This dissertation contributes to studies in macroeconomics, microfinance, entrepreneurship, financial technology innovation (FinTech), and economic development. In particular, I study unbanked problems and evaluate microfinance programs. Chapter 1 studies quantitatively how a microfinance program in the U.S. affects occupational choice, firm size, credit access, wages, output, inequality and welfare. The general equilibrium model has heterogeneous agents, a bank with a minimum loan size requirement and a microfinance institution (MFI) with a loan interest rate that exceeds the bank's. Four microfinance program policies are evaluated: alternative minimum loan size requirements, changes in the loan cost wedge (due to innovation or regulation), changes to the level of the government subsidy, and alternative MFI sustainability requirements. We find that MFIs can have significant welfare effects for some individuals. In Chapter 2, I introduce a microsavings program for low-wealth individuals in a general equilibrium model with heterogeneous agents. The model incorporates that (i) traditional banks require a minimum savings deposit size, causing some individuals to become “unbanked,'' and (ii) banks and non-profits partner to offer microsavings programs to the unbanked. The paper finds that microsavings programs increase the percentage of entrepreneurs by providing collateral that the previously unbanked can use to start firms, and wages increase, which benefits workers. Second, government subsidies for microsavings programs expand the size and number of firms, but output and workers may decline when funding the program requires higher income taxes. Third, bank sector deregulation (i.e., lower transaction costs in the financial sector) leads to higher output per capita, wages, and firm numbers, and possibly lower income inequality among entrepreneurs. Finally, technological innovations that decrease deposit transaction costs, such as mobile banking, reduce funding pressure on microsavings programs, but have little effect on the percentage of entrepreneurs, firm size, entrepreneur returns or wages.

The purpose of the study is to explore in what ways leadership qualities such as delegation in the Fintech sector is different to that of traditional financial sector in times of crisis. The study is conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The findings of this study may theoretically add to the discussion topic for further research on leadership and delegation in times of crisis. From a practical perspective the findings can give leaders insight on what a select group of entrepreneurs in the Fintech sector perceive as important leadership qualities and delegation in times of crisis. A qualitative study was conducted featuring semi-structured interviews with nine leaders in the Fintech sector. An abductive research method has been used, moving back and forth between theory and research and from the empirical evidence identify the common themes of the most important in leadership qualities. The analyses of the empirical evidence showed that there are a few points that support both theory and practice in this specific crisis being, leaders in crisis need to be authentic, trusting, and transparent and have the ability to communicate it to the stakeholders. Although the leadership qualities in crisis varied, there were a few common themes; the importance of trust and qualities such as the ability to take decisions, give clear direction and communication are all in line with theory. What specifically stands out in the Fintech sector, making it different from that of more traditional industries, is that the leadership includes an increased willingness and ability to delegate. Delegation in times of crisis is important as it empowers the team which could further add to a positive resolve of the situation. One of the prerequisites to be able to delegate is the team being experts in their specific area, the other was their mindset and attitude. Fintech leaders also have the notion that leadership in crisis should be the same as is in times of non-crisis and it is imperative to continue to be delegating. The difference compared to more traditional industries can be contributed to entrepreneurial mindset of leaders in the Fintech sector being used to uncertainty and day to adversity of business survival, always ready to adapt their business model. An area for further research could be to do a wider scope and how the crisis affects other sectors.

I takt med den ökade digitaliseringen har nya aktörer och risker vuxit fram inom den finansiella sektorn. Trots det faktum att riskspektrat har ökat, visar tidigare studier på att det saknas tillräcklig kunskap i vissa organisationers riskhantering. Den här studien syftar därför att undersöka och redogöra för hur fintech-bolag hanterar cyberrisker där två stycken fintech-bolag med verksamhet på e-betalning har observerats. Därutöver har även en intervju med Finansinspektionen genomförts i syfte att undersöka vilka regulatoriska krav som ställs på fintech-bolag gällande hantering av cyberrisker. Den empiriska datan visar att fintech-bolagens hantering av cyberrisker är tämligen subjektiv och kvalitativ och att det inte finns några regulatoriska krav på hur de ska arbeta, utan snarare rekommendationer. Även om det inte finns några exakta krav på fintech-bolag visar studien på att fintech-bolag följer Finansinspektionens rekommendationer avseende hantering av cyberrisker och att de följer de regelverk som kan härledas från GDPR, PSD2 och betaltjänstlagen. Företagen arbetar också med förebyggande åtgärder, såsom tester och träning.

