UCI to inaugurate new institute with seminar

A new UCI institute that studies how the world’s poorest spend, store and save money and how mobile technology such as cellphones can work into that will launch today, university officials announced.

The Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion will launch at the beginning of a two-day seminar highlighting how technology is changing people’s perspectives on money, university officials announced Wednesday.

The institute, to be directed by UCI professor Bill Maurer, will research how the growing mobile technology field, such as cell phones, provide banking and other financial services for developing countries.

The university’s research will help design financial products and services geared toward developing countries, officials said. The institute could help pave the way for financial services and security to become available for millions of poor people worldwide for the first time, university officials said.

— Joseph Serna