Services play a key role in enhancing competitiveness of manufacturing and establishing global value chains. Realising the importance of services, a number of countries such as China, Taiwan, Philippines and United Arab Emirates (UAE, Dubai) are focusing on special economic zones (SEZs) for...

Firms in the financial services industry have been faced with the dramatic and relatively recent emergence of new technology innovations, and process disruptions. The industry as a whole, and many new fintech start-ups are looking for new pathways to successful business models, the creation of...

Current financial discourse suggests the imminence of a cashless society, a concept that arose from the global popularization of digital financial services and the development of technologies with the potential for application in financial markets. However, claims about the impending...

This paper analyses the links between advances in financial technology, investors’ sophistication, and the composition and returns of their financial portfolios. We develop a simple portfolio choice model under asymmetric information and derive some theoretical predictions. Using detailed...

This paper analyses the links between advances in financial technology, investors' sophistication, and their financial portfolios' composition and returns. We develop a simple portfolio choice model under asymmetric information and derive some theoretical predictions. Using detailed micro data...

We study the role of intermediaries (brokers) in the Canadian mortgage market. In this market, consumers can search for quotes in one of two ways: on their own or via a broker. We provide descriptive evidence that borrowers who transact through brokers are different from those who do not....

Canada is in the midst of developing three new core payment systems: Lynx, Settlement Optimization Engine (SOE) and Real-Time Rail (RTR). Lynx and SOE will replace the current Large Value Transfer System (LVTS) and Automated Clearing Settlement System (ACSS), whereas RTR will be a new...

Canada currently has two core payment systems for processing funds transfers between financial institutions: the Large Value Transfer System (LVTS) and the Automated Clearing Settlement System (ACSS). These systems will be replaced over the next years by three new systems: Lynx, the Settlement...

The aim of this paper is to examine which payment instruments Canadians use for paying bills and to assess the factors driving their bill payment behaviour. I use 2019 survey data collected among over 4,000 Canadians and estimate a set of binomial and multinomial regressions to assess the...

We analyze the relationship between the intensity of banks' use of soft-information and household bankruptcy patterns. Using a unique data set on the universe of Canadian household bankruptcies, we document that bankruptcy rates are higher in markets where the collection of soft, or qualitative...