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Towards an economic geography of FinTech

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Abstract

In this paper, we identify the ways in which the existing literature has examined financial technology (FinTech). Using the frame of the ‘FinTech Cube’, we examine how FinTech unfolds through the intersections of key actors, technologies and institutions. We demonstrate the relevance of FinTech for two areas of geographical enquiry: i) the reshaping of global production and financial networks, and ii) financial inclusion and poverty reduction in poorer countries. In doing so, we accord particular attention to the significance of FinTech for theoretical and empirical research in economic geography.
Towards an economic geography of FinTech

 
!"#$%&%&Progress in Human Geography
I. Introduction
'!!(!)**&
++,-'.",.!
/0++-'+
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+-'
/2-'
3,.)*$1,.
%&)4/-'
+""++
!!/'
-'+!!+
!5
/
-'/-+
%&)&6!+%&)&%&)$!-'
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!(2-9
++!+!
2-9/'-',.5
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:!/-
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!//<%&)*/
)
-'inter alia !
+,./
2-'.3
+,-'9!.:
/0+
-'+3=!
+-',.
,.!/2+
-'/
II. Making sense of FinTech
0+
!" 2!
!/ -'+,
.!!+
!3,".!
!+
-%&&1/ /%&)8,-'.
)**&9",-'9.
%&)&/'-'>?
@/A/%&)4+-'>?+
@/18/,'.
,.+‘to
improve’.+
/'-B%&)C!-'>!
DE+!@/C/'
5+-'
!/-'!!
"!!
-'/'!
+-'!
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/
2!-'+
,-'9!.+
+
!-)/'5!
5!-'/F!!
5/0-'!
:-'
/-!!!!
!,!.<%<
+/-!"!
,!". 2,!./2
!"!//!
!
-'!//
G'!B
%&)C/;+
-'+,.9!!+
5/'++++
++:
+++/-+5
++!:/
HH-)II
III. Emerging academic literature on FinTech
;+-'+!
/'5longue durée +
-/ /%&)8!)*!
-'%&&$,-'A/&./2
A
!!J+not
!/5+
!!"
+""
!3!","!""
!.%&&$!/2B
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-%&)%/
- #%&)4!+

<F !!!,.
!/-
9%&)4:+-'"+
9.,./'+"
9++!
!:interessement!:/9%&)4+
-'3,"./2+
tabula rasa "+
5!
!++92
!" -/
"-'
//M/, %&)$6%&)46K'%&)C/5
-'"
+!+,!.
-"'",./-5M/%&)$
5"-',".
1
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.!+!:-'
",.+!
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:5
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/M+K'%&)C9
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!-'"!"3
"/
!/'
!%&)&
,!./ +!
59et al/%&)*60et al/%&)*6KB%&)*/
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0et al/%&)*!
=5!!:
/':
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"!/-
%&)C!
+!
5+

!/M+
:/
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"+:!
+ /%&)86%&)%6%&)46'<
%&)C/-+!!(
!
8
'<%&)C=)))/G9%&)4+
"%&&$="!
"/'+-'9
+9"!
-'+"
,."+
0O(9%&)8/
-'%)!!+
"! /%&)8/
2+
-'//M!/%&)*6M/%&)$6%&)C

/25+
!5+/
IV. Economic geographies of FinTech: two themes
-'!+
+
-)/'
++=!+
,./
G!+
-'++!
!+
++!:!!
!5+3+-'
/'-'+
!+<N!+
-N/
2++
+"/
4
-'!!
/'":
F
/'<%&)C5
+,".+"//
!!+!!+"
!"!/'+
!!F++
!!/;+
+F
!./F"

!3+P!!
(+ %&)C/'
!.++"
+
+L%&)4/
'!!+,.,.!+
+
/-5+.
"++"+
!'<%&)C/B
!+.!
-5!+
!3/-5.!"
"+!"!
/'B%B"
+-5+/
-'!+!+/G
+
!3+
C
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/
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+'<%&)C=%6':%&&$6#
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//0
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formalB%&)$!
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++!!"
,.-.!+
+/0+
3+3/ 0B
%&)Cis !!+!
/'!"  +++
))V%&)1%)V%&)Cwithin  =
!!)8V9 G!CAV
/G+ 
,".A N 0B%&)C/F
"!-'!,.!-K
'%&)C/2%)V++! !
%--// /%&)C6#%&)462G9%&)$62-%&)$6
/, %&)$6B%&)$6;/%&)C/'!
+ 0B%&)C!-5/
A +!,.,".
/'!
/
)1
++!"
0B%&)C/'!+
,.!5,!.
,.!,!!.<%&&4/'
3=5+-!!
,:.!,:./03
!3/
B"
+!+!*V
%&)C!/+!
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/',".+
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1'"++59
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/
)8
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3"/',!.
!+
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,.-/B
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!B%&)$6/%&)$6B%&)$6
%&)46K%&)$/!B%&)C+-!
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T-<5@/1%1/'+"
:-',.
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!!++
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/ :+
;+T:
-'"+/9
5+/;
!,.3::
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B%&)C=1%*++-'!+
+,.+!B
%&)8/'!B%&)C=><+"
@/1%1/',!.!(

