LeapFrog recently established a separate, grant-funded research and development facility. It aims to tackle some of the toughest barriers to access to financial services for poorer people.
LeapFrog Labs will
Design quality, relevant, affordable financial products that are crucial for low-income people, but difficult to make commercially sustainable, such as broad-based health insurance.
Develop and distribute materials that explain insurance and financial services to low-income people, empowering them to make wise choices.
Access and experiment with technology that lowers transaction and processing costs, driving down the price of policies and so helping reach ever lower-income customers.
Help high-volume distributors build capacity so that they can move beyond microlending into wider financial services, such as insurance and educational savings.