Fintech is increasingly recognized as a key enabler for financial sectors worldwide, enabling more efficient and competitive financial markets while expanding access to finance for traditionally underserved consumers. A critical challenge for policy makers is to harness the benefits and...

This paper provides an overview of different regulatory approaches to Fintech and provides guidance for policymakers to understand the benefits and limitations of each. While some Fintech activities can often be covered within existing regulatory frameworks, the majority of jurisdictions are...

The purpose of this note is to explain how the pandemic is reshaping regulations in China and affecting urban planning and city management. In preparing this note, a meta-analysis was conducted based on a review of China's urban planning responses to COVID-19. The review covered newly issued...

Physical cash and commercial bank money are dominant vehicles for retail payments around the world, including in emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs). Yet payments in EMDEs are marked by several key deficiencies, such as lack of universal access to transaction accounts, widespread...

The Thailand Economic Monitor (TEM) consists of two parts. Part 1 of the TEM reviews recent economic developments, examines the country's macroeconomic outlook, and analyzes the impact of key policy changes. Part 2 focuses on a specific subject with critical implications for Thailand's long-term...

Islamic finance is a fast-booming segment of global finance. Serving a core population of 1.8 billion Muslims world-wide and a wider global ethical finance audience, its role is growing in global significance especially as it relates to global social financing needs. The global fintech...

In January 2019, Uzbekistan started a new farm restructuring1. It is said to seek to optimize the use of farmland by increasing the size of farms producing wheat and cotton, reallocating land to more efficient farmers and even clusters, and improving crop rotation options. This is not the first...