The Global COVID-19 FinTech Market Rapid Assessment Study

Abstract

This global study seeks to assess how financial technology firms (FinTechs) have been impacted by COVID-19, and how they are responding to the resultant challenges and opportunities. The study is a joint initiative of the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School, the World Bank Group and the World Economic Forum. This research was supported by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, and the Ministry of Finance of Luxembourg.

COVID-19 has profoundly impacted financial systems across the world, including the provision of digital financial services and the functioning of FinTech markets. Recent anecdotal evidence suggests that the socio-economic shocks associated with the global pandemic have severely disrupted some FinTech sectors, created opportunities to others and introduced a state of flux for many.

As consumers and MSMEs increasingly look to digital financial channels and instruments for payments and remittances, saving or insurance solutions, as well as capital raising amid more stringent lockdown measures, there is an urgent need to gather empirical data from the FinTech markets. This can support evidence-based decision-making by the industry, investors, business communities, regulators, governments, multilateral institutions and other key stakeholders.

This is the context in which the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) partnered with the World Bank Group and the World Economic Forum to conceptualize, design and deliver the Global COVID-19 FinTech Market Rapid Assessment Report. This market assessment report endeavors to answer a series of pertinent questions on how Covid-19 has impacted the global FinTech industry.

Keywords: COVID-19, FinTech, alternative finance, digital financial services, digital payments, digital lending, financial innovation, access to finance