The financial system is playing a critical role in facilitating the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. As the recovery is largely digital-led, members of the Forum’s Global Future Council (GFC) have been exploring means for financial system stakeholders to accelerate technology-enabled solutions. Members of the GFC believe that the shift towards digital solutions presents stakeholders across the financial system with numerous opportunities. In this publication, they highlight three:

Accelerator 1: Digital ID as the catalyst of our digital future

The development of digital identification systems will play a critical role in enabling many of the opportunities that the digital delivery of financial services presents as it will facilitate access to services

Accelerator 2: Supporting the recovery of SMEs

While the pandemic has had a devastating impact on small businesses, digital tools can offer a path to recovery. The plight of SMEs during the crisis has highlighted the need to make both capital and e-commerce solutions available to small enterprises as they struggle to compete with larger e-commerce platforms and more digital-savvy brands.

Accelerator 3: Enhancing Access to digital products

New evidence from a case study conducted by Tsinghua University’s PBC School of Finance shows that digital services have meaningfully transformed consumer habits and delivered tangible benefits to individuals during the height of the pandemic in China.