Towards monitoring financial innovation in central bank statistics
As fintech, or financial innovation and digitalisation, transforms the financial sector, it also opens up data gaps in central bank statistics. It does so by introducing new financial products, and bringing existing services to a larger market. Data gaps are currently prevalent as (internationally comparable) information on fintech is lacking in official statistics. To understand innovation, qualitative information, information on evolving structures, and harmonised time series are needed.
Against this backdrop, the Irving Fisher Committee on Central Bank Statistics (IFC) Working Group on Fintech Data Issues has reviewed the state of affairs and outlined a targeted road-map to construct fintech statistics.
The road-map consists of six steps. The first one is to formulate a classification of fintech that encompasses the various financial market segments of fintech, as data gaps reflect the fact that fintech companies engaged in financial intermediation are not systematically assigned to the financial sector (as identified by eg the International Standard Industrial Classification of all Economic Activities (ISIC)). Second, based on this definition, lists of fintech enterprises can be derived from various sources (eg existing studies, registers). Third, linking these lists to existing data in official statistics (eg balance sheet data) will help to answer economic questions about fintech and allow a more comprehensive understanding of its potential development. Fourth, intra- and inter-institutional cooperation shall be fostered, as data from different sources need to be linked, calling for active support of the related international initiatives that are under way (eg to promote global identifiers). Fifth, available data from the internet can be sourced (eg through artificial intelligencesupported web search). Sixth, the resulting information set can usefully be complemented by surveys or compulsory reporting requirements on aspects for which data of sufficient quality are not available from other reliable sources; indeed, the working group (WG) notes that the information available varies from country to country, which can call for flexibly adjusting the various national strategies to construct fintech statistics.
