The Digital Revolution in Banking, Insurance and Capital Markets


Book Description

The digital transformation of finance and banking enables traditional services to be delivered in a more effective and efficient way but, at the same time, presents crucial issues such as fast-growing new asset classes, new currencies, datafication and data privacy, algorithmization of law and regulation and, last but not least, new models of financial crime. This book approaches the evolution of digital finance from a business perspective and in a holistic way, providing cutting-edge knowledge of how the digital financial system works in its three main domains: banking, insurance and capital markets. It offers a bird’s-eye view of the major issues and developments in these individual sectors. The book begins by examining the wider framework of the subsequent analysis and over the next three parts, discusses the opportunities, risks and challenges facing the digitalization of these individual financial subsectors, highlighting the similarities and differences in their digitalization agenda, as well as the existing linkages and dependencies among them. The book clarifies the strategic issues facing the development of digital finance in these major subsectors over the coming years. The book has three key messages: that digital transformation changes fundamentally the way financial businesses operate; that individual trades have their own digitalization agenda; and that the state with its regulatory power and central banking and money has a particularly important role to play. It will be of interest to scholars, students and researchers of finance andbanking, as well as policymakers wishing to understand the values and limitations of new forms of digital money.




Digital Transformation in Financial Services


Book Description

This book analyzes the set of forces driving the global financial system toward a period of radical transformation and explores the transformational challenges that lie ahead for global and regional or local banks and other financial intermediaries. It is explained how these challenges derive from the newly emerging post-crisis structure of the market and from shadow and digital players across all banking operations. Detailed attention is focused on the impacts of digitalization on the main functions of the financial system, and particularly the banking sector. The author elaborates how an alternative model of banking will enable banks to predict, understand, navigate, and change the external ecosystem in which they compete. The five critical components of this model are data and information mastering; effective use of applied analytics; interconnectivity and “junction playing”; development of new business solutions; and trust and credibility assurance. The analysis is supported by a number of informative case studies. The book will be of interest especially to top and middle managers and employees of banks and financial institutions but also to FinTech players and their advisers and others.




The Technological Revolution in Financial Services


Book Description

The financial services industry is being transformed by heightened regulation, technological disruption, and changing demographics. These structural forces have lowered barriers to entry, increasing competition from within and outside the industry, in the form of entrepreneurial fintech start-ups to large, non-financial technology-based companies. The Technological Revolution in Financial Services is an invaluable resource for those eager to understand the evolving financial industry. This edited volume outlines the strategic implications for financial services firms in North America, Europe, and other advanced economies. The most successful banks, insurance companies, and asset managers will partner with financial technology companies to provide a better and more innovative experience services to retail customers and small businesses. Ultimately this technological revolution will benefit customers and lead to a more open and inclusive financial system.




Activist Retail Investors and the Future of Financial Markets


Book Description

Contemporary financial markets have been characterized by sociocultural phenomena such as "meme stocks", the Gamestop short squeeze, and "You Only Live Once (YOLO) trading". These are movements led by small-scale retail investors banding together to participate forcefully in financial markets through decentralized but coordinated actions. This book deploys many different subdisciplines to explore the recent ‘power grabbing’ of retail investors and the online environment that enables them to join the ranks of major financial players, and participate in contemporary capitalism. It offers multiple perspectives on the genesis, role, motivations, power, and future prospects of retail investors as a force in contemporary financial markets. Drawing upon the insights of authors hailing from many different countries, the book frames YOLO capitalism through numerous angles that help to explain the context and the importance of activist retail investors in modern financial markets, and thereby explore the possibilities of a transformed financial future with much wider small-scale participation. The book assesses the potential of online - and other - communities in enabling global coordination in impacting or even driving financial and crypto markets, and the challenges that come with it and weighs the competing narratives both positive and negative regarding YOLO capitalism. It strikes a balanced assessment of their legal, cultural, behavioural, economic, and political roles in modern finance. This book will be of interest to a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary audience of scholars in financial markets, financial regulation, political economy, public administration, macroeconomics, corporate governance, and the philosophy and the sociology of finance.




Powering the Digital Economy: Opportunities and Risks of Artificial Intelligence in Finance


Book Description

This paper discusses the impact of the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in the financial sector. It highlights the benefits these technologies bring in terms of financial deepening and efficiency, while raising concerns about its potential in widening the digital divide between advanced and developing economies. The paper advances the discussion on the impact of this technology by distilling and categorizing the unique risks that it could pose to the integrity and stability of the financial system, policy challenges, and potential regulatory approaches. The evolving nature of this technology and its application in finance means that the full extent of its strengths and weaknesses is yet to be fully understood. Given the risk of unexpected pitfalls, countries will need to strengthen prudential oversight.




