The Chinese TechFins Ant Financial and Tencent's WePay are harnessing technology to redefine financial services and increase financial inclusion. TechFins purport to use technology to create a world where customers have access to financial services just like tap water – you open the tap and...

The financial industry is being transformed by a combination of structural forces: heightened regulation, technological disruption, and changing demographics. These forces are lowering barriers to entry and increasing competition from within and outside the industry. A diversity of new entrants...

This article provides an overview of the foreign exchange components of the Triennial Central Bank Survey. It highlights key dimensions of this dataset and methodological issues that are important to interpret it correctly. It also compares the methodology of the Triennial to that of more...

We analyse the wide array of rescue programmes adopted in several countries, following Lehman Brothers' default in September 2008, in order to support banks and other financial institutions. We first provide an overview of the programmes, comparing their characteristics, magnitudes and...

Daily average foreign exchange market turnover reached $4 trillion in April 2010, 20% higher than in 2007. Growth owed largely to the increased trading activity of “other financial institutions”, which contributed 85% of the higher turnover. Within this customer category, the growth is...

This article provides estimates of the inflation-adjusted cost of equity for banks in six countries over the period 1990-2009. This cost is estimated using the single-factor capital asset pricing model (CAPM), where expected stock returns are a function of risk-free rates and a bank-specific...

We show that investor recognition and bonding associated with a U.S. cross-listing are distinct effects using a sample of Canadian firms. In contrast to the post-listing decline documented in the literature, we find that cross-listed firms with a single class of shares enjoy a permanent increase...

We review key characteristics of the hedge fund industry, and identify conditions under which this sector can pose a threat to financial stability. Direct regulation of hedge funds that increases transparency does not appear feasible, may create a moral-hazard problem, and may reduce market...