!(/
!B.5!
3P,./'-
!,:.++ 2
5
 /%&)$/2+!,.
-<%&&4:
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+::+5+
,./
;35+-+hegemonic
:+
+:/-:!
9%&)86M%&))6<<%&)&!+
-/.%&))-:>
++@/CC*
 and groups/ +
!(R0-
+/<B%&)*+
+!!:!+
-'.5
++/
3+-
!//:<%&)46<%&)A+
 , 9.//;
%&)C=8&1/G+"+
+!+!
-/-
5%&)C!
"+!2"+B" 
Reuters%&)*/
'33-
!/! 
!as defined by the World Bank
!/0!!,
.+':9++5!
P"3
!!!3/
Conclusions
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2+++5
-'/0!-' 2"
!!/0
,-'9!.+-'
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References
%&)* !%&)$+9
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... Simply, there is a need to consider how the state plays an integral role in shaping the financial geographies, industries and futures in which it is implicated. The second pertains to the role of the platform in driving the technologisation of financial services, and its defining role in the development and proliferation of financial technologies, or FinTech (after Haberley et al. 2019;Lai and Samers 2021;Langley and Leyshon 2021;Wójcik 2021). In this schema, platforms have been studied as 'digital infrastructures and data flows enclosed and controlled by 'Big-Tech' firms' (Langley and Leyshon 2023: 2), with the private sector bias articulated here coming to dominate discussions of the platformisation of financial services. ...
... Whilst this has galvanised innovation in the financial services industry, it is industry-led with the state being confined to its traditional regulatory role. Yet, as innovation becomes more tech-dependent, and as financial power becomes more diffuse, there is a need for centralised state actors to create stability and trust in the ecosystem, and spur market development in more interventionist ways (Lai 2018;Lai and Samers 2021). Often, however, this need remains unrealised as the state and its institutions are typically cast by leading industry voices as obstructing innovation through the overregulation of industry. ...
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This article explores the role of the state in driving the platformisation of industry, and in doing so offers a counterpoint to scholarship that focusses on the exploitative effects of private sector-led platformisation. That scholarship views platformisation as the latest incarnation of neoliberal urbanism, with the profit-maximising tendencies of the private sector driving the proliferation of platforms throughout everyday life. Notwithstanding, there remains a need to consider alternative models of platformisation. Drawing on 31 interviews with architects of Singapore’s Smart Nation initiative, we consider the state-led platformisation of financial services. We argue that state-led platformisation can open up marketplaces to new forms of innovation, customer value creation, and competition through the creation of data ecosystems that are built on openness, trust and transparency. This flattens the distinctions between regulator and regulated, and between competitor and collaborator, and foregrounds the role of platforms in driving the transformation of industry.
... Concretamente, se han registrado transformaciones en la cadena de suministro (Guan et al., 2020;Mollenkopf et al., 2021;Sarkis, 2021), el uso de blockchain (Hooper & Holtbrügge, 2020), y en el desempeño de los agentes financieros globales como el Fondo Monetario Internacional o el Banco Mundial (Kentikelenis et al., 2020). Adicionalmente, se puede reconocer un mayor crecimiento de las fintech (Knight & Wójcik, 2020;Lai & Samers, 2020;Sharma et al., 2020), la expansión del uso de criptomonedas (Kyriazis et al., 2020), un mayor desarrollo y diversificación de la intención de realizar emprendimientos en el campo ambiental (Alvarez-Risco, Mlodzianowska, et al., 2021) y digital (Qermane & Mancha, 2020), así como un cambio en la perspectiva futura de dichos emprendimientos. ...
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El entorno VUCA (Volatilily, Uncertainty, Complexity y Ambiguity) surgido a partir de la pandemia de COVID-19 ha incrementado el uso de tecnologías a niveles imposibles de predecir, lo cual se acompasa con la actual Cuarta Revolución Industrial. Las megatendencias basadas en la tecnología deben conducir a que la política exterior se encamine a generar acuerdos bilaterales y multilaterales que generen los cambios internos que orienten, a su vez, el desarrollo e implementación de nuevas tecnologías desde las empresas y universidades,de modo que puedan impulsar los negocios internacionales. Desde el ámbito educativo, se reportan constantes cambios curriculares en las instituciones de educación superior dirigidos a la formación de nuevos profesionales en un mundo que estará paulatinamente más centrado en las tecnologías. Asimismo, se prevé el reemplazo de las actuales estructuras de producción, la pérdida de empleos y la aparición de nuevas profesiones y educaciones, para lo cual cada país deberá preparar profesionales y técnicos con las competencias necesarias para liderar los nuevos procesos de producción. Esta adaptación permitirá que los países puedan ofrecer productos competitivos en mercados internacionales con nuevas exigencias.
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The geography of innovation is changing. First, it is increasingly understood that innovative firms and organizations exhibit a wide variety of strategies, each being differently attuned to diverse geographic contexts. Second, and concomitantly, the idea that cities, clusters and physical proximity are essential for innovation is evolving under the weight of new theorizing and empirical evidence. In this Handbook we gather 28 chapters by scholars with widely differing views on what constitutes the geography of innovation. The aim of the Handbook is to break with the many ideas and concepts that emerged during the course of the 1980s and 1990s, and to fully take into account the new reality of the internet, mobile communication technologies, personal mobility and globalization. This does not entail the rejection of well-established and supported ideas, but instead allows for a series of new ideas and authors to enter the arena and provoke debate.
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This article interrogates recent policy pronouncements around the promotion of emerging financial technologies (fintech) as means of enabling financial inclusion. It is argued that situating this emergent ‘turn to technology’ in the context of a longer-running pattern of failed efforts to promote the development of financial markets for the poor in the Global South offers us a useful lens on the dynamics of neoliberalism. The article develops this analysis by drawing together interlinked discussions of ‘neoliberal reason’, highlighting the central role played by the diffusion of market institutions in neoliberal projects with Marxian discussions highlighting the crucial underlying role of labour in enabling the operation of markets. In this context the appeal to ever-more fine-grained information with which to allocate credit underlying the turn to technology can both be read as yet another attempt to ‘re-engineer’ the market, and also seen as a doomed project. Empirically, this argument is fleshed out through an engagement with key framework documents around financial inclusion and technology from the World Bank and G20.
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