRA and Expanded Saver’s Credit proposals.
