GSDEC Members

The Global South Dialogue on Economic Crimes Network seeks to advance dialogue, research, and capacity on economic and financial crimes

Dr. Joy Malala

Executive Team Member

PROFILE SUMMARY

She is an Assistant Professor at the University of Warwick who has a special interest in researching financial regulation and supervision, the legal accountability of regulators, corporate governance, as well as the regulation of financial innovation and technology. She particularly researched the legal and regulation of mobile payment systems which she examines in her book, “Law and Regulation of Mobile Payment Systems: Issues Arising ‘post’ Financial Inclusion in Kenya”.

This book is a first of its kind, addresses the legal and regulatory issues arising out of the introduction of mobile payments in Kenya and its drive towards financial inclusion. It considers the interaction between regulation and technological innovation with a particular focus on the regulatory tools, institutional arrangements, and government decisional processes through the assessment as a whole of Kenya’s regulatory capacity. It also addresses the vulnerabilities presented by technological innovation for consumers after financial inclusion. She moreover researches financial sector reform through the consideration of the role of Central banks, and systemically important financial institutions and their impact on emerging economies. I also research the socio-legal and political landscape of FinTech in the Global South. I have begun to explore, the ways in which, ‘Financial Inclusion’ and ‘Access to Finance’ has continued to elicit a lot of debates and critique due in part to the (un)intended consequences of these innovations. I explore the ways in which poor people in the Global South are framed to the wider global economy, as new markets for western neoliberal ideals, particularly the ways in which FinTech and BigTech have co-opted these terms to access new markets. I also research how law and policy is designed and should be imagined, particularly, through the increase of over indebtedness, one of the darker underbellies of digital microcredit.

See More Team Members