Fintech


Book Description

The paper finds that while there are important regional and national differences, countries are broadly embracing the opportunities of fintech to boost economic growth and inclusion, while balancing risks to stability and integrity.




Banking, Risk and Crises in Europe


Book Description

European economies have been plagued by successive crises, from the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) to the COVID-19 pandemic, through to the economic and geopolitical instability in Ukraine. These events, the uncertainty they generate combined with dynamic technological progress and significant sociocultural changes, have profoundly modified the character of modern finance. Understanding what happened, what mechanisms worked, and the reaction of the banking sector, bank customers, and policymakers require an in-depth and structured analysis. This book critically assesses the impact of these events, notably the COVID-19 pandemic, on the performance of the banking sector in Europe and serves as a compendium of knowledge on recent changes in European banking from two perspectives: firstly, European banking transformation, analyzing the process of what has already taken place, in particular, the GFC and COVID-19 crises; secondly, the challenges facing the operations and strategic management of European banks. It identifies specific areas of impact on the activity of commercial banks and the determining factors that will shape the economic and financial condition of banks and their customers – borrowers – in the future. Risk management, particularly credit risk, is a key focus of this volume. Each chapter, implicitly or explicitly, address a variety of questions that can help the reader to understand the complex nature of the transformation of the banking sector. The book provides a structured reference for those concerned with the impact of volatility on the business models of modern banks. As such, it will find a broad audience among students, academics, banking, financial, business, and industry professionals, policymakers, and market regulators.




The Digital Banking Revolution


Book Description

Emergent innovative financial technologies are profoundly changing the way in which we spend, move and manage our money, unlike ever before, and traditional retail banks are facing stiff competition. The global financial crisis in 2007–2009 led to large losses, and even the collapse of a significant number of established banks shaking the trust of financial customers worldwide. The Digital Banking Revolution is an insightful look at how financial technology and the rapid rise of financial technology companies have brought welcome changes offering flexibility to the banking industry. The book offers a unique perspective on the consumerization of retail banking services. It delves into the many changes that financial innovations have brought about in banking, the main financial disruptors, the new era of "banking on the go," and financial innovations from countries around the world before concluding with a discussion on the future of banking including optimizing structures, new strategies for business outcomes, and human resources in the digital era.




Inflation Dynamic


Book Description

This book explains inflation dynamic, using time series data from 1960 for 42 countries. These countries are different in every aspect, historically, culturally, socially, politically, institutionally, and economically. They are chosen on the basis of the data availability only and cover the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, Australasia, and the United States. Inflation reached double digits in the developed countries in the 1970s and 80s, and then central banks, successfully stabilized it by anchoring inflation expectations for decades, until now. Conditional on common and country-specific shocks such as oil price shocks, financial and banking and political crises, wars, pandemics, natural disasters etc., the book tests various theoretical models about the long and short run relationships between money and prices, money growth and inflation, money growth and real output, expected inflation; the output gap, fiscal policy, and inflation, using a number of parametric and non-parametric methods, and pays attention to specifications and estimations problems. In addition, it explains why policymakers in inflation – targeting countries, e.g. the U.S., failed to anticipate the recent sudden rise in inflation. And, it examines the fallibility of the Modern Monetary Theory’s policy prescription to reduce inflation by raising taxes. This is a unique and innovative book, which will find an audience among students, academics, researchers, policy makers, analysts in corporations, private and central banks and international monetary institutions.




COVID-19 and European Banking Performance


Book Description

The monograph presents a comprehensive analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on European banking, both at a macro and a micro level. It analyses the impact of the pandemic on bank stability, performance and credit policies, as well as their strategic adjustments to the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. The initial chapters analyze the various governmental responses to the pandemic. Topics of discussion include the scale and scope of the wide range of public policies undertaken to mitigate the consequences of the crisis, and their efficiency in limiting the negative impact of the pandemic on the economy. The results suggest that the extensive public interventions have been largely successful in averting the possible disastrous consequences for the financial sector on a macro level. On a micro level, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the restructuring and recovery of the banking industry started after the 2008 crisis which has had a significant impact on economies around the world, arguably leading to a negative long-lasting effect on sustainable development. To examine this, the book focuses on the impact of the pandemic on bank lending policies, bank stability and performance, and on competitive position of the banks vis a vis the FinTech sector. Offering a thorough overview of the issues that banks will have to face as a consequence of pandemic related macroeconomic and industry adjustments, the book will be of interest to scholars, researchers and students of banking and finance as well as banking specialists concerned with the impact of crises on financial markets, risks and resilience.