Research

This paper examines trends in equity funding for financial technology firms (fintechs) and the underlying country-specific drivers. Fintechs have raised over $1 trillion in equity globally since 2010. While the investment landscape was initially quite concentrated, it has become more diverse, both geographically and across market segments. Equity funding for fintechs is higher in countries with more innovation capacity and better regulatory quality. It also increases after the introduction of regulatory sandboxes. Early-stage venture capital investment is higher after merger and acquisition activity by large banks, but not after that by big techs. 

This paper investigates factors that predict variation in digital and non-digital remittance fees over time and across countries, exploring differences between CAPDR and other regions. The paper fills a void in the literature on how country- and corridor-specific factors relate to remittance fees at different levels of digitalization of the transaction mode. It also complements stylized facts and regression analysis with a survey analysis of the CAPDR authorities’ views on the latest developments, possibilities, and risks related to digital remittances. The paper finds a clear trend of declining remittance fees across countries and at any level of digitalization, albeit they remain higher for CAPDR countries relative to non-CAPDR countries. More competition, financial and digital development in receiving countries—such as debit/credit card ownership or bank branch penetration—are associated with lower remittance fees, especially in CAPDR. The surveyed authorities actively explore the use of digital money to advance domestic payment systems, expedite financial inclusion, and lower remittances fees, yet see considerable risks, especially for preserving monetary sovereignty in CAPDR. 

This paper looks at the credit rating adjustments on Eurozone banks that followed the post-crisis regulation of bank resolution in Europe in 2014. The empirical assessment analyses within-bank variation using the credit ratings of the major Eurozone banks. The analysis shows that with the introduction of the bail-in: 1) the ratings of Eurozone banks, as expected, were subject to downward pressures; 2) however, credit rating agencies (CRAs) reacted in a variety of ways, moving to post bail-in ratings for Eurozone banks that were more homogenous across CRAs than pre bail-in ratings. While the credit rating adjustments are rightly justified by the rating methodologies used, the convergence among CRAs suggests some degree of discretion in assigning the rating. These results are consistent with herding behaviour among CRAs. 

Fintech has increasingly become a part of the global economy with the evolution of technology, increasing investments in fintech firms, and greater integration between traditional incumbent financial firms and fintech. Since the 2007-2009 financial crisis, more attention has also been given to systemic risk and the impact of financial institutions on systemic risk. As fintech grows, so too should the concern for its possible impact on systemic risk. This paper analyzes two indices of public fintech firms (one for the United States and another for Europe) by computing the Delta CoVaR of the fintech firms against the financial system to measure their impact on systemic risk. Our results show that at this time fintech firms do not greatly contribute to systemic risk.