Paper

The FinTech Index: Assessing Digital and Financial Inclusion in Developing and Emerging Countries

Measuring a country's demand for FinTech, supportive environment, and risks
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Recognizing the difficulties related to investments in developing and emerging markets, ING’s Economics Department developed this FinTech index that assesses a country’s FinTech environment. 73 developing and emerging economies are included. The index is built on three key concepts that can influence and drive FinTech investment decisions:

  1. The (potential) demand for FinTech-led financial inclusion which considers the urgency for FinTech to financially include individuals as well as MSMEs, especially those located in rural areas far away from bank branches;
  2. The market supply side of FinTech technologies. This is an assessment of a country’s supportive environment for FinTech;
  3. The political and regulatory risk environment. This is a proxy for a country’s investment climate. A country could have a high urgency for FinTech, good infrastructure and ecosystem, but may be less attractive due to an unstable investment climate. As such, it might not fit the investment mandate.

About this Publication

By Hieminga, G. & Lande, F.
Published