Research problemThe world is currently undergoing one of the most substantial crises of the past century, causing disruption both socially and economically. The effect on the Swedish inhabitants has been impactful, especially for elders, who are crippled in the ability to complete necessary tasks including private banking. Many elderlies are struggling with online banking and similar fintech services, so when the rest of the population resort to digital means of conducting bank errands, what are banks doing to smoothen the transition for elders? Research purpose The research purpose is to explore how commercial banks are bridging the digital divide between information technology and the senior customers and further how the immediate crisis complicates this. The thesis will explore the practical efforts toward smoothening the transition between an increasingly more digitalized bank sector and the older generations. Additionally, to provide insight to how the covid-19 pandemic influences commercial banking and what trends are following. Theoretical framework The theoretical framework has been modeled around five concepts relating to digitalization: Digital divide, the bell doctrine, E-banking, The profitability of traditional vs. modern banking and E-CRM. The theoretical framework is presented in full extent in its own section. Methodology A qualitative method is applied with emphasis on narrative inquiries collected through semiconstructed interviews. Empirical findings The findings are presented as thematic extracts from the interviews, anchored in the theoretical framework, consisting of primary data from five participants from four separate banks in the Umeå region, Sweden. Conclusion The local banks have been very successful in providing their non-digital customers with their services by being flexible and offering a broad range of channels through which the customer can interact with the bank. For the most part, the banks themselves remain largely unaffected by the crisis. Naturally, there are a few customers who still resist, or do not possess the ability to utilize the digital tools that has become the primary way banking matters are conducted at this time. Additionally, it is possible that the outcome of the crisis will have resulted in an increasingly higher rate of adaptation of digital banking, hence making the traditional business model more difficult to operate post-crisis.

Studiens mål är att besvara hur introduktionen av sparrobotar kommer att påverka den svenska kapitalmarknaden samt undersöka vad svenska individer har för syn på tjänsten. För att kunna besvara forskningsfrågorna har tre olika metoder använts. Som huvudsaklig metod för att ta reda på individers inställning till sparrobotar har en enkätundersökning använts, utöver detta har även dokumentanalyser och en litteraturstudie använts. Sparrobotar är ett direkt resultat av digitaliseringen som pågår i samhället och möjliggör finansiell rådgivning till lägre kostnad än vad som varit tillgänglig tidigare. Forskningens resultat visar att mänskliga rådgivare kommer att behöva konkurrera med automatiska robotar som har potential att drastiskt förändra den finansiella marknaden. Studien visar på att sparroboten kan erbjuda finansiell rådgivning till lägre kostnad än en traditionell mänsklig rådgivare samtidigt som dess användande kan leda till minskad risk för dåliga finansiella beslut av användaren. Viss forskning tyder även på att sparroboten kan vara mer konsekvent med deras finansiella råd jämfört med dess motpart. Individer i Sverige har generellt en blandad syn på användandet av sparroboten medan en stor del av respondenterna inte har känt till dess existens. Graden tillit och vilja att använda tjänsten varierar beroende på nivån av generella tekniska kunskaper samt erfarenhet inom finansbranschen. / The study aims to answer the questions of how the introduction of robo-advisors will affect the capital market and investigate with which view Swedish individuals approach the service. In order to answer the research questions the study has used three different methods. The main method for investigating the citizens view of robo-advisors was through a survey study, but document analysis and a literature study were also used. Robo-advisors are a direct result of the digitalization that is taking place in the society. The main reason behind their existence are to simplify the capital market and reduce the unnecessary fees that the banking sector is charging for traditional financial advice. The result shows that human advisors now will have to compete with autonomous robots which have the potential to drastically change the market. The study finds that the robo-advisor can provide financial advice at a lower cost than traditional human advisors while its usage can lead to lower risks of bad financial decisions by the user. Some research also suggests that roboadvisors can be more consistent in their financial advice compared to their counterpart. Individuals in Sweden generally have a mixed view on the usage of robo-advisors while at the same time many respondents did not know the service existed. The level of trust and willingness to use robo-advisors is affected by the level of general technical interest and financial experience.

The regulatory sandbox is a special regime provided by regulators and super- visory authorities to market participants for testing their innovative business models, while temporarily reducing certain regulatory requirements. It is a very recent topic and so far its impact has not been sufficiently empirically tested. However, the empirical evidence may be crucial for the authorities hesitating to adopt their regulatory sandboxes. The main contribution of this thesis is the empirical testing of the effect of the sandbox on the investments into FinTech in three European countries, using the Synthetic control method. The yearly aggregate amounts and numbers of FinTech investments were selected as mea- surable indices of the FinTech sector development. The most significant results show that in the United Kingdom, the aggregate yearly amounts invested into FinTech grew considerably compared to the values of the synthetic control unit, after the sandbox introduction. For the other two tested countries (the Nether- lands, Denmark), no significant outcomes were observed due to insufficiency of data. In the theoretical part, this thesis gathers information about the existing regulatory sandboxes in European countries. Also, the author seeks to outline the main legal issues related to the regulatory sandbox...

