Background

The International Workshop on Financial System Architecture and Stability – (IWFSAS) aims at providing a forum for academic researchers and policy makers to discuss issues related to the structure and design of financial systems and their impact on growth and financial stability.

While the specific theme of the workshop may vary from year to year, the overall objective of this annual event is to facilitate discussions of high quality policy relevant research papers that inform our understanding of how various financial sector policies can affect the architecture and stability of the financial system and the overall economy, nationally, regionally and globally. Further information on past meetings can be found here.

IWFSAS 2018 organizers:

This year’s IWFSAS meeting is hosted by the Centre for Banking Research at Cass Business School, in collaboration with the Gustavson School of Business and the Department of Economics at the University of Victoria.

Keynote Speaker

Franklin Allen, Professor of Finance and Economics and Executive Director of the Brevan Howard Centre at Imperial College London.

Aim and Topics

In this third annual meeting of IWFSAS, the feature topic is financial innovation, including financial technology (“Fintech”). We welcome theoretical and empirical contributions on Fintech and financial innovation and their impact on the structure and stability of the financial system, in addition to the topics of general interest to IWFSAS.

Besides dominating the recent financial news, Fintech has also attracted a lot of interest from policymakers and academic researchers. Lael Brainard, member of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, mentions in a recent speech that: “Fintech has the potential to transform the way that financial services are delivered and designed as well as the underlying processes of payments, clearing, and settlement.” Investments in Fintech initiatives have dramatically increased and we are witnessing the emergence of new financial players and instruments that are disrupting the existing business models of banks and other financial institutions. In developing countries, Fintech is helping to improve access to financial services, whether via mobile payments, crowdfunding platforms or other financial innovations offered to households and entrepreneurs. It can be seen as an effective way to accelerate financial inclusion and improve the quality of life of the unbanked or under-banked populations. In this context, and in light of the ongoing challenges faced by policy makers and regulators to make the financial system safer and more resilient, it is critical to understand whether Fintech and other financial innovations have beneficial or harmful effects on financial stability and how we can balance the growth enhancing effects from these innovations with the potential for more complex risks in the financial system. 

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Financial innovation and its impact on the structure of the financial system;
• Fintech and systemic risk and contagion;
• Financial innovation, access to financial services and financial inclusion;
• Crypto currencies, distributed ledgers and block-chain
• Regulatory challenges of crypto currencies and other fintech innovation;
• New emerging forms of finance and financial stability;
• Crowdfunding and alternative finance solutions;
• Robo-advisors and the use AI in investing;
• High frequency trading and systemic risk;
• Financial innovation, sustainable finance and impact investing;
• Financial innovation and Sustainable Development Goals