The Columbia Institute for Tele-Information has been operating a research project on Digital Financial Services since late 2015. The project includes a research papers, conferences, webinars, and model laws on important topics within the Digital Financial Services field. Another portion of the project includes a website with a database of global laws and regulations pertaining to Digital Financial Services. This information is available at https://dfsobservatory.com.
The project's activities included:
- World’s first comprehensive curated library of DFS-related laws, regulations and policies. It contains over 850 DFS legal documents from over 60 countries, trade blocks, and SSBs in our searchable database.
- Hosting webinars & quizzes on DFS-related topics, leading to a Certificate of participation for registered participants.
- Providing commentaries and policy documents on DFS regulation
- Publications on a range of DFS-related topics, including those from the ITU DFS Focus Group
- Hosting an annual DFS Summit, with a wide range of topics important to the DFS field.
- Papers on Digital Financial Services
- Bowie, Keith, Leon Perlman, and Michael Wechsler. Development of an Actionable Cybersecurity Risk Management Framework for Digital Financial Services in the Developing World: Overall Approach. January 2021.
- Perlman, Leon and Andrew Araujo. Focus Note: Global Trends in Anti Money Laundering. January 2021.
- Wechsler, Michael and Samikshya Siwakoti. Gender, Cybersecurity and Fraud in DFS. December 2020.
- Perlman, Leon and Michael Wechsler. Regulation of the Financial Components of the Crypto-Economy. January 2020.
- Perlman, Leon. Fintech and Regtech: Data as the New Regulatory Honeypot. December 2019.
- Wechsler, Michael and Leon Perlman. Refusal to Supply (Part 1) De-constructing Trends in Financial De-risking and the Impact on Developing Countries. July 2019.
- Wechsler, Michael and Leon Perlman. Refusal to Supply (Part 2) De-constructing Trends in Financial De-risking and the Impact on Developing Countries. July 2019.
- Perlman, Leon. Crypto Asset Framework. May 2019.
- Wechsler, Michael, Leon Perlman, and Nora Gurung. The State of Regulatory Sandboxes in Developing Countries. November 2018.
- Perlman, Leon and Michael Wechsler. Mobile Coverage and its Impact on Digital Financial Services. November 2018.
- Gurung, Nora. DFSO Focus Note: DFS in Nepal. November 2018.
- Gurung, Nora and Leon Perlman. Focus Note: The Role of Digital Financial Services in Humanitarian Crises Responses. November 2018.
- Perlman, Leon. Role of the Telecommunications Regulator in Digital Financial Services. November 2018.
- Perlman, Leon. The Digital Financial Services Primer. November 2018.
- Perlman, Leon. The Role of Central Banks in Digital Financial Services. November 2018.
- Perlman, Leon. The Role of Regulators in Competition-Related Matters in Digital Financial Services.November 2018.
- Perlman, Leon and Nora Gurung. Focus Note: The Use of eIDs and eKYC for Customer Identity and Verification in Developing Countries: Progress and Challenges. November 2018.
- Gurung, Nora and Leon Perlman. Use of Regtech by Central Banks and its Impact on Financial Inclusion. November 2018.
- Model Memorandums of Understanding