Time: 13:00-15:00 (UK Time), Wednesday, 22 November 2023
Presenters: Prof. Sheri M. Markose and Dr. Nihan Ari, University of Essex
Chair: Prof. Hong Bo, SOAS University of London
Online venue: Click here to join the seminar on Microsoft Teams (For any inquiry about how to join the online seminar, please contact Dr. Meng Xie at xm1@soas.ac.uk)
Abstract
UK and India have a vibrant eco-system for FinTech startups with, respectively, 11,977 and 9529 of them being set up since 2000. With the introduction of ‘Sandbox’ procedures for FinTech startups by the FCA in 2016, over 50 jurisdictions globally have adopted this framework to help Fintech startups navigate the regulatory ambiguity and radical uncertainty involved in bringing a new product to the market. However, companies that undergo the sandbox treatment constitute less than 1 % of the total number of startups in UK and India. Having rigorously identified the performance of sandbox firms with control firms using the Synthetic Control method, we find there is evidence that sandbox firms raise more funding. We examine the performance of all Fintech startups in UK and India in terms of the wider background of the locations at which startups are found to see the differential contributions made by the eco-system and the sandbox treatment. It is interesting to see that eco-systems for FinTech startups with conurbations or contiguous regions in which congregation of tech personnel in terms of human capital and specialist infrastructure as in tech parks can work as enabling factors for success of startups. In the bigger picture, while sandbox treatment can enhance success, it has yet to become a major factor.
Presenters
Sheri M. Markose is a professor of Economics and Finance at the University of Essex. Sheri has a PhD from the London School of Economics. Her most recent appointment is as a member of the Academic Advisory Group for Central Bank Digital Currency for the Bank of England and UK Treasury. She was a Senior Consultant (2011–2014) at the Financial Stability Unit of the Reserve Bank of India where she oversaw the financial network project for systemic risk management. As founder Director (2002–2009) of the multidisciplinary Centre for Computational Finance and Economic Agents, she has pioneered a multi-disciplinary postgraduate curriculum on the digital economy, in particular, for the digital transformation of financial infrastructure. In 2013, she was an academic advisor to the OTC Derivatives Coordination Group of the Basel Committee for Banking Supervision and Financial Stability Board for the Macroeconomic Impact Assessment for the G20 OTC Derivatives Regulatory Reforms (MAGD). Sheri is an Associate Editor of the Frontiers journal for Computational Intelligence: AI and Robots.
Dr. Nihan Ari is a Research Officer for the research project titled "UK-India Bilateral Trade in FinTech and FinTech-enabled Services: Emerging trends and potential for growth" (Grant Ref: ES/T016213/1) at University of Essex. Her primary role in the project involves data analysis. She holds a Ph.D. in Electronic Systems Engineering from the University of Essex, UK. She received her M.Sc. in Advanced Communication Systems (with distinction) in 2017 from the University of Essex, UK, and B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering in 2009 from Gazi University, Turkey.