On fintech and financial inclusion

Thomas Philippon

No 841, BIS Working Papers from Bank for International Settlements

Abstract: The cost of financial intermediation has declined in recent years thanks to technology and increased competition in some parts of the finance industry. I document this fact and I analyze two features of new financial technologies that have stirred controversy: returns to scale and the use of big data and machine learning. I argue that the nature of fixed versus variable costs in robo-advising is likely to democratize access to financial services. Big data is likely to reduce the impact of negative prejudice in the credit market but it could reduce the effectiveness of existing policies aimed at protecting minorities.

Keywords: fintech; discrimination; robo advising; credit scoring; big data; machine learning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E2 G2 N2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 19 pages
Date: 2020-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ban, nep-big, nep-cmp, nep-fle, nep-mac and nep-pay
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bis:biswps:841

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