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We argue financial technology (FinTech) is the key driver for financial inclusion, which in turn underlies sustainable balanced development, as embodied in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The full potential of FinTech to support the SDGs may be realized with a progressive approach to the development of underlying infrastructure to support digital financial transformation. Our research suggests that the best way to think about such a strategy is to focus on four primary pillars. The first pillar requires the building of digital identity, simplified account opening and e-KYC systems, supported by the second pillar of open interoperable electronic payments systems. The third pillar involves using the infrastructure of the first and second pillars to underpin electronic provision of government services and payments. The fourth pillar—design of digital financial markets and systems—supports broader access to finance and investment. Implementing the four pillars is a major journey for any economy, but one which has tremendous potential to transform not only finance but economies and societies, through FinTech, financial inclusion and sustainable balanced development.

One of the strategic objectives of the European Union is a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and improvement of energy efficiency by at least 32.5% in different areas of the economy by 2030. However, little is known about the impact of payment in retail on energy consumption. The purpose of this paper is to assess the chain of losses of time and energy, and therefore financial losses, that occur due to the imperfection of payment infrastructure and instruments using data of cashiers’ working time. The research is based on a regression analysis method, where the energy cost per payment transaction is considered in this study as a function of the number of customers per hour and the energy cost. The results of the panel models highlight that the number of customers per hour has a negative impact on the cost of energy per payment transaction. Furthermore, modern means and methods of payment, including cryptocurrencies, do not solve the problem of the excessive time that it takes to service payments, which entails a waste of energy and money. The empirical results give valuable insights into how to best organise payment in retail to achieve lower energy costs and improve energy efficiency in payment infrastructure.

Fintech facilitates financial inclusion by introducing new sustainable and accessible business models in developing countries. Open banking API technology is used by various fintech businesses in both developing and developed countries, with varying effects on financial markets. It changes the financial market distribution structure by separating financial product manufacturing and distribution and intensifying competition between traditional financial institutions and fintech companies. Fintech companies innovate by using this tool to create new business models. In December 2019, Korea established a standardized “open banking API platform”, sharing an interbank payment network with fintech companies. It has since shown explosive growth, surpassing the trading volume of the UK, the country that introduced open banking APIs for the first time. This study analyzes new business models fintech companies created using this API technology. Based on existing literature, statistics from the platform operator (the Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute), and investigations of 30 Korean fintech mobile applications, this study analyzes new fintech business models that provide financial services using this platform. These companies create sustainable business models by combining multiple APIs. Four representative business models (simple funds transfer, simple payment, cross-border remittance, and asset management) are analyzed to reveal how fintech companies create business models with open APIs.

In Ukraine, card payment systems develop at a rate similar to that of modern digital payment instruments in most European countries. The purpose of the paper is to establish interdependence and explain the nature of changing situations in the market of bank payment cards (BPC) taking into account the dynamics of economic development parameters in non-financial sectors of the Ukrainian economy. The methodology of the study includes graphic methods analyzing the dynamics of economic development indicators and a method for analyzing the cause-and-effect relationship between the studied parameters considered with different lags. Results showed that the most significant parameters for the development of the payment card infrastructure were the level of provision with POS terminals and the share of non-cash transactions. Their correlation with the economic development indicators reached 0.97. Up to the stage when the volume of non-cash payments by cards reached 5% of GDP, the impact of the BPC market on the change in the level of economic development had been insignificant according to the general idea. The development of the economy up to that point stimulated the development of the BPC market. Subsequently, the BPC market that was already sufficiently developed became one of the drivers aimed at the development of non-financial sectors of the Ukrainian economy after overcoming the 5% GDP level.

This survey was conducted by the World Bank Payment Systems Development Group, at the request of the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic, as a follow up to the World Bank-led mission that visited the country in 2008 to assess the market for remittances. This survey aims at analyzing the main characteristics of the market for remittances in the Czech Republic and should serve as a guide for both public authorities and the private sector in identifying possible actions to improve the efficiency of the market. A total of 880 migrants from eight different nationalities were interviewed during the summer of 2009 in Prague. The nationalities selected represent the largest and most important migrant communities in the country: China, Moldova, Mongolia, Poland, the Russian Federation, the Slovak Republic, Ukraine, and Vietnam. The following main findings can be extracted from the analysis of the survey's outcomes: i) a low level of transparency and consumer protection can be observed in the market for remittances in the Czech Republic. Senders are often not provided with all the relevant information by the Remittance Service Provider (RSP) at the moment of the transaction; ii) the lack of transparency is confirmed by the analysis of the cost as perceived by the interviewees, who do not generally consider the margin applied by the RSP as a price component. As a result, remittance senders are in general not aware of the actual cost that they are paying for the service; and iii) the market is dominated by Money Transfer Operators (MTOs) and, in particular, some MTOs hold the great majority of the market shares.

