The provision of financial services through mobile phones is a powerful tool to foster financial inclusion in developing countries. Yet, it raises important regulatory questions. Given the vulnerability of the vast majority of potential customers of these services, one of the most pressing...

The inability of developing nations to borrow in their own currency leads to currency mismatches on their national balance sheets. These mismatches render these economies vulnerable to external shocks and are a major source of damaging volatility for the entire international financial system....

The International Monetary Fund was primarily established to facilitate the management of a fixed exchange rate regime designed to promote global trade. It did this in the 1950s and 1960s. It was a good idea for its time. That time ended with the floating of exchange rates in the 1970s. Since...

Developing countries in financial difficulties routinely enter into arrangements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Such arrangements reduce the economic sovereignty of the developing country markedly. This paper analyses this reduction in sovereignty and seeks to assess whether it is...

A customers' journey is the path the customer travels to satisfy their needs and wants and will typically consist of several separate processes. FinTech product and service developers in advanced economies often understand how difficult many customers find their journey with banks and have been...

The international financial system has made a major, direct and sustained contribution to global poverty for the past 30 years. It has worsened it. It has done so in two main ways. First, the analytical framework and perspective the International Monetary Fund has brought to its role in...

Digital financial services (DFS) present an unprecedented opportunity to improve financial inclusion and economic development. However, these innovative services can prove challenging for regulators, particularly in developing countries. This article proposes a comprehensive analytical framework...

Before 1982 sovereign debtors regularly defaulted on their debts. Since the debt crisis that commenced in that year, sovereign defaults have been rare and usually quite quickly remedied, even though crises have been occurring with increasing frequency. This article seeks to answer why there...