October 2020

New Finance: In Search for Analytical Framework

By Jan Monkiewicz Since the beginning of the century, modern financial systems have been experiencing a period of dynamic change. These changes have caused the uniform fabric on which the systems were based for a long time to become eroded and a multitude of alternative solutions to appear in their place. The existing systems are becoming increasingly heterogeneous and increasingly less transparent. In addition to the traditional financial system based on highly regulated financial intermediaries with a legal monopoly,...

The Pan-European Pension Product Regulation – Europe’s Solution to the ‘Pensions Gap’

By Sebastiaan Niels Hooghiemstra In July 2012, the European Commission asked the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (‘EIOPA’), in the broader context of efforts to develop private funded pensions, to advise on a legal framework for a Single Market for PPPs. Following a Discussion Paper, a Preliminary Report, a draft advice and a Final Report published by EIOPA, Regulation (EU) 2019/1238 (‘PEPPR’) was adopted on 20 June 2019. The PEPPR establishes a 2nd regime (also known as the...

Pensions for State and Local Government Workers Not Covered by Social Security: Do Benefits Meet Federal Standards?

By Laura Quinby, Jean-Pierre Aubry, Alicia H. Munnell Federal law allows certain state and local governments to exclude employees from Social Security coverage if the employees are provided with a sufficiently generous pension. Approximately 6.5 million such workers were not covered by Social Security in 2018. Retirement systems for non-covered workers have become less generous in recent years, and a few plans could exhaust their trust funds within the next decade, putting beneficiaries at risk. This article examines data...

AI Human Impact: Toward a Model for Ethical Investing in AI-Intensive Companies

By James Brusseau Does AI conform to humans, or will we conform to AI? An ethical evaluation of AI-intensive companies will allow investors to knowledgeably participate in the decision. The evaluation is built from nine performance indicators that can be analyzed and scored to reflect a technology’s human-centering. When summed, the scores convert into objective investment guidance. The strategy of incorporating ethics into financial decisions will be recognizable to participants in environmental, social, and governance investing, however, this paper...

Fintech and Financial Literacy in the Lao PDR

By Peter Morgan, Long Q. Trinh A growing literature has examined the role of financial literacy in an individual’s income, saving behavior and the use of various financial products. However, so far, no one has examined the relationship between financial literacy and the awareness and adoption of financial technology (fintech) products, i.e., financial products provided via internet-based and mobile-based platforms. This paper examines this relationship in a developing country, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR). We use information collected...

Could the ESG Sector Lead the Recovery of the COVID-Economy?

By Suresh Gamlath The June 2020 outlook for the world economy, forecast a ‘synchronised deep downturn’ much worse than the 2008 crisis and ‘an uncertain recovery’. The impact of ‘lockdown’ on economic activity had a profound effect on the fortunes of firms, households, and entire industries around the world. While some sectors were buoyed by the sharp growth of home-based online working and entertainment; an overwhelming majority experienced significant contraction as demand stalled. The likelihood of large-scale corporate collapse...

September 2020

Impact of Fintech Development on Savings, Borrowing and Remittances: A Comparative Study of Emerging Economies

By Angela Lyons, Josephine Kass-Hanna, Ana Polato e Fava Fintech is rapidly changing the landscape for financial services in terms of accessibility and affordability, especially in this post-COVID era. Digital finance now has the potential to be a game changer for the nearly two billion financially excluded persons in the developing and emerging world. Non-bank providers such as mobile money services have expanded and are leapfrogging ahead of conventional banking services. This study investigates the linkages between fintech development...

The Role of IRAs in US Households’ Saving for Retirement, 2019

By Sarah Holden, Daniel Schrass This paper presents survey results on the incidence of IRA ownership in the United States and the activity of IRA-owning households. In mid-2019, 36 percent of US households owned individual retirement accounts (IRAs). More than eight in 10 IRA-owning households also had employer-sponsored retirement plan accumulations or had defined benefit plan coverage. All told, more than six in 10 US households had retirement plans through work or IRAs; three-quarters of near-retiree households did. In...

Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning: A Transformative Symbiosis in Favour of Financial Technology

By Charalampos Stasinakis, Georgios Sermpinis The financial technology revolution is a reality, as the financial world is gradually transforming into a digital domain of high-volume information and high-speed data transformation and processing. The more this transformation takes place, the more consumer and investor behaviour shifts towards a pro-technology attitude of financial services offered by market participants, financial institutions and financial technology companies. This new norm is confirming that information technology is driving innovation for financial technology. In this framework,...

COVID-19 and pensions in Latin America

By Ernesto Brodersohn In the last 2020 edition of “G7 Pensions LT Investment Summit. Modern Asset Allocation, ESG & Inclusive Growth” I was invited to deliver some remarks on the current situation of Pension Systems in Latin America in the juncture with the health and economic crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. This sparked a quick updated stocktaking over the latest responses that different jurisdictions have been applying to pension schemes throughout the region. Over the past couple of months pension systems...