Financial Innovation and its Governance

Abstract

Over the past decades, financial innovation has catalysed the development of economies in many ways. Despite this, the introduction, commercialisation and use of innovations in finance in new and unexpected ways in society has led to negative impacts globally. To this end, scholars are becoming interested in understanding how financial innovations can be managed to ensure a positive net benefit globally. Using a qualitative research design, this paper investigates the questions of how innovation takes place and how it is governed within the insurance broking industry. The study further engages in a cross-case analysis where findings from the empirical work are discussed in relation to previous empirical study conducted in the asset management and bank customer relationship management space. Findings suggest the existence of a more nuanced continuum of practices, ranging from unstructured approaches through informal to formal models where the phasing of innovation activities was clearly punctuated by decision gates.