The British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grants are available to support primary research in the humanities and social sciences. These awards are provided to cover the cost of the expenses arising from a defined research project.
Dr King, Senior lecturer in Finance, Banking and Innovation, was jointly awarded the grant, worth £10,000, along with a colleague from Leeds University to fund their work researching FinTech in the banking sector.
Technology-enabled innovation, or FinTech, is dramatically transforming the financial sector. For banks and policy makers, rapid FinTech growth poses both significant opportunities as well as challenges. Industry figures suggest banks are beginning to respond by entering the FinTech space through patent activity or via strategic acquisitions of FinTech firms. Unfortunately, little is known about banks’ FinTech business strategies and their implications on performance and risk of the financial sector.
Dr King expands on the goals of their research:
“Our work seeks to address this research gap across two empirical papers: First, we focus on determinants of organic bank growth through innovative FinTech patent filing activity. We empirically assess whether banks apply for patents as defensive (prevent litigation) or aggressive business strategies (increase market share by hindering competition). Second, we consider whether banks pursue inorganic growth through strategic acquisitions of FinTech firms. The common theme linking these questions is how FinTech strategies impact bank performance including risk”.
Prior to working at the University of Kent, Dr King was at Leeds Business School where he taught corporate finance and commercial banking, as well as conducting research into various corporate governance issues within banking, pertaining to risk-taking and wider bank performance, with specific focus on the relevance of executives’ pay and heterogeneity in experience and qualifications.
Visit the British Academy site to learn more about the British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant.