The Fintech AMF – Finance Montreal Research Chair is actively looking for initiatives that explore the potential impact of COVID-19 on the Fintech industry, the Autorité des marchés financiers, or AMF (Quebec’s financial regulator), has confirmed.
There are reportedly eight different research grants that will be awarded to academics and graduate students, so that they can look into the impact that the Coronavirus has had on the Fintech ecosystem. The researchers will be expected to examine how Fintech companies should cope with a potential second wave of the deadly virus.
The research division, which has been established by the AMF, Finance Montreal and the School of Management Sciences (ESG UQAM), will award two $5,000 scholarships to graduate students and six grants of $10,000 each to professors and researchers interested in exploring the challenges Fintechs might face during the pandemic.
The grants may be provided to “knowledge transfer” projects and research projects in general. They may also be awarded to researchers who may want to contribute to the development of analytic tools, webinars and mobile apps.
The deadline for submitting grant applications is June 18, 2020. Projects are expected to take up to six months to complete.
Research papers and projects that have acquired funding through these grants will eventually become working papers of the research chair. Knowledge transfer projects will be accessible to the general public.
Earlier this month, Canada decided to postpone its upcoming Open Banking review due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The Canadian government-led Open Banking policy review was scheduled to consult stakeholders on applicable standards, in order to provide better consumer data protection.
The review was supposed to take place this spring. It would have looked into various issues including consumer control over their data, governance, and related privacy and security concerns.