The Future of Financial Systems in the Digital Age

Despite the global nature of finance, the institutions and business of finance have until today retained national features that are clearly discernible. These are so distinct and important that financial systems are in fact often considered a key element in the characterization of national systems of capitalism (Dore, 2000; Hall & Soskice, 2001). We should therefore expect that the digital transformation (DX) of finance, its speed, scope and outcome should also be strongly influenced by national contexts. This proposition provided the main motivation for publishing this edited volume. There are numerous publications about how digitalization is transforming, if not disrupting, the financial industry. However, many publications either imply a world void of institutions or presuppose that DX is naturally a global and therefore uniform phenomenon (see for example Hines, 2021; Tapscott & Tapscott, 2016; McMillan, 2014). We think this leaves out at least half of the story. To fully understand the actual implications of DX, one must look at national cases.