Climate Change Regulations: Bank Lending and Real Effects

Climate risks and climate policies are expected to have a major impact on the financial system. In recent years, financial authorities have required banks to embed climate risks into their risk management frameworks, including in their Internal Capital Adequacy Assessment Process, the so-called ICAAP. While some policy makers are exploring the explicit use of prudential … Read more

Sub-Saharan Africa: the financial gender gap between men and women

Although it is a factor in financial inclusion and development, the growth of mobile banking in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has nonetheless gone hand in hand with a growing gender gap in financial inclusion. This unexpected consequence of financial digitalisation calls for a rethink of development policies.  Chart 1. Bank coverage (adult population with an account, … Read more

Banks’ physical footprint and financial technology adoption

The financial industry has undergone several changes in recent years: the emergence of new technologies, the entry of fintechs, and the transition from a physical branch- based business model to an increasing reliance on digital services. These trends can foster competition and the democratization of financial services. In our recent working paper, we investigate how the … Read more

Magic Mike’s Last Dance review: In God we thrust

To strip, perchance to dream; such were the humble hopes of Channing Tatum’s “Magic” Mike Lane when this all began. And what the first film delivered back in 2012 was a kind of movie magic: a scrappy, scampish novelty about Florida men who take their pants off for a living, delivered with loose-limbed auteur style … Read more

Your Place or Mine review: A modern rom-com slog

It is probably not great news for your project if you spend half the press tour defending your lack of red-carpet chemistry with your co-star. The carpet may be kinder, though, or at least mercifully briefer, than actually sitting through Your Place or Mine, an experience that often feels like watching two movie stars try … Read more

Second-hand clothes finally take off in Japan

A second-hand pop-up store in Tokyo by casual clothing giant Uniqlo was a first for the Japanese firm, but also a sign that a local aversion to used garments may finally be fading. Uniqlo is a major player in an industry blamed for immense carbon emissions and other pollutants like microplastics. It has ridden a wave of … Read more