Pacific Exchanges
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Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Pacific Exchanges episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Pacific Exchanges for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Pacific Exchanges episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
Mary Daly on Why the Fed Cares about Financial Inclusion
Pacific Exchanges
04/15/21 • 35 min
We’re excited to launch our latest season, Financial Inclusion & Beyond, an exploration of what we can learn from efforts around the world to improve financial inclusion, health, and wellbeing. This is a topic we’ve explored in previous episodes on fintech, and we're eager to ground global insights in the context of our modern challenges amid the COVID 19 crisis and renewed efforts to promote racial equity in the US financial system.
We begin the series with a conversation with our very own San Francisco Fed president Mary Daly. We get into why the Fed cares about financial health and inclusion, how we're engaging and learning from a community of subject matter experts and the general public, and the significant work ahead of us. Key takeaways from the discussion include:
- True economic and financial inclusion means everyone has access to the tools that make their lives easier—the ability to meet their daily needs and accumulate wealth for themselves and their families.
- From the perspective of the broader economy, we all do better when everyone is included and participating. For policy makers, financial exclusion undermines the resiliency of the economy and hinders growth.
- The COVID-19 crisis has magnified the challenges for those citizens that are not fully included in the financial system.
- Regulators have historically relied on rules-based approaches to prevent exclusionary behavior, practices like discriminatory “red lining” in mortgage lending that prevented African Americans from buying homes in the 20th. Negating the negative is not enough, however, and regulators need to broaden their mindset to think about how to promote positive change that delivers racial equity in the financial system, drives inclusion, and enables economic life for everyone.
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The views expressed are not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco or of the Federal Reserve System.
Season 1 - Fintech in Asia: How Increasingly Digital Life can Boost Small Business Access to Finance in Asia
Pacific Exchanges
08/24/18 • 29 min
In this episode, we revisited the topic of fintech in Asia by interviewing Sean Creehan, a senior analyst and our colleague here in the Country Analysis Unit. We talked with him about a recent paper he wrote on the how digital innovation can improve financing for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Asia. Sean helped us understand why SMEs, despite their essential role, receive a disproportionately small share of credit from the financial system. We also unpacked the many ways in which new financial technologies and innovative business models can boost SME access to credit and enlarge the pie of economic growth in Asia.
- In Asian economies, SMEs typically create at least 50% of new jobs and represent over 40% of GDP, yet receive less than 20% of total bank credit.
- The SME credit gap persists because providing financial services to SMEs often involves greater costs and higher risks than lending to larger customers.
- Emerging financial technology can support credit to small businesses by significantly lowering costs and through alternative data that improves banks’ ability to assess the risk and credit profile of smaller borrowers.
- New fintech applications like blockchain have the potential to improve efficiency in trade finance transactions and integrate more Asian SMEs into the global supply chain.
- The increased standardization of commerce on digital platforms in Asia will help SMEs broaden their economic impact by gaining access to more liquidity and investment capital.
The views expressed are not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco or of the Federal Reserve System.
12/26/16 • 27 min
In the fifth episode of our series on financial technology, we sat down with Zhong Wang, Head of Strategy and Overseas Payments for Baidu Wallet and Payment Services. Zhong is a veteran of both Silicon Valley and the Chinese tech industry and is an expert on the retail payments sector in China.
We invited Zhong to speak with us about why innovations in payments are occurring so rapidly in China, the competitive threat that new payment companies represent to banks, and how developments in payments may impact other parts of the Chinese financial system. The conversation covers a number of interesting topics. For example, can new payments technologies help bring financial services to China’s large underbanked population? Is there a generation gap between the young and old in terms of adopting mobile payments? Will Chinese payment companies be able to expand to other rapidly developing Asian economies? Zhong also explains what he sees as some of the biggest differences between Silicon Valley and tech companies in China.
The views expressed are not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco or of the Federal Reserve System.
Fintech & Racial Equity: Featuring Our Recent Collaboration on the Community Development Innovation Review
Pacific Exchanges
10/11/21 • 89 min
We’re excited to share a special episode in partnership with our colleagues in the San Francisco Fed’s Community Development group. Our teams recently collaborated on a special issue of the Community Development Innovation Review in partnership with the Aspen Institute’s Financial Security program, which examined the potential ways financial technology can promote racial equity in the financial system. Today’s episode is a corollary to our recently concluded Financial Inclusion & Beyond series where we explored what we can learn from efforts around the world to improve financial inclusion and wellbeing.
