For consumers in mature markets, the financial technology boom doesn’t seem very exciting. What they’ve seen so far is technology that shaves a few minutes off an efficient process, such as being able to deposit a check by taking a picture of it instead of going to the ATM. But for parts of the world where people still buy and sell things with banknotes, the FinTech boom is likely to be a major event with important economic consequences.
The Banking Industry’s Uber Moment: A More Efficient Oligopoly?
From the crash of 1929 to around 1981, banking was generally considered a fairly dreary business. And between now and 2025, banking seems likely to undergo a digitally driven transformation that will change how we save, spend, borrow and invest. Even as regulators do their best to try to make banking a boring business again, and politicians still vow to rein in the “banksters”, a number of well-financed start-ups look poised to reinvent almost every aspect of finance—and could even make banking sexy once more. First we look at how regulators’ push and FinTech’s pull may be setting the stage for some dramatic changes.
When your Bank Interest is a Basketful of Vegetables
CKGSB professor Brian Viard on why Chinese banks are resorting to paying bank interest through Mercedes Benz cars, iPhones and even vegetables.
Banking Reform: Slow and Steady Wins the Race
China should adopt a measured but determined approach to banking reform. There is no doubt that banking reform must happen in China. With more than 80% of China’s leverage coming from banks, and lending going predominantly to large state-owned enterprises (SOEs), growth is not likely to take its traditionally strong foothold in small- and medium-sized […]
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