The Banking Executive Magazine - January 2022 Issue

ISSUE 157 JANUARY 2022 the BANKING EXECUTIVE 1 Editorial FINTECH, A CRITICAL PILLAR FOR RECOVERY Almost two years have passed since the pandemic has started and FinTech is proving again to be a crucial pillar in this recovery. Today’s emphasis is no longer limited to how to stabilize the economy, but also on how to make it more energetic, while at the same time, improving people's welfare. An important problem facing the global economy is whether to reserve the pace with the ever greater economic openness trend, which has defined the last three decades, or putting it to an end. Temporary trade barriers have indeed risen from covering around 1% of products in 2000 to more than 2.5% today, with the crisis accelerating this pattern. FinTech has offered revolutionary changes, such as completely new ways of banking where peer-to-peer lending arrangements is undertaken. FinTech is developing rapidly with a vast scope that touches, among other things, on chatbots, artificial intelligence, block chains, cloud computing, and smart contracts. To keep up, regulators, may find it hard to remain up to date with these developments; since they need to reflect on the most appropriate regulatory responses to technologies that may not be fully comprehended yet. Considering that, regulators ought to focus on regulatory principles that are risk-based rather than creating excessive rules-based regulations aimed at these technologies or products. Dr. Joseph Torbey, Chairman - World Union of Arab Bankers