The event included a fireside chat with San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly and Ida Rademacher, Executive Director of the Aspen Institute’s Financial Security Program, and a panel discussion with several journal contributors moderated by Rocio Sanchez-Moyano, a senior researcher in the Community Development group.
Some take-aways from the live event include:
- The current financial system does not serve everyone equally. The inability to access and use financial services impedes people’s full participation in the economy. Communities of color and low-income communities are disproportionately left out of the financial system. Fintech provides an opportunity to reach those excluded by the financial system.
- Fintech shows promise in furthering financial inclusion. Improvements in transaction processing, digital identity, and use of real-time and alternative data for risk assessment could offer significant improvements to individuals currently left out of the financial system.
- Fintech solutions designed based on a nuanced understanding of lived experiences of those they serve have greater impact. Many consumers come up with work-arounds or adaptations to work with existing services that do not meet their needs. Efforts to increase diversity in the fintech ecosystem (from founders to staff, venture capital, and regulators) and greater prioritization of learning from the experiences and challenges that users from low-income communities and communities of color face can enable the creation of higher impact fintech solutions.
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The views expressed are not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco or of the Federal Reserve System.
05/29/19 • 30 min
In this episode of our series Rethinking Asia, we spoke with Brad Setser, a Senior Fellow for International Economics at the Council on Foreign Relations. Brad also served as the deputy assistant secretary for international economic analysis in the U.S. Treasury and was previously the director for international economics, serving jointly on the staff of the National Economic Council and the National Security Council.
Brad walked us through the evolution and recent trends in cross-border capital flows in Asia. In the wake of the Global Financial Crisis, capital flows were primarily driven by current account surplus countries in Asia, whose governments were investing money abroad to offset appreciatory pressures on their exchange rates. In recent years, however, divergent global interest rates, economic developments, and a search for yield have spawned a complex web of flows across the Pacific. Key takeaways from the discussion with Brad include:
- Throughout the post-crisis period, Asia has been a net exporter of capital. The bulk of financial outflows arose through a buildup in foreign exchange reserves among Asia’s current account surplus economies, though movement out of Japan was also driven by private investors seeking higher yield in a zero-interest rate environment.
- Immediately after the crisis, China experienced significant capital inflows. This reflected China’s gradual liberalization of its financial account. Comparably higher interest rates in China led to a growing carry trade, but these inflows reversed sharply in 2015 as the economic outlook deteriorated. In recent years, however, flows have stabilized as China restricted outflows and entered a modest economic recovery.
- Capital inflows into emerging Asia have generally followed global investors’ interests in emerging market exposure more broadly. While bank flows were a major component of pre-crisis inflows to the region, regulations have changed to limit banks’ short-term and foreign currency exposure compared to the pre-crisis period (though China is a notable exception). Portfolio flows into the region have taken on a greater role post-crisis.
- Across Asia, financial institutions increased purchases of offshore assets in a search for yield as the Fed began rate normalization. The biggest shift in trend over the past five years has been the rise of private capital flows, assuming the dominant role of official flows immediately post-crisis.
- The ongoing trade dispute has had a relatively minimal impact on regional capital flows, particularly when compared to the tumultuous effect of China’s exchange rate adjustment in 2015. U.S. tariffs have put downward pressure on the yuan, which in turn put regional currencies under pressure. Rising production costs in China have raised the appeal of neighboring economies, and could lead to rising foreign direct investment in other Southeast Asian nations.
- Funding mismatches among the Asian financial institutions is a growing vulnerability. In particular, growing dollar balance sheets in Asia have become an important source of funding for the U.S. economy and recall the experience of European banks pre-crisis. This risk is mitigated somewhat by large reserves in surplus countries and international swap lines, but the systemic implications of the global network of funding demand greater attention.
The views expressed are not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco or of the Federal Reserve System.
Financial Inclusion & Beyond Series Wrap-up
Pacific Exchanges
08/02/21 • 32 min
In the final episode of Financial Inclusion & Beyond, your series hosts take a look back at key themes and takeaways from our conversations.
Some of the key takeaways we review include:
- The events of the pandemic left us all humbler at the scope of the challenge we face here in the United States to deliver full financial access to all citizens and promote their financial health.
- Financial inclusion often conveys the notion of basic access, but true inclusion is about enabling individuals lives and letting them pursue their dreams.
