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The unstable money demand function over the recent decades may explain the unsatisfactory performance of the exchange rate model. Numerous studies have shown that Divisia money serves as a better variable for a stable money demand function. In this study, Divisia money is used as an alternative money supply in MYR/USD exchange rate determination. This study finds that Divisia money differential, real income differential, relative short-term interest rate and real stock prices affect the MYR/USD exchange rate in the long run. The major implication of this study is that policy-makers could monitor the MYR/USD exchange rate via the money supplies following the principle of Divisia monetary aggregate, which assigns higher weightage to more frequently traded monetary assets.

Digital financial inclusion is a need of the recent era in order to flourish the growth of economies as well as businesses and individuals. Thus, varieties of digital technologies are launched to provide ease and leverage to customers’ financial needs. Among the well-known digital technologies, Fintech emerged as a well-known and accepted form of digital technologies. However, the acceptance level is much lower, especially in developing sides of the world like Pakistan where issues related to cyber-security are the major hindrance in the way of digitization and n-tier online payments. However, with a massive youth population, Pakistan also has the opportunity to use Fintech as the major tool for economic and social development. Therefore, this chapter has been written purposely to shed light on the importance, use, and role of Fintech in the growth of developing countries like Pakistan. The purpose is to increase the knowledge of youth about financial technologies especially Fintech so they may embrace their abilities with technological innovation, especially for their financial needs. On the other side, the chapter will also address the lack of research on this emerging trend to diverge the focus of researchers and academicians towards Fintech and its uses, scope, implications, and benefits for developing countries.

The COVID-19 pandemic has sped up the digital shift in finance, leading to more people having access to financial services and presenting new opportunities and challenges. This chapter looks at how digital finance has changed during the pandemic, focusing on how it’s made financial services more accessible, helped lessen gender disparities, boosted digital financial understanding, and dealt with potential risks. Since the pandemic, the use of digital financial services has grown rapidly, helping to overcome geographical limitations and increase financial inclusion. This change has been especially helpful for marginalized groups and women, significantly reducing the gender gap in financial inclusion. Meanwhile, understanding digital finance literacy has become crucial for effectively using digital financial services. However, the move towards digitization brings its own challenges, especially new financial risks. These risks require increased consumer awareness, better education, and stricter regulation. The chapter concluded by saying that the path of digital finance after the pandemic is a mix of opportunities and challenges. As a result, we need a careful and balanced approach to increase financial inclusion while also protecting against potential financial risks, ultimately aiming for a fairer, more stable, and more inclusive financial landscape.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has already changed the financial industry by increasing the accessibility and inclusiveness of financial services. While acknowledging the challenges posed by AI, this chapter provides insights into the positive impact of AI in promoting financial inclusion. AI has greatly enhanced credit scoring and risk assessment through the use of non-traditional data sources, enabling individuals with limited credit histories and low incomes to access loans and financial products. In addition, the implementation of AI-powered customer identification and verification systems has enhanced security measures while reducing the risk of fraudulent activity. However, the digital divide still remains a challenge to achieve wide financial inclusion. Limited access to technology and digital skills keeps some people from fully benefiting from AI-powered financial services. Access to loans through AI systems may seem convenient, but it also raises concerns about excess borrowing and the resulting unsustainable debt levels. In the age of digital finance, privacy and data security are still key issues. The chapter concludes by highlighting that more research is needed to address these challenges. By fully understanding the potential of AI, as well as its limitations, the power of technology can be harnessed to create more inclusive economic opportunities for everyone, especially those living in poorer areas.

Fintech businesses have the tendency to revolutionize the entire world. Especially, the tasks associated with banking needs, and therefore, there is a significant scope for Fintech in the banking industry. Although when the country’s major population is unbanked and most of the population is also financially excluded, then the scope of Fintech gets exaggerated for microfinance institutions (MFIs), and therefore, the significance of Fintech for MFIs is much higher than the commercial and Islamic banks. Hence, this chapter has been written purposively to illuminate the impact, role, significance and implications of Fintech for MFIs in Pakistan in order to boost the knowledge and understanding of diverse stakeholders. The specialty of this chapter is that it is written specifically with reference to Pakistan as there is least research work with respect to the application of Fintech in MFIs. Similarly, the chapter also contains the anatomy of the value chain activities of MFIs and their linkage with the role of Fintech applications in boosting the performance of MFIs. Last, but not the least, the chapter also has a detailed discussion on factors that are required to boost the usage of Fintech in the MFI sector. Therefore, this chapter is pervasive for academicians, researchers, entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs and students for grasping, understanding and applying recent knowledge towards the betterment of academic and pragmatic activities.

In recent times, mobile banking has become the best alternative for transactions associated with payments like bills, fees, and peer-to-peer payments. Therefore, the pace of adoption is increasing day after other. However, the numbers of customers are not equal to the expectations as there are several challenges and threats hindering in the way of excellence and growth of mobile banking. Therefore, this chapter has been written purposively to address all the elements that are associated with the use of mobile banking with special emphasis on Pakistan and other developing sides of Asia. In fact, concern towards Asian sides is mandatory as the continent has the massive charm to attract users towards the use of mobile banking, but there is a need for proper policy and concern from stakeholders in order to give a push to the technology, which is fruitful for society, environment, as well as economy. The study includes an in-depth discussion on factors that need attention to make the study implicative and thorough for conducting further research in the field of Fin-Tech and mobile banking.

The purpose of the study is to conceptualize the model of the predictors of consumer willingness to purchase green products. This study used the underpinning theories related to consumer willingness by integrating the green concept in deriving the consumer willingness to purchase green products. Based on the underpinning theories of marketing strategies, it was found that marketing mix was still fundamental in business. Therefore, green marketing mix was proposed to describe the consumer's green purchase willingness. Furthermore, corporate social responsibility (CSR) plays an important role as the key to organizational strategy. Thus, CSR is also included in the proposed framework. As this is a conceptual paper, further empirical study needs to carry out to verify the proposed hypotheses. This study contributes to the market practitioners or entrepreneurs in terms of re-considering marketing mix and CSR in deriving customer willingness to purchase green products. This study extends the literature of behavioural intention by integrating green marketing strategies with CSR in determining consumer willingness to purchase.