What Asia can do to maximize the impact of COVID-19’s fintech boost to financial inclusion

Summary: The increased use of financial technology, or fintech, during the COVID-19 pandemic has provided households in Asia and the Pacific with more efficient and shock-resilient financial services access, and also helped the region’s micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises remain economically viable by offering faster and cheaper financial services than traditional banking. However, economies and communities may be unable to reap the financial inclusion benefits of fintech without sufficient levels of digital and financial literacy and digital payment infrastructure development. A recent virtual conference organized by the ADBI, the Asian Development Bank and the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School examined the role and impact of fintech during the pandemic. In this podcast, ADBI Research Fellow John Beirne discusses some of the key insights from the event, as well as the implications for policy makers going forward. Read the transcript https://bit.ly/3ezT8Wx Related link Virtual Conference on Fintech and COVID-19 https://bit.ly/2Sb1nAM