- Experts from a diverse range of disciplines like impact investing, behavioral economics, and community development are focused on designing new financial products and services to meet the needs of low income populations historically treated as second class citizens in the financial system.
- Regulators need to grapple with how to promote positive change through their engagement with innovative firms. A narrow focus on simply negating bad outcomes has not been sufficient to create real financial inclusion and racial equity, and a shift in mindset is necessary.
- The San Francisco Fed’s Framework for Change makes a persuasive case for the economic benefits of a more inclusive financial system. We are at a critical moment to reflect and take action, and both public and private stakeholders have a lot of work ahead of them to promote meaningful change.
The views expressed are not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco or of the Federal Reserve System.
Live Virtual Event: Creating an “On-Ramp” For Financial Inclusion
Pacific Exchanges
07/07/21 • 111 min
Our Pacific Exchanges team recently hosted a special Financial Inclusion and Beyond live virtual event that explored lessons from around the world in the use of technology and public policy to build more inclusive financial systems and drive financial health.
The event was moderated by Sean Creehan, the team's lead for financial health and inclusion, and brought together professionals from different corners of the financial inclusion and health spaces, including Greta Bull, the president and chief executive officer of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP); José Quiñonez, the founding chief executive officer of Mission Asset Fund (MAF); Arjuna Costa, a managing partner at Flourish Ventures; and Ting Jiang, a behavioral economist.
We’re excited to share the live event in full as a special episode of Financial Inclusion and Beyond. Regular listeners of the podcast will recognize these voices from their episodes throughout the season; the live event allowed them to discuss how they were managing the challenges to inclusion posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some take-aways from the live event include:
- The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically affected efforts to improve financial inclusion and health. Organizations like CGAP, a World Bank Group affiliate, and MAF, which traditionally focus on the longer-term issues of inclusion, had to re-focus efforts almost overnight to deal with issues related to public health.
- Those countries which had invested in digital financial system infrastructure could respond with stimulus relief quicker than those which relied on traditional models. Ting Jiang zeroed in the pandemic's effects at the individual level.
- At the individual level, it is important to adapt behaviors and develop products and technologies that withstand moments of stress.
- The poor shouldn't be forced to be secondary or third-order users of financial products but should have access to products designed for their lifestyles at an affordable cost. Fintech should be celebrated when it is also in service of the poor, not simply because it is a shiny new toy.
The views expressed are not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco or of the Federal Reserve System.
05/13/21 • 35 min
In episode nine of Financial Inclusion & Beyond, we spoke with Grovetta Gardineer, the Senior Deputy Comptroller for Bank Supervision Policy at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. As a veteran bank regulator with more than three decades of experience in banking supervision, policy and regulation, Grovetta is a well-known leader and expert in the space of compliance and community programs.
We sat down to discuss lessons learned from the COVID crisis, financial inclusion challenges here in the United States, as well as the role public policy and regulation should play. Key takeaways from the discussion include:
- The US financial system has failed to provide equitable access for people of color. The barriers to financial access have prevented excluded populations, African Americans in particular, to achieve a healthy financial life and to build generational wealth.
- To tackle inclusion challenges, the OCC and other regulatory agencies have taken concrete steps to engage in a collaborative effort, Project REACh. The project focuses on three broad areas: bringing so-called “credit invisible” populations back into an inclusive financial system, increasing affordable housing, and recognizing the crucial role that minority depository institutions play in the United States.
- This effort must leverage the strength of various stakeholders, including all types of financial institutions, businesses, and community groups. For example, fintech firms’ approach to alternative credit scoring can provide opportunities as they partner with innovative banks.
- While there are benefits offered from collecting financial data, strict privacy guidelines and expectations need to be established to ensure consumer confidence and trust of the financial system.
Join Our Live Event May 18!
We will be hosting a live virtual event to mark the release of Financial inclusion & Beyond, the fourth season of our Pacific Exchanges podcast with a panel of four experts who appear in the series. We’ll discuss their lessons learned from the COVID-19 crisis and how the pandemic has underscored the importance of building inclusive financial systems that enable everyone’s financial health and promote equal opportunities. Details and registration link here.
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The views expressed are not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco or of the Federal Reserve System.
09/09/19 • 27 min
In this episode of our series Rethinking Asia, we spoke with Chad Bown, Reginald Jones Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Chad is an expert on trade, having worked on the issue at the World Bank, the White House Council of Economic Advisors, and the World Trade Organization.
