Crossing borders involves a myriad of challenges, including compliance with different tax regimes. Multinational enterprises, as the name implies, operate in multiple nations and face multiple tax regulations. International coordination of tax rules is crucial, especially as the digital economy grows, to address the inconsistencies and inequities of a patchwork system. In partnership with other organizations, the World Bank is working toward a more consistent and fair global taxation structure.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has a long history of investing in emerging markets, and its contributions are most constructive during crises. With the global economy reeling from COVID-19, the EBRD ramped up its efforts to be a partner to key players in the markets in which it invests, providing emergency financing and policy direction with a focus on fostering a green economy characterized by inclusion and digitalization.
The banking industry of Greece, along with the population, was put through its paces during the past decade, as financial troubles snowballed into a national crisis. One of Greece’s long-established traditional banks, National Bank of Greece, withstood the turmoil to emerge today as its country’s pioneer in digital innovation, leading its millions of customers into a future filled with hope for greater choice, efficiency and satisfaction in their banking experiences.
The hold traditional banking once exerted over consumer finances has seriously eroded in the Digital Age, with fintech presenting a formidable challenge to banking’s sovereignty. Customers are shrugging off any loyalty they may have had to their main banks and are opting for the providers with the most convenient, efficient, secure and, above all, speedy financial solutions. Can banks survive in the fintech world, and if so, how?
Costa Rica has been one of Central America’s most prosperous and stable countries, providing many opportunities for its financial sector to flourish—despite the government’s recent liquidity crisis. BAC Credomatic Costa Rica, with its emphasis on placing the customer in the centre, has made the best use of the advantages its home country offers. Country Manager Federico Odio González gave us a run-down on BAC’s commitment to streamlining while improving its operations.
Automation saves time, cuts cost and carries out routine tasks with unmatched efficiency, so who wouldn’t welcome it? Possibly the people whose income currently depends on carrying out those tasks. Digitalization is guaranteed to strip out much routine work in banking, but it will not necessary mean fewer bank jobs. Roles will be reinvented so that technology frees human staff to provide customers with excellent advice and service.
Digitalization has become second nature to many banks around the world, but not all. In the Central European country of Hungary, many banks—and their customers, who are relatively uninformed of the ways going digital can enhance their personal financial management—are in the early stages of the digital banking voyage. The time has arrived for Hungarian banks to jump into the present, or remain behind in the past.