Gender and Finance

The crux of this conceptual study throws a lime light on repercussion of Financial Technology (FinTech) on the agility of India’s financial services Industry. This study also provides a snapshot of how financial and payment services provided with the support of financial technologies and tools by financial services firms in India. This conceptual study clearly highlights potential growth of India’s FinTech industry in the light of digital India. As FinTech continues to evolve, we can expect these technologies to further shape the means the banking and financial services and products are delivered, with even more innovative solutions on the horizon. The agility of the FinTech industry comes from a combination of strategic and technological factors. The key strategic factors that enhance the agility of FinTech firms are cross-functional teams, smaller workforce, flat organizational structure, agile leadership, workforce diversity, collaborative mindsets, customer-orientation mindsets, etc. The key technologies in the FinTech industry that are driving a paradigm shift in customer experiences are emerging technologies such as Machine Learning (ML), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies, Robotic Process Automation, Open Banking and APIs, Biometric Authentication, Cloud Computing, etc. The rapid adoption of evolving technologies in FinTech sectors have significantly transformed the way the financial and banking services are experienced by the customers and effectively delivered by the FinTech firms. These technologies collectively improve customer experiences by ensuring the accessibility, security and personalization of financial services, which in turn fosters greater customer loyalty and satisfaction.

The Fatal Flaw of Proposals to Federalize Insurance

With the increasing aging population, it has had a profound impact on the financial services industry and economy. This study aims to explore the effect of population aging on the financial service industry and economy and propose corresponding countermeasures and suggestions. The aging population has brought challenges to the financial services industry. The increase in the elderly population has led to a rise in demand for financial products and services. Financial institutions innovate and develop financial products and services that meet the needs of older people. At the same time, the financial literacy of older people is relatively low, and financial institutions need to strengthen financial education and improve their financial knowledge level. Secondly, the aging population has had multiple economic impacts, with decreased labor supply and increased elderly care expenses putting pressure on economic growth. Financial institutions must pay attention to this trend, adjust loan policies, and support the development of emerging industries to promote sustainable economic growth. In addition, the change in the consumption needs of older adults has also brought new opportunities to the economy. Financial institutions can meet the consumption needs of older people and promote economic development through innovative products and services.

Electronic commerce denotes the use of electronic means, usually the Internet, for creating and often fulfilling contracts without the use of face‐to‐face encounters. In recent years many countries have passed legislation to render to the electronic signature the same significance in contract formation as the traditional hand‐written signature. The general desire is to promote user trust and confidence in the process of authentication in the information age. Leading the charge to transform their traditional business into e‐commerce is the financial services industry, although many other sectors have begun to develop their electronic marketplace with gusto. What this means for money laundering is that wealth may be rapidly moved around the globe and so layering and integration become child's play. Online brokers, bankers and intermediaries of all varieties already accept instructions from clients using traditional user name and password type authentication. But the flawed nature of this type of authentication is rapidly forcing the adoption of public key cryptography with digital signatures and digital certificates. Unless a financial services institution can be absolutely certain about the identity of the online client, it is taking very great risks to accept instructions on their behalf. Recent advances in public key cryptography provide an enabling platform for the secure transaction of business.

[Purpose]This study analyzes whether economic policy uncertainty has a differential impact on corporate employment practices based on gender. Also, this study examines whether companies increase the appointment of female executives during times of economic uncertainty as empirically evaluating corporate responses and policy effects related to gender diversity. [Methodology]This study conducted an analysis using 7,266 firm－year observations of companies listed on the Korea Exchange (KRX) from 2015 to 2024. Economic policy uncertainty was measured using the Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU) Index developed by Baker et al. (2016). [Findings]The analysis shows that as economic policy uncertainty increases, male regular employment significantly decreases, while both male and female non－regular employment significantly increase. In contrast, female regular employment does not show a significant relationship with economic uncertainty. It suggests that female employment has remained quite stable due to the government’s efforts to implement gender diversity policies. Additionally, this study finds that firms are more likely to appoint female executives under high economic policy uncertainty. It indicates that companies, facing uncertain business environments, are adopting strategies to build more gender－diverse boards in order to better respond to crisis. [Implications]This study suggests that female employment remains relatively unstable, indicating the need for continued policy efforts to address the disparity in employment between genders. The finding that female regular employment was not significantly affected by economic uncertainty demonstrates the effectiveness of government policies aimed at promoting women’s employment and enhancing gender diversity. In particular, the fact that the female executive quota system has contributed to changes in board composition highlights the potential value of institutional intervention.

