We consider the drivers and implications of the growth of "BigTech" in finance - ie the financial services offerings of technology companies with established presence in the market for digital services. BigTech firms often start with payments. Thereafter, some expand into the provision of...

Fintech promises to spur financial inclusion and close the gender gap in access to financial services. Using novel survey data for 28 countries, this paper finds a large and ubiquitous ‘fintech gender gap’: while 29% of men use fintech products, only 21% of women do. Country characteristics...

Retail central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and fast payment systems (FPS) share a number of similarities. Both allow for instant transactions for end users, can rely on underlying infrastructures operated by the central bank and can allow for an important role for private payment service...