Essay: Finance with a Purpose, by Frederic de Mariz (E04)

From vehicles to music, power generation to retail, every aspect of our daily routine has experienced drastic changes in the recent past, driven by secular forces such as digitization, a growing focus on sustainability, regulatory changes and evolving consumer behavior.

Financial services are no exception. A paradigm change is at play in the financial sector, with a surge in competition from non-traditional actors, a revolution in customer experience evidenced by rising transparency and customer-centric strategies. FinTech is disrupting financial services, providing a historic opportunity for formally underserved customers, a formidable threat to existing banks and a critical challenge to regulators. 

Through the lens of FinTech (financial technology) — including payments, lending platforms, insurtech, superapps and market infrastructure — the author highlights the practical policy opportunities and risks of financial inclusion with a wealth of data.

This book tells the story of entrepreneurs, companies, investors, researchers and regulators who are building the financial services of tomorrow and the mechanisms that will allow us as a society to fulfill the promise of inclusion. There are still challenges to overcome, particularly high levels of informality, subpar quality in financial services, and low levels of financial education. Regulators play a crucial role to foster inclusion, proposing sandboxes and stepping up their efforts against risks triggered by technology such as monopolistic behavior, consumer protection and cybercrime.

Finance with a Purpose: FinTech, Development and Financial Inclusion in the Global Economy
Frederic de Mariz (E04)
World Scientific
220 pages
£55

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