Credit constraints and a lack of access to finance remain critical challenges for many developing economies in the region. Some estimates suggest that over one billion adults have no access to financial services across Asia-Pacific. Furthermore, despite being characterized by vast savings overall, Asia faces considerable long-term investment gaps, with estimates of the gap reaching trillions of US dollars per year. New financial technologies and digital financial services may help address these challenges, mobilizing finance for efficient and inclusive intermediation as well as for sustainable development. While these technological advances offer vast opportunities, they also pose challenges, such as risks to financial stability, cyber security, and data protection, meriting consideration by policy makers. This conference will feature sessions that provide an overview on fintech and financial development, examine how fintech can be leveraged to promote financial inclusion and sustainable development, and review fintech case studies in Asia in order to unpack the challenges and opportunities that accompany financial technologies. We hope to identify useful policy considerations to narrow existing financing gaps.
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