Financial services provided by FinTech companies Abstract The diploma thesis focusing on Financial Services provided by FinTech companies aims to provide a comprehensive legal overview of modern issues in the financial market. The financial market has undergone a significant shift in the last decade, especially thanks to new innovative solutions, that are made possible by the rapid technological development of the 20th and 21st century. FinTech companies are often startups which, unlike the traditional financial institutions, have not been and today are still not bound by the pitfalls and strict conditions of the regulatory environment, when creating their business model and their products. FinTech companies little by little began to benefit from these regulatory gaps and gradually brought new types of financial services to financial market customers, which in certain situations may pose a very dangerous risk to the financial market and its stability. The diploma thesis is divided into three chapters and tries to give a comprehensive description of how technologies have influenced the world of finance throughout history, what legislation currently affects FinTech and what approach is taken by individual states and the European Union. The first chapter focuses primarily on the complete foundations of...

Syftet med denna studie är att fördjupa förståelsen för hur konkurrens, samarbete och coopetition förekommer mellan fintech-bolag och universalbanker. Studiens analysmodell utgår från teoretiska perspektiv på konkurrens, samarbete och coopetition. För att uppfylla studiens syfte tillämpas en enskild fallstudie, bestående av tre inbäddade minifall på de tre aktörerna universalbank, Avanza och Stabelo. Insamlad data från semistrukturerade intervjuer utförda med respondenter från de tre företagen samt sekundärdata sammanställs, bearbetas och analyseras genom en kvalitativ undersökningsmetod. Studiens insamlade empiriska material analyseras utifrån studiens analysmodell. Studien belyser hur konkurrens, samarbete och coopetition förekommer mellan fintech-bolag och universalbanker. Fyra slutsatser dras utifrån studien, där den första är att fintech-bolag och universalbanker är konkurrenter, men att de inte kan konkurrera under lika villkor. Den andra slutsatsen är att det förekommer samarbeten mellan fintech-bolag och universalbanker, men att samarbetena endast är nödvändiga från fintech-bolagens håll. Den tredje slutsatsen är att konkurrens och samarbeten tycks pågå samtidigt mellan studiens aktörer och således pågår även coopetition mellan aktörerna. Den fjärde och sista slutsatsen är att för fintech-bolag som konkurrerar med universalbanker är coopetition med universalbankerna en nödvändighet, medan det endast är ett förekommande fenomen från universalbankernas perspektiv.

Yes / This article reviews critically the recent EU legislation and proposals for the regulation of financial technology (‘fintech”) and makes recommendations for legal improvements in the proposed frameworks, which will help to accelerate fintech growth, a declared EU goal, in the years to come. The rise of fintech driven by non-bank entities (technology startups, finance, big tech and big retail companies) helps to transform financial services industry, but also threatens the market positions of traditional banks and through them potentially the stability of the financial system. The current EU proposals, as presented in the Commission’s Fintech Action Plan published in 2018 and follow-up measures, outlined a number of steps to support fintech, while ensuring the protection of market stability and consumers and the maintenance of level playing field in the financial services markets. The article argues that, while the Commission’s proposed policy mix contains certain positive measures for fintech, it remains, overall, conservative and favours the incumbents. It also argues that unless the Commission becomes bolder and adopts a more flexible legal framework for fintech (for which the article makes specific recommendations), the latter will not grow at the pace needed to help build a competitive ad-vantage for the EU financial sector. The Commission’s continuing support of the established market landscape dominated by financial conglomerates employing traditional business models risks undermining the ability of the European financial system to adapt to the changing competition landscape created by advancing financial technologies and to fully address stability concerns, which emerged as a result of the financial crisis.

在2002年後，隨著金控業態整併，財富管理業務也開創了新紀元，投資境外證券的共同基金成為財富管理業務發展主要的大宗。根據中央銀行統計，我國國際投資部位明細表中，關於海外證券投資部位，從2002年USD582億大幅增加到2015年USD5386億，大幅增加了超過九倍。其中，投資海外高收益債券型基佔國人基金投資比重將近五成，金額達NT1.14兆！甚或傳出特定該類基金，台灣受益人就占了總規模的八成！足見穩定收益產品是財管市場最主要的需求。 隨著金融科技風潮開展，機器人理財顧問(ROBO ADVISOR)進入財富管理市場在全球正逐步加溫。歸類國外理財機器人目前的發展，可彙總出三個核心服務：1)提出合適的投資組合 2)以大數據科技為基，進行風險控管 3)針對客戶風險屬性分析，提出適切理財方案；本研究以投資組合數據累積，進行計量風險控制，量化風險資產波動，尋找全球金融常態波動中擇時交易的機會。提供財富管理業投資後管理的範例。 另針對金融科技優化生態圈服務做法，客製化服務為重要元素。如：客戶生涯規劃、節稅等財務規劃，結合金融商品配置，恐也是財富管理業務更需配套提升的一環。理財商品動態管理結合客戶需求，讓生態圈更加鞏固進而擴大，應也是財富管理業逐步轉型的業態。 本研究針對財富管理中，客戶循環需求的彙總，以及透過計量模型投資管理的方式，達到財富管理業務在金融科技服務的新趨下結合運作，試圖勾勒財富管理業務可能的營運模式。