Title X of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”) establishes the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“the Bureau”). Dodd-Frank defines a broad mission for the Bureau. According to the legislation, the Bureau will “implement and, where applicable, enforce federal consumer financial law consistently for the purpose of ensuring that all consumers have access to markets for consumer financial products and services and that markets for consumer financial products and services are fair, transparent, and competitive.” The Bureau has produced considerable anxiety in the consumer finance industry. Most of the anxiety has focused on two issues – who will head the Bureau and what will the Bureau do with the newly created power to ban “abusive” products. This article suggests that the financial services industry should be focused on a third question – what will the Bureau do with its power to regulate the disclosure of consumer financial services.

Financial services industry has always been a data-intensive industry, generating large quantities of customer data from millions of transactions conducted every day. Vast explosion of data and the surge in technological complexities is transforming the way the financial sector operates, and thus, Big Data management of various financial products and services is emerging as a potential field of study. The application of Big Data in financial services has abundant advantages for the financial institutions: improved customer engagement, better fraud detection, and enhanced market trading analysis. This chapter presents applications of Big Data stimulating various financial sectors and highlights its influence on financial markets, financial institutions, fraud detection, risk analysis, etc. The association between Big Data and finance-related mechanisms is analyzed through an exploratory literature assessment. This chapter also describes real world, contemporary case studies on the applications of Big Data in the financial world. The findings demonstrate that there are many technological research challenges at all levels of Big Data chain that need to be developed to provide more competitive and effective solutions. Since Big Data is a relatively new concept in the field of finance, this study also provides directions for future research.

Financial services industry is rapidly changing due to technological developments, increasing customer expectations and the shocks such as the pandemic. Digital platforms, cryptocurrencies and decentralisation of financial systems have become conspicuous features. The financial services landscape is rapidly evolving in response to changing customer expectations, technological developments and the shock of worldwide events like the Covid-19 pandemic. Blockchains and cryptocurrencies are being used to pay for financial transactions without paper money or credit cards, and some central banks are starting to offer or are at least thinking about using national digital currencies. The Target Group, a business services provider in financial services, believes that technological changes will enhance customer experience in two main ways. First, virtual platforms will become a more important medium for consumers to access financial products and services. Secondly, it is believed that the platforms will not only serve as a one-stop shop but also offer people personal solutions.

Background: A review of the literature revealed that the demanding and often challenging nature of work increases the turnover intention of employees. This trend is especially evident within the South African financial services industry.Aim: The research goal was to explore and empirically test a theoretical model identifying the most salient causes of turnover intention among sales employees employed by financial organisations operating in the South African financial service industry.Setting: The study was conducted on employees operating within the financial service industry in South Africa.Methods: The current study collected quantitative data from 102 employees of insurance or banking or investment companies, using a web-based compilation of standardised questionnaires. This followed a previous study by the research group that collected quantitative and qualitative data from 122 employees operating in an insurance environment, using a combination of an open-ended questionnaire and standardised instruments.Results: The results of the current study confirmed the significance of the paths between turnover intention and employee engagement, time wasted on non-core activities, perceived career development opportunities, and perceived supervisor support, mediated by perceived employee engagement.Conclusion: A replication of this study using a longitudinal research design is recommended in order to overcome the methodological limitations of the current study. The conceptual model developed in this study identified relationships that could be used as guidelines to effectively manage the retention of personal financial advisors in the financial service industry in South Africa

Background: The financial services industry in South Africa has undergone many changes that have given birth to fintechs. Most of these changes are driven by the advent of technology and evolving customer expectations. Fintechs have led to process disruptions and business model transformations, yet their implications have yet to be sufficiently studied. Therefore, it is essential to close this knowledge gap by investigating the impact of fintechs on this industry.Objectives: This research aimed to investigate the impact of fintechs in the financial services industry in South Africa.Method: A qualitative study was conducted in which 18 industry experts were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed for data analysis. ATLAS.ti 22 was used to organise and analyse data.Results: Fintechs increase competition for the incumbents, reduce profits, expose the inability of the incumbents to be agile and introduce new regulatory risks in the financial services industry. In contrast, fintechs have also brought some positive changes into the industry: financial inclusion, new growth opportunities, increasing choices for consumers and making the industry more competitive, reducing costs, customising financial services, bringing convenience and forcing incumbents and regulators to become more innovative.Conclusion: This study uncovered the positive and negative effects of fintechs in financial services in South Africa.Contribution: The study will benefit academia by expanding the body of knowledge about fintech research and improving the holistic understanding of this field in emerging economies, which can inspire future research on fintech and its application.

