With regards to deposit taking, microfinance institutions are broadly categorized in two groups. Some microfinance institutions have for a long time required cash balances to be maintained by borrowers as a form of collateral, earnest money, or a demonstration of ability to repay. Other institutions have served more broadly to mobilize the savings of poor communities as an end in itself or as a source of funding for credit and other operations. As microfinance institutions increasingly look to diversify their sources of funding through retail deposit taking, there has been a concomitant rise in interest in the appropriate forms of supervision and regulation for microfinance institutions. These distinct scenarios represent challenges for governments focusing on creating fledgling regulatory regimes.