Financial inclusion is a means to make full use of financial services, which stimulates the introduction of innovation, mobilization of savings and investment support, and thus contributes to the economic development of territories. The purpose of the study is to substantiate scientific and practical approaches to determining the role and place of financial inclusion in sustainable development of rural areas. The state of financial inclusion in rural areas has been assessed having applied the statistical-economic and calculation-constructive methods. The abstract-logical method made it possible to prove the positive impact of financial inclusion on the sustainable development of rural areas and to offer proposals for its further advancement. It has been argued that the key tasks of financial inclusion in the context of sustainable development of rural areas are financial education, access to financial services, and protection of the rights of consumers of financial services.

Banking the Poor explores level and determinants of financial access in 54 countries, mostly in Africa. It collects information from two sources: central banks and leading commercial banks in each surveyed country. It explores associations between countries' banking policies and practices and their levels of financial access, measured in terms of the numbers of bank account per thousand adults. It builds on the previous work measuring financial access through information from regulators, from banks, and also from users' perspectives in household surveys.

Given the growing interest in the topic, both in practice and academia, it is timely and important to examine the concept of continuous assurance (CA) and the possible paths along which such services will evolve. There has been a tendency to see CA purely from the point of view of its technological enablers. As such, it has virtually been taken for granted that CA will follow as a matter of course. What has been less thought through is the business architecture that must underlie CA. In particular, we show that the key driver of CA is the demand for it. While there may be many economic transactions between the company and its stakeholders that could benefit from the provision of CA, there is no guarantee that CA is either cost effective—the only way of enhancing efficiency—or actually has to be continuous. Other factors that will affect the development of CA are the need for a new infrastructure to pay for it, as well as concerns about the independence of the assurors. We also identify some important research issues.

In this chapter, the author proposes that how people consume payments, opening access to payments to organizations that struggle to gain access to consistent and Immediate payments with a known and consistent pricing. To address this, the payments industry, with pressure from the regulator, started the Faster Payments Access Programme to make it easier for banks and more payment service providers to on‐board. The Faster Payments Service was developed by the top 10 UK banks, wanting to provide an Infrastructure for Immediate payments to complement the two existing payment schemes ‐ CHAPS and BACS. At the other end of the spectrum, the UK has been the dominant player in the global FinTech space, with over 1,500 e‐money institutions and payment institutions. This includes paying suppliers in real time to align with their just‐in‐time deliveries, and paying staff more frequently or enabling them to draw down their salary, immediately, before the typical month end pay day.

A comparative assessment of business-to-company (B2C) e-commerce development in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries is difficult to conduct due to the incommensurability of their economies and the lack of homogeneous data. To solve this problem, a composite index combining various sub-indices and indicators was created. The presented article discusses the creation of tools for assessing the B2C e-commerce development in the EAEU countries. The initial research data was gathered from reports of the International Telecommunication Union, UNESCO, the Universal Postal Union, the World Bank, as well as from official data of national statistical agencies and central (national) banks of the EAEU countries. The composite index was constructed by normalising the values of the indicators (method of normative ideals) for their comparison. Further, data values underwent a linear transformation to a 0 — 100 scale in order to ensure their proportionality. Weighting coefficients of the indicators were determined by the method of expert evaluations. Based on the developed index, countries may be ranked by the overall index, as well as by structural factors of B2C e-commerce readiness and use intensity. The use of the e-commerce development potential was analysed based on the values of individual sub-indices. In addition, the proposed toolkit can be applied to monitor changes in the EAEU indices over time, provided that the normalised values of the indicators are maintained. Policy makers can use the research results for improving the conditions for the e-commerce development in the EAEU member-states, as well as for creating a common space of e-commerce that contributes to the strengthening of economic integration. Moreover, the article contains methodological recommendations that can be utilised to create similar assessment tools for other regional economic blocs. The limitations of the study are related to the need to consider the regional specificity of the analysed countries or regions.