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Regulatory Sandboxes and Ecosystem Dynamics in Financial Markets

Ahmad Sami Mahmoud Alaassar of the School of Business and Law at the University of Agder has submitted his thesis entitled «A Phenomenon-driven Exploration of Regulatory Sandboxes in FinTech Entrepreneurial Ecosystems» and will defend the thesis for the PhD-degree Monday 28 June 2021. (Photo: Private)

Ultimately, this research can help entrepreneurs create and grow innovative financial services as well as support regulators and policymakers with their efforts to protect financial markets while ensuring a conducive environment for innovation and economic growth.

Ahmad Sami Mahmoud Alaassar

PhD Candidate

The disputation will be held digitally, because of the Corona covid-19-situation. Spectators may follow the disputation digitally – link is available below.

 

Ahmad Sami Mahmoud Alaassar of the School of Business and Law at the University of Agder has submitted his thesis entitled «A Phenomenon-driven Exploration of Regulatory Sandboxes in FinTech Entrepreneurial Ecosystems» and will defend the thesis for the PhD-degree Monday 28 June 2021. 

He has followed the PhD-programme at the School of Business and Law at the University of Agder, with spesialisation in International Business.

This PhD has been fully funded by RMIT University and the Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship, and is a cotutelle PhD from RMIT and UiA.

Summary of the thesis by Ahmad Alaassar:

Regulatory Sandboxes and Ecosystem Dynamics in Financial Markets

In this dissertation, Ahmad Alaassar starts his research journey by taking a closer look at regulatory sandboxes in financial markets to understand how they operate, how they differ from other support instruments and how interactions that occur within these instruments enable innovation and regulation practices.

Testing in a controlled, real-world environment

Regulatory Sandboxes are virtual trial-and-error instruments that grant financial market participants temporary licensing relief and thus provide the opportunity to test new solutions in a controlled, real-world environment and engage with regulators who offer guidance and supervision.

Ahmad then looked at the broader ecosystem that hosts regulatory sandboxes, financial technology start-ups and other stakeholders to understand how social dynamics influence the creation and growth of start-ups.

In doing so, Ahmad was able to explore and explain how participation in regulatory sandboxes and ecosystem dynamics affects financial innovation in financial technology start-ups.

Four research papers

In total, four research papers have been written:

  • Paper A reviewed the emerging literature on innovation instruments in financial markets.
  • Paper B explored how interactions among ecosystem actors contribute to financial technology start-ups.
  • Paper C researched the activities of regulatory sandboxes and how such activities are different in comparison to the activities of existing business incubation instruments.
  • Paper D investigated the social interactions within regulatory sandboxes.

Evidence-based findings

Altogether, these studies provide evidence-based findings to help scholars and practitioners understand the unique characteristics of regulatory sandboxes and the influence of social dynamics on financial technology start-ups and regulation.

Ultimately, this research can help entrepreneurs create and grow innovative financial services as well as support regulators and policymakers with their efforts to protect financial markets while ensuring a conducive environment for innovation and economic growth.

Disputation facts:

The trial lecture and the public defence will take place online, via the Zoom conferencing app (link below)

Professor Roy Mersland, Department of Management, School of Business and Law at the University of Agder, will chair the disputation.

The trial lecture Monday 28 June at kl 09:00 hours

Public defence Monday 28 June at 10:00 hours

 

Given topic for trial lecture«The Interplay between System Level and Actor Level in Entrepreneurial Ecosystems»

Thesis Title«A Phenomenon-driven Exploration of Regulatory Sandboxes in FinTech Entrepreneurial Ecosystems»

Search for the thesis in AURA - Agder University Research Archive, a digital archive of scientific papers, theses and dissertations from the academic staff and students at the University of Agder.

The thesis is available here:

https://uia.brage.unit.no/uia-xmlui/handle/11250/2758259

Paper I is excluded from the dissertation until it is published. A full copy of the thesis can be obtained from the UiA School of Business and Law before the disputation - contact Miriam Joakimsen.

 

The CandidateAhmad Sami Mahmoud Alaassar (1993, Dubai - United Arab Emirates) Norwegian citizen, Bsc in Mechatronics Engineering & Msc in Industrial Economics and Technology Management, University of Agder (2017). Master Thesis title: Use of Obeya Visual Room in Entrepreneurial Decision-making. Present position: Research Fellow at RMIT Europe.

Opponents:

First opponent: Professor Mats Magnusson, KTH, Sweden

Second opponent: Professor Faridah Djellal, Universitë de Lille 1, France

Professor Andreas Wald, University of Agder, is appointed as the administrator for the assessment commitee.

Supervisors in the doctoral work were Professor Tor Helge Aas, UiA and Professor Anne-Laure Mention, RMIT University

What to do as an audience member:

The disputation is open to the public, but to follow the trial lecture and the public defence, which is transmitted via the Zoom conferencing app, you have to register as an audience member.

We ask audience members to join the virtual trial lecture at 08:50 at the earliest and the public defense at 09:50 at the earliest. After these times, you can leave and rejoin the meeting at any time. Further, we ask audience members to turn off their microphone and camera and keep them turned off throughout the event. You do this at the bottom left of the image when in Zoom. We recommend you use ‘Speaker view’. You select that at the top right corner of the video window when in Zoom.

Opponent ex auditorio:

The chair invites members of the public to pose questions ex auditorio in the introduction to the public defense, with deadlines. It is a prerequisite that the opponent has read the thesis. Questions can be submitted to the chair Roy Mersland on e-mail roy.mersland@uia.no