It is generally recognised that the majority of poor people live in rural areas, thus any strategy to reduce poverty has to address the issues in rural areas. Financial services are a vital part of poverty reduction, enabling people to manage their consumption, life cycle events, savings and investment needs. The informal sector meets the majority of these needs in rural areas as formal providers find the higher costs of rural operations prohibitive. That reduces options and limits the ability of rural people to benefit from the resources and services that urban entrepreneurs enjoy. Strategies have to be found to reduce the costs of operating in remote places, where clients are more scattered and largely dependent on agriculture. Case studies and examples of innovations in widening rural outreach will be featured in this topic, together with materials focusing on the broader issue of rural livelihood development.