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Bank Competition and Household Privacy in a Digital Payment Monopoly

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  • Mr. Itai Agur
  • Mr. Anil Ari
  • Mr. Giovanni Dell'Ariccia

Abstract

Lenders can exploit households' payment data to infer their creditworthiness. When households value privacy, they then face a tradeoff between protecting such privacy and credit conditions. We study how the introduction of an informationally more intrusive digital payment vehicle affects households' cash use, credit access, and welfare. A tech monopolist controls the intrusiveness of the new payment method and manipulates information asymmetries among households and oligopolistic banks to extract data contracts that are more lucrative than lending on its own. The laissez-faire equilibrium entails a digital payment vehicle that is more intrusive than socially optimal, providing a rationale for regulation.

Suggested Citation

  • Mr. Itai Agur & Mr. Anil Ari & Mr. Giovanni Dell'Ariccia, 2023. "Bank Competition and Household Privacy in a Digital Payment Monopoly," IMF Working Papers 2023/121, International Monetary Fund.
  • Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2023/121
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Privacy; Financial intermediation; Big Tech; Data regulation; data contract; payment vehicle; DC issuer; tech monopolist; bank competition; monopolist digital currency issuer; Credit; Digital financial services; Loans; Consumer credit; Data collection;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • E41 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Demand for Money
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation

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