Cybercrime routinely targets financial services, which in kind spend lavishly to protect themselves — with notable success, as cyberattacks are often less successful against financial service industries (FSI) than other sectors. Yet the excessive costs of cyber security could be less, and not all FSIs have the resources to pursue an escalating cybercrime conflict. There are several areas that FSIs can focus on to improve their cyber security posture while keeping budgets in check. They can look beyond compliance checks as an acceptable level of protection. They can police access to their networks by supply chain providers with more nuance. They can use prevention to curtail successful attacks that can create astronomical remediation costs. Lastly yet perhaps most crucially, they can encourage board participation by articulating security issues as strategic business considerations. FSIs must look beyond the checks and balances of traditional compliance and governance, and risk questionnaires. They should avoid construing unknown risks due to a lack of IT visibility as acceptable risks, and they must consider creating space for technology and security experts at the highest levels of management, such as mandatory board seats. At a technical level, they should adopt the zero trust security framework of ‘Never Trust, Always Verify’, enhanced monitoring of all IT areas, and unplanned audits to encourage compliance as a continual project. This paper focuses on where FSIs face security risks and how to address them.

The financial services industry is one that is being transformed by technological advances and structural change. The consolidation of financial services – so-called ‘Allinance’ or ‘Bancassurance’ activities – is one example of these trends. The financial services industry is of crucial importance for the Swiss economy, representing more than 10 per cent of GDP. It thus contributes substantially to prosperity in our country. And it helps create good operating conditions for industry: I am thinking of low interest rates, a stable currency, and excellent financial services. Switzerland therefore has every interest in providing and maintaining a favourable business environment for providers of financial services on a global scale. This requires a continual examination of the appropriateness of our legal and institutional framework.

This book is intended to lay out, in a clear and intuitive as well as comprehensive way, what we know - or think we know - about mergers and acquisitions in the financial services sector. It evaluates their underlying drivers, factual evidence as to whether or not the basic economic concepts and strategic precepts are correct. It looks closely at the managerial dimensions in terms of the efficacy of merger implementation, notably the merger integration process. The focus is on enhancing shareholder value creation and the execution of strategies for the successful management of mergers. It also has a strong public-policy component in this "special" industry where successes can pay dividends and failures can cause serious problems that reach well beyond the financial services industry itself. The financial services sector is about halfway through one of the most dramatic periods of restructuring ever undergone by a major global industry. The impact of the restructuring has carried well beyond shareholders of the firms and involved into the domain of regulation and public policy as well as global competitive performance and economic growth. Financial services are a center of gravity of economic restructuring activity. M A transactions in the financial sector comprise a surprisingly large share of the value of merger activity worldwide -- including only deals valued in excess of $100 million, during the period 1985-2000 there were approximately 233,700 M A transactions worldwide in all industries, for a total volume of $15.8 trillion. Of this total, there were 166,200 mergers in the financial services industry (49.7%), valued at $8.5 trillion (54%). In all of restructuring frenzy, the financial sector has probably had far more than its share of strategic transactions that have failed or performed far below potential because of mistakes in basic strategy or mistakes in post-merger integration. It has also had its share of rousing successes. This book considers the key managerial issues, focusing on M A transactions as a key tool of business strategy - "doing the right thing" to augment shareholder value. But in addition, the degree of integration required and the historic development of integration capabilities on the part of the acquiring firm, disruptions in human resources and firm leadership, cultural issues, timeliness of decision-making and interface management have co-equal importance - "doing it right."

This research aims to test and analyze the significant influence of financial performance, capital structure and company size on company value through the dividend policy of the Tbk financial services industry for the period 2020 - 2022. This research uses an explanatory research type of research using a quantitative approach. The sampling technique used the purposive sampling method, a sample of 21 financial sector service industries was obtained from a total population of 51 financial sector service industries. The type of data in this research is secondary data. Data obtained from the official website of the Indonesia Stock Exchange in the form of annual financial reports from the financial sector services industry for the period 2020 - 2022. Data analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics with the SmartPLS tool. Based on the results of data analysis, it shows that financial performance, company size and dividend policy have a positive and significant influence on company value, capital structure has no effect on company value. Financial performance, capital structure and company size have a positive influence on dividend policy. Financial performance, capital structure and company size have a positive influence on company value through dividend policy.

FinTech Challengers and Incumbents’ Responses: A Window into Innovation Management Strategy Modes within Australia’s Financial Services Sector