We sat down to discuss the recent trade disagreement between South Korea and Japan. While, rooted in the countries’ deep historical, political, and social tensions dating back to the early 20th century, the attitudes and tactics adopted in the dispute reflect broader global sentiments surrounding trade. Key takeaways from the discussion include:
- A new front in global trade wars has opened, with South Korea squaring off against Japan. Specifically, the Japanese government put export restrictions on various exports to South Korea and, most recently in early August, removed South Korea from its so called ‘white list’ of countries that enjoy special trade terms with Japan. The move requires Japanese companies to follow a bureaucratic process when exporting to Korea, disrupting supply chains for Korean microchip and display manufacturers that rely heavily on Japanese inputs.
- Today’s tensions date to the Second World War, when Korea was a Japanese colony and Japanese companies used forced Korean labor. In 1965, the two countries signed a treaty to normalize the relationship under which Japan paid restitution to South Korea. Recently, however the South Korean Supreme Court ruled that the treaty only applied at a country level and that individuals could bring cases against Japanese companies. Japanese export restrictions are seen as retaliation for the decision.
- The deterioration of the trade relationship between Japan and South Korea reflects current attitudes and trends in trade by which countries are increasingly using trade as a lever to resolve political and social disputes once mediated through diplomatic channels.
- This dispute reveals that a focus on bilateral disputes may make it harder for countries to form regional or global trade agreements. Prior to the dispute, according to Bown, South Korea was interested in acceding to the Japan-led CP-TPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement on Trans-Pacific Partnership) trade agreement among 11 countries. It is unlikely to follow through in light of current tensions.
- It is hard to say whether the current attitudes toward trade will upend the trend toward globalization established in the aftermath of the World War II. Recent results are a mixed bag: while high profile cases of anti-trade rhetoric and behavior have garnered the most attention, other countries continue to sign free trade agreements.
The views expressed are not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco or of the Federal Reserve System.
Chris Calabia on the Role of Public Policy and Regulation in Improving Access to Finance
Pacific Exchanges
05/03/21 • 30 min
In episode six of Financial Inclusion & Beyond, we spoke with Chris Calabia, the Senior Advisor for Supervisory and Regulatory Policy, Financial Services for the Poor at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Chris leads the Foundation’s global efforts to promote a regulatory framework that enables digital financial innovation. Previously he was a Senior Vice President and Banking Supervisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
We sat down to discuss how to drive financial health for the world's poor by improving access to essential financial services through better public policy and regulation. Chris also shared his insights from the Gates Foundation’s efforts to help promote access to financial services among the unbanked, poor and women, especially in lower and middle income countries around the world. Key takeaways from the discussion include:
- There has been focus among policymakers, regulators, central banks, and others, to try to improve access to a financial services account in the past 10-15 years. Despite visible progress, there are still 1.7 billion people globally left without access.
- Evidence suggests that access to financial services can improve economic opportunity for the poor and help them build resiliency against unexpected shocks. Regulation should ensure that providers are able to serve the poor, and welcome new providers such as mobile network operators, fintech companies, and social media platforms into financial services.
- Gates Foundation research found that countries with functioning digital financial services were far better able to deliver pandemic-related relief to their citizens.
- One example of digital solutions helping improve efficiency and access is India, where the government has started to digitalize social welfare benefits. Elsewhere, the Gates Foundation has sponsored experiments to encourage digitalizing payroll in Bangladesh and other developing economies.
- Digital infrastructure, such as digital identification systems, can facilitate various banking functions such as e-KYC and remote onboarding of customers by financial institutions. Other segments of the economy including healthcare providers or the education industry could also benefit from digital identification which will make a huge difference in the lives of the poor.
Please note that the initial interview was recorded prior to the onset of the COVID-19 crisis.
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The views expressed are not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco or of the Federal Reserve System.
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FAQ
How many episodes does Pacific Exchanges have?
Pacific Exchanges currently has 51 episodes available.
What topics does Pacific Exchanges cover?
The podcast is about Fintech, Podcasts, Finance, Economics, Business, Government and Asia.
What is the most popular episode on Pacific Exchanges?
The episode title 'Financial Inclusion & Beyond Series Wrap-up' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Pacific Exchanges?
The average episode length on Pacific Exchanges is 34 minutes.
How often are episodes of Pacific Exchanges released?
Episodes of Pacific Exchanges are typically released every 14 days, 2 hours.
When was the first episode of Pacific Exchanges?
The first episode of Pacific Exchanges was released on Oct 31, 2016.
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