The Banking Executive Magazine - April 2021

ISSUE 148 APRIL 2021 the BANKING EXECUTIVE 1 Editorial FINANCIAL INCLUSION VIA FINTECH Financial Inclusion is an essential step towards the society as a whole, it’s is essential not just for the additional growth and prosperity it provides to the financial sector or the economy as a whole, but as a dynamic engine to reduce inequalities and economic development in such a manner that fragile populations, households and businesses, are not left out. Fintechs have huge roles to play in financial inclusion through the new solutions they provide. Fintech is not driven solely by intellectual curiosity but is also backed by hard money, in 2018, total investment activity in FinTech amounted to $120 billion, spanning about 2,600 deals, and since 2014, there have been over 11,000 FinTech investments totaling about $380 billion. Globally technology firms increased their foray into financial service and the collective total volume of new credit provided by FinTech and "big tech" in 2017 exceeded $500 billion, according to Pablo Hernández de Cos, the newly elected Chair of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and Governor of the Bank of Spain. With no doubt that we are witnessing intense completion, but on the on the flipside of the coin, banks and BigTechs and FinTechs are cooperating. Innovations and new technologies in payments whether block chain or real-time payments up to using artificial intelligence, we are experiencing a large number of changes that have altered the way we pay - and will continue to do so. The challenge is developing regulation for all providers, banks, FinTechs, RegTech and all other players to protect the finaical sector and sustain its resilience, and, above all, ensure customers’ benefit. In this context, regulations ought to curb new risks such as: leaving out those who are not at ease with digitalization, creating unforeseen bias via the automation of processes, or leading to security issues for personal data theft and misuse when that is not handled properly. Dr. Joseph Torbey, Chairman - World Union of Arab Bankers