There is a burgeoning literature in this area, and for purposes of this short Article, I only wish to offer a few basic observations. As an initial matter, I agree with commentators who suggest that microfinance regulation, at least in terms of prudential supervision, ought to be generally reserved for institutions that take retail deposits beyond the small deposits of earnest money that some microfinance institutions collect from their borrowers. Moreover, small, rural microfinance institutions, even those that accept small levels of deposits, would be difficult to supervise effectively, and may be better off left unregulated, if the regulations cannot be tailored to be reasonably cost effective for regulators and the microfinance institutions. If regulatory costs drive such institutions to be non-viable, depositors may be forced to leave their savings in higher-risk mechanisms (e.g., buying livestock, keeping cash under the mattress).