June 2020

Covid-19 has supercharged digital innovation as banks, financial services and many other sectors adopt workarounds that are pushing them more rapidly into a virtual future.

The Global Finance 2020 Innovators Awards recognize the top innovations in finance of the past year, as well as the most innovative banks and fintechs and the best innovation-boosting fintech labs. 

Banco do Brasil’s investment in digital transformation has helped it maintain service to clients and keep liquidity flowing during the Covid-19 crisis.

Covid-19 is pushing companies to improve cash forecasting and build liquidity buffers; innovators are looking to help them.

Sheltering in place is accelerating a shift in customer banking habits, and institutions are rising to meet the demand for digital innovation.

Sberbank is combining automation, AI and data analytics to create a “smart ecosystem,” while Asseco delivers a new level of customer insight.

ADCB promotes end-to-end connectivity via blockchain plat-forms as the route to resilience for trade in the MENA region.

Digital leaders DBS and Triterras are accelerating innovation to meet mission-critical demand from businesses under pressure from Covid-19.

Ecobank is rolling out services to help clients manage their money anywhere, anytime—and launching a sandbox to encourage more financial innovation.

Our innovative cash management institutions have all introduced new products and services that give customers greater flexibility and greater control over their cash.

Use of data science skills to make corporate finance decisions is expanding to inform everything from IPO participation to foreign exchange to new product development.

The Covid-19 crisis challenges banks to increase the pace of digital transformation. Fintech labs develop products to help.

Digitization is remaking Islamic finance, helping banks match the demands of younger consumers and even expand banking in war-torn Yemen.

Just 10 finalists make it past the pitch and the demo to gain acceptance into the Fintech Innovation Lab.

From QR codes and voice-activated payments to Internet of Things devices that make payments, this year’s payment innovators are pushing the boundaries.

Special honors this year go to innovators focusing on the user experience. Creativity extends from bill-payment notifications to gamification.

A once-quiet corner of banking is harnessing new technologies to reduce paper, speed up supply chain finance and onboard new financing sources and solutions.

A talk with Paul Cobban, global head of Digital Innovation and Transformation at DBS.

A talk with Toby Norton-Smith, managing director of innovation lab X15 Ventures at Common-wealth Bank of Australia.

A talk with Sadia Halim, global head of Digital Innovation and Transformation, Financial Institutional Clients, at BNP Paribas.

A talk with Lisa Frazier, chief innovation officer of the Enterprise Innovation Group at Wells Fargo.

Viral V. Acharya, C.V. Starr Professor of Economics at New York University’s Stern School of Business and a former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India, speaks with Global Finance about the fallout of the coronavirus epidemic.

NPLs in Africa are three times higher than the global median.

Military and economic tensions between China and India are on the rise.

Companies are moving out of China but staying in Asia.

Economic reforms are hampered by worries they might undo the tacit cradle-to-grave social compact between the monarchy and Saudi citizens that provides a safety net in return for political stability. 

Banks and governments are trying to provide enough financial support to avoid economic collapse, but some businesses won’t make it.

Azevêdo leaves behind a mixed legacy and his successor faces huge challenges.

The new prime minister’s resolve to tackle runaway government salaries faces an early test.

Tiff Macklem, a former senior deputy governor at the Bank of Canada as well as a former dean of the Rotman School of Management, took the top spot at the bank on June 3.

With a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University, the 35-year-old was appointed to the cabinet of president Martin Vizcarra last October.

The risk that tenants will fall behind on rent payments or go out of business under the stresses of the global coronavirus pandemic is enormous.

The expected spike in bankruptcies and restructuring cases is global.

This is the first occasion that a national court has declared an ECJ judgment invalid, and the ruling could therefore pose a threat to any uniform application of European Union law in future.

Social distancing and lockdowns are propelling some fintech companies' fortunes.

The prospect of negative interest rates has forced Wall Street to look for alternatives to traditional foreign exchange carry trades.

The IMF expects the global economy to contract about 3% this year, which would be the deepest one-year decline since the 1930s. 

Together, Uber and Grubhub would together control more than 50% of the US food delivery market.

Powell has instead called for tax and spending changes to promote growth. 

Brunei, like other oil-rich nations, needs to diversify its revenue sources.