Fintech and Sustainable Development: Assessing the Implications

The report, a companion to the second edition of “The Financial System We Need”, assesses how the financial system’s core functions are likely to be disrupted by financial technology (“fintech”) innovations and how they could help – or hinder – efforts to align financing with sustainable development. It considers ways to: Unlock greater financial inclusion by reducing the costs for payments and providing better access to capital domestically and internationally; Mobilize domestic savings at a scale that will enable long-term investment directed at the long-term sustainability of the real economy; Disrupt the provision of financial protection, risk management, risk transfer and risk diversification for vulnerable and exposed communities, real economy assets and infrastructures, and nature’s ecosystems; Collect, analyze and distribute information on the financial system and the real economy for better economic decision-making, regulation and risk management; Provide financial markets with the level playing field and market integrity needed for long-term real economy investments aligned with the sustainable development agenda.