Financial technology—fintech—opens opportunities to boost economic growth, especially for financial inclusion, but policymakers must also address the risks. Read the latest IMF research on these issues, including the future of digital currencies.
Fintech innovation has already been transformative — and will continue to be so — changing the world of finance and making it much more accessible to hundreds of millions of businesses and people who used to be cut off from it.
Fintech Notes offer practical advice from IMF staff members to policymakers on important issues. The views expressed in Fintech Notes are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.
Establishing effective policies has become a priority for authorities amid the failure of some exchanges and collapse of certain crypto assets
Tax systems need updating to cope with crypto assets, whose anonymity and decentralized nature poses challenges—not least for the value added tax.
A new kind of multilateral platform could improve cross-border payments, leveraging technological innovations for public policy objectives
Stronger financial regulation and supervision, and developing global standards, can help address many concerns about crypto assets
Mobile money has been a lifeline for the unbanked population of low- and middle-income countries. Now, the spread of mobile money and other fintech could yield positive results for public health and safety.
Bo Li at the Peer-Learning Series on Digital Technologies and Digital Money in Asia and the Pacific on Cross-Border Digital Payment Systems: The Case of Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and Beyond.
New Economy Forum: The Future of FinTech in Latin America
Peer-Learning Webinar Series on Digital Technologies/Money in Asia and the Pacific
Our latest Back to Basics video explains what are stablecoins and the risks they pose.
Foreign Policy’s Ravi Agrawal will interview IMF's Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, and the President and Founder of Eurasia Group, Ian Bremmer, on why the COVID-19 crisis is like no other.
Since their inception in 2008, the contentious rise of crypto assets has been dramatic. Their market value has been as high as $3 trillion and about $50 million is transacted in crypto every day. But what does this brave new world of cryptographically-protected distributed ledgers mean for traditional tax systems? Ruud De Mooij is Deputy Director of the IMF Fiscal Affairs Department and heads its work on taxation. In this podcast, De Mooij says finding ways to tax crypto will mean significant revenue gains for governments and lead to a fairer global tax system. Transcript
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As rising geopolitical tensions chip away at globalization, will a more fragmented world mean stronger regional pacts? Economist Michele Ruta says regionalism in a time of conflict is unlikely to triumph, but rather is likely to change. The trend toward strengthening ties with friends and loosening them with non-friends is making regional trade less about integration and more about discrimination. Transcript
Read the article in the IMF's Finance & Development Magazine
Industrial policy refers to a set of policies that governments use to bolster national industries or companies deemed strategically important for economic competitiveness, social outcomes, or national security. The approach has been used in many countries to create global giants like Huawei, General Electric, Volkswagen, and Airbus to name a few. Economist Ruchir Agarwal is currently studying industrial policy, among other things, at the Yale School of Management and Harvard Kennedy School. In this podcast, Agarwal says while the practice of choosing national champions fell out of favor in the 1980s, rising geopolitical tensions of late have sparked a renewed interest in industrial policy, which can be a guise for protectionism. Transcript
Read the article in Finance and Development Magazine
Financial stability is not only about managing inflation, employment rates and spending, it’s about understanding how those factors affect people in different places and in all kinds of circumstances. In this podcast, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, discusses how strategic partnerships between humanitarians and economists will help support the millions of forcefully displaced people in the world and provide a firmer footing for an economic recovery. Transcript
Learn more about IMF support for Fragile and Conflict-Affected States
The last few months have witnessed tensions in Europe's housing markets as the cost-of-living crisis has eroded real incomes and the surge in interest rates has made borrowers more vulnerable to financial distress. Laura Valderrama is a macro-financial expert and coauthor of new research that suggests house prices across Europe are overvalued, and housing markets are at risk of a price correction that could undermine the region's economic recovery. Transcript
Most countries have infrastructure and governance structures that allow the private sector to take advantage of new technologies to innovate and improve payment and financial services. But at the international level, it’s a different story. Cross-border payments are as slow, expensive, and risky as ever. IMF Financial Counsellor, Tobias Adrian, and coauthors published some new research on creating a Multi-Currency Exchange and Contracting Platform that would effectively transform the cross-border payment system. In this podcast, Adrian says payments are the foundation for the entire monetary and financial system, and new technologies can help get global payments right. Transcript
