Fintech Deployment Opportunities and Risks in Emerging and Developing Countries

This article aims to describe and, above all, to explain the particular effects of new financial technologies in emerging and developing countries. Regarding payment services, the introduction of « mobile money » has led to a huge increase in the number of bank accounts and, therefore, in financial inclusion. Revolutions in methods of communication as well as in the collection and processing of information have made access to credit easier and its distribution more efficient. For other services, notably insurance, progress has been less obvious and more heterogeneous depending on the country. Making further progress will require investments from the public sector in several areas (infrastructure, training, etc.). Financial regulatory systems will also have to be overhauled. They no longer make it able to meet all their objectives, which have become difficult to reconcile (stability, fair competition, protection of information).