This article evaluates how the need to distribute emergency funds widely and quickly may spur the creation of a new, publicly run payment system. The author highlights recent legislative initiatives like one in New York that would provide residents with a digital wallet and discusses the implications of central bank account provisioning by the Federal Reserve.

The economic effects of COVID-19 are beginning to narrow lending in the mortgage market and point to a return to the period between 2010 and 2013 in which only borrowers with nearly pristine credit could obtain a mortgage.

Concerns about spreading the virus have shifted many transactions to digital formats – either contactless payments or online pre-orders. This article explores the financial inclusion effects of a cash-less economy.​

A variety of technology companies have adapted software and platforms to support emergency small business lending. This article explores the various ways in which fintechs have helped banks implement the Paycheck Protection Program, including allow banks to automate application review and underwriting, collecting and verifying documents, and transmitting information to the Small Business Administration.​

This research brief surveys how banks are prioritizing pandemic-related needs and being responsive to evolving community conditions in light of their Community Reinvestment Act obligations. Based on a survey of community development officers, institutions are starting to shift beyond meeting short-term needs and leveraging existing projects to develop ideas for new and innovative programs on small-dollar lending, small business technical assistance, and other topics.

This IMF blog post from the IMF considers one pathway for protecting the global banking system amid the pandemic. Pointing to the experience of the 2008 crisis and recovery, the authors recommend requiring transparent loss reporting, relying on capital and liquidity buffers to support continued lending, and encouraging loan modification.

This article charts how FinTech companies are deploying new technology pilot programs to aid in COVID recovery. The article references several companies deploying big data analysis capabilities and notes uses of distributed ledgers for settling trades.

This brief from the World Economic Forum evaluates how the use of personal data – and business models for monetizing that data – might evolve as firms respond to the pandemic. For example, machine learning algorithms previously deployed to analyze consumer tastes could be deployed to track viral detection.

This article addresses risks related to the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning models that were trained on and use data that overweight benign credit conditions.

This article analyzes the technical nuances and legal implications of using synthetic data, which uses machine learning techniques to modify raw data, as an alternative to anonymization or differential privacy to protect privacy interests while facilitating research.