FinTech, Global Development and State Building

Project overview

'FinTech' is the digital platform political economy of retail money and finance. It is increasingly and enthusiastically promoted in global development agendas that prioritise 'financial inclusion' at the 'bottom of the pyramid' (BoP). FinTech, then, is mobilized to 'bank the unbanked', the 40 percent of the global adult population (~1.7 billion people) who do not presently have a formal bank account and lack credit histories and scores. Through a suitable city- and/or country-scale case study, the project will investigate how global developmental agendas that embrace the FinTech sector are received and repurposed for state building in the global South. This could include a research on: city-based policies and initiatives designed to grow key urban centres for FinTech platforms, and to advance state competitiveness in international finance; and/or country-wide programmes to partner with FinTech platforms to collect data about populations, and to advance the surveillance and taxation powers of the state.

If you are interested in this project, please contact the lead supervisor:

Prof. Paul Langley (paul.langley@durham.ac.uk)