The interplay between regulation and digital innovation in shaping banking; their effect on the financial system and its stability.

“Up to half of the world's banks will disappear through the cracks opened up by digital disruption of the industry” forecasts BBVA Chairman and CEO Francisco Gonzalez (Deloitte, 2016).

Since the start of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008, the financial system has experienced testing times: we have seen a shift to digital provision, we are moving towards a platform-based economy, the gig economy is growing at significant rates and big data is taking a central role in enabling businesses to spot new business opportunities (Pennathur, 2019).

The financial services play a key role in serving the economy but the financial system is also increasingly the target of cyber-crime and needs to develop resilience that enables it to adjust to new laws and regulations, harness the changing technology to make services more personalised, accessible, instantaneous, secure, support financial inclusion, as well as embrace the unbundling of business models.

This is an exciting project for a doctoral candidate who has an interest in investigating how digital disruption and regulation are shaping the financial system.

Supervisor:  This project will be supervised by Professor Catarina Figueira, an expert in banking who advises a number of financial institutions and regularly engages with bankers, having also developed the first Mastership programme in retail and digital banking in the UK.

Application details:  The PhD candidate should hold a minimum 2.1 class undergraduate degree in economics, finance or related discipline and have passed, or expect to have passed by autumn, a Master’s degree or equivalent research experience in a work setting. See Admission Requirements for English language requirements.

Deadline:  Expressions of interest alongside a CV are invited via email to catarina.figueira@cranfield.ac.uk.