The purpose of this book is to contribute to the practical and academic understanding of financial technology and its overall economic impact, with a specific focus on inclusive growth and inequality. We also describe the dynamics that are shaping fintech services, including regulations, governance structures, and investment practices. The book could not have been published without the help of many people.
The team at Harvard University Press was truly exceptional. Our first editor, Jeff Dean, shared our passion for the topic right from the beginning. His guidance, feedback, and good judgment helped us to structure Democratizing Finance into an informative, instructive, inspiring, and entertaining narrative. When Jeff left his position, we were fortunate to work with Ian Malcolm, who supported and brought this book into the world. We are grateful for his commitment, interest, and precious help. Many thanks to James Brandt, Olivia Woods, Stephanie Vyce, and Brian Ostrander, who were always available when needed.
MARION LABOURE This book would never have reached completion without Kenneth Rogoff and Juergen Braunstein. While I studied and worked at Harvard, Ken gave me the most interesting and challenging years I could imagine, as well as a great platform for professional growth. Juergen introduced us to Harvard University Press, which led to this book’s publication. Juergen and I published numerous articles together in the Economist, Project Syndicate, VoxEU, Le Monde, Global Policy, the Financial Times, and the New York Times. Nicolas and I are indebted to Juergen for the title. In fact, he reminded us that, by writing the book, we were democratizing economics and finance—making it accessible to undergraduates and midcareer students.
Many others have been instrumental in the effort to publish this book. At Harvard University, I was fortunate to have been surrounded by supportive colleagues. I am profoundly grateful to Dante Roscini, Dorian Klein, Lawrence Summers, Mervyn King, Laura Wilcox, Julie Battilana, Patrick Schena, Prajapati Trivedi, Anup K. Pujari, Shiva Kumar, Rachel Deyette Werkema, Robert Lawrence, Kessely Hong, Hans-Helmut Kotz, and Sigmar Gabriel. They all provided me with key insights into the relationship between financial services and inequality.
I would like to thank my colleagues at Deutsche Bank for their invaluable support and insights over the last two years. In particular, I am thankful for David Folkerts-Landau, Jim Reid, Peter Hooper, Pam Finelli, Isaure De-Vaumas, Gurdon Wattles, Christoph Woermann, Raghu Gulati, Dixit Joshi, Christiana Riley, Markus Mueller, Stefan Hoops, Christian Sewing, Benjamin Madjar, Anthony Chaimowitz, Yann Couronneaud, Jessica Hakansson, Hanswolf Hohn, Luke Templeman, Tim Tait, Astrid Poussel, Mallika Sachdeva, Michal Jezek, Henry Allen, and Clarissa Dann.
This book draws from my research at the École Normale Supérieure and Harvard. It is also built on my previous experiences at the European Commission, Barclays, the Central Bank of Luxembourg, and the International Monetary Fund. I am grateful to my colleagues at the European Commission: Vitor Gaspar, Martin Larch, and Agnès Hubert, for supervising my work and remaining great friends over the years; at the Central Bank of Luxembourg: Gaston Reinesh for inviting me into the BCL research department while pursuing my PhD, and Muriel Bouchet and Olivier Delobbe for supervising my work; at Barclays Capital: Laurence Boone for offering me my first job in investment banking, and Julian Callow, Eldar Vakhitov, Francois Cabau for being great friends and keeping in touch; at the International Monetary Fund: Vitor Gaspar and David Coady for inviting me into the Fiscal Affairs department; at the École Normale Supérieure: Emmanuelle Taugourdeau for being a great supervisor and mentor when I was juggling with a full-time job and my writing work; at the Consumer Electronics Show: Xavier Dalloz and André Lamotte for their support and invitations to the CES; and my great fellow authors: John Turner, Yael Hadass, Sally Shen, Patrick Schena, Eva-Maria Nag, for their support and insights in this academic journey.
A special word of thanks goes to Vitor Gaspar, for his encouragement, advice, and insights since we met at the European Commission fifteen years ago. He kindly invited me to the International Monetary Fund to deepen my research.
NICOLAS DEFFRENNES Lionel Melka was the first person to initiate me into the world of mergers and acquisitions, and financial services, which is the arena in which I began my career. Many years later, he was the first to encourage Marion and I to write books, and he played an essential role in my entrepreneurial journey. He has been a true source of inspiration all along.
This book could not have been written without the financial services and banking experiences that I acquired during my years at AnaCap Financial Partners. I would like to thank my mentors Joe Giannamore, Finlay McFadyen, Steve Barry, Chris Patrick, and Justin Sulger. I am also grateful for my peers and colleagues, such as Alison Ip, Christian Schuller, Paolo Savini-Nicci, Nassim Cherchali, Ian Wilkins, Stijn Proost, and Alex Mills. A special mention goes to Philip Monks, who built Aldermore Bank from the ground up. Lifelong friends such as Alison Ip, Nicolas Vrillaud, Aurelien Cristini, Nawar Cristini, Nicolas Trindade, and Pierre Viandaz have made this journey a joy.
My years at McKinsey gave me invaluable insights into how consumers engage with the digitalization of financial services. I would like to thank the leaders of the Consumer and Digital Consumer initiative, including Natalie Rémy, Olivier Sibony, Clarisse Magnin, Nicolo Galante, Franck Laizet, Karim Tadjeddine, Arnaud Minvielle, and Hortense de la Boutetière. I formed lasting friendships there with Fabrice Bocquet, Cyrielle Villepelet, Charles Best, Gary Roth, Catherine Abi-Habib, Boris Dragovic, David Ben Porat, and Philipp Hillenbrand.
I could not have written this book in a meaningful way without direct experiences in the world of start-ups and innovation. My entrepreneurial journey, which gave me an insider’s view, would not have happened without good friends, co-entrepreneurs, and angels. Among them are Sylvie Barbossa, Thierry Prévot, Ivan Massonnat, Siméon Péllissier, Engelbert Heitkamp, Thomas Melkebeke, Pierre Viandaz, James Butler, Valerian Déjours, and Ismail Drissi.
We would also thank Glenn McMahan, who did a fantastic work in editing this book. Glenn was always available when needed, and he was always optimistic and confident. Nicolas Moreau, Preeti Sahai, Rangesh Vittal, James Butler, and Rachel Hathaway also contributed to shaping this book with their edits, insights, comments, and research.
Finally, our thanks go to family and friends, whose unrelenting support and encouragement brought us to the end of this journey. The book could not have been completed without the sustained tolerance and all-round support of our families. For these and many other reasons, this book is lovingly dedicated to Philippe Laboure, Christiane Laboure, Claire Laboure, Clementine Laboure, Huguette Laboure, Denis Laboure, Alexandre Boittin, Charlotte Creuzot, Régis Fanget, Julien Allard, Olivier Deffrennes, Colette Bernard, Marie-Therese Bernard, Sophie Deffrennes, Benoit Deffrennes, Helene Deffrennes, Guillaume Deffrennes, Nicolet Verdier, Laurie Meynet, Mieko Deffrennes, Julien Feruglio, and Charles Deffrennes.