Peculiarities of grant research realisation “FinTech as a fence for the shock and fuel for the recovery? Lessons from the war”

This project was made possible through the UK-Ukraine R&I twinning grants scheme, funded by Research England with the support of Universities UK International and UK Research and Innovation [1-3]. The research intended to explore the influence of financial technologies (FinTech) on the economic development and welfare of Ukraine during the period of Russia's invasion. In recent years, Fintech has strengthened its functional position [4, p.29; 5, p.47]. The war caused the whole system, including the financial one, to fail in certain areas of Ukraine. This sudden change might have a long-lasting effect on how local people use financial services. So, Fintech could be a way to help the economy recover after the distress caused by the military conflict. For the efficacy of this approach, it is crucial to ensure the accurate and timely implementation of relevant policies. Therefore, the focus of the research is on economic processes pertaining to the unique aspects of analysing household use of FinTech during times of war. The study involves solving problems in two directions: 1) The study examines the specifics of fintech use at the household level. This involves assessing the use of banking technologies and other fintech tools in regions directly affected by the war and in comparable regions that were not. The assessment will compare the use of these technologies before and during the war. 2) To study the impact of the war on the traditional banking sector and to identify the likelihood of a vacuum that could arise in the financial and banking sectors as a result of the military conflict.