Study on risks and opportunities of digitalisation for financial inclusion. The perspective of vulnerable users in Estonia, Italy and UK with a focus on groups covered by the European Accessibility Act

The digitalization of financial services presents an unprecedented opportunity to increase the financial autonomy of millions of vulnerable people across the European Union. Implemented carefully, with reference to their needs, digitalization can benefit vulnerable groups, society as a whole, and - not least - the financial services organizations, which stand to gain from attracting more customers. But vulnerable people are not currently benefiting from this digitalization as best practise design and specifications are not always followed. There appears to be a lack of commitment on behalf of the financial institutions to use this opportunity to benefit the most vulnerable in society. This report aims to describe how digitalization, in the form of online banking services, is affecting end-users in vulnerable groups. It was commissioned by the European Commission for the Financial Service User Group (FSUG) and examines the state of financial inclusion of vulnerable people in the United Kingdom, Estonia and Italy. The report deals with view of the end-users, in particular it presents detailed information from the point of view of people with disabilities given the current context of the European Accessibility Act. Relevant responses were received from a range of end-users and organisations of end-users. In particular detailed comments were received from end-users and organisations of people with a sensory impairment. The report focuses on the provision made by the financial sector for accessibility to services, in particular through ticket machines, Point of Sale machines (PoS terminals), Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and personal devices such as mobile phones. The study involved extensive qualitative research with people at risk of digital exclusion, due to the introduction of digital financial systems. We also spoke to representatives of organizations which act on behalf of vulnerable groups. The study also made use of quantitative secondary statistics from existing studies on technology and services. The results present a mixed picture of the current situation to financial inclusion. The results show that many of the respondents (both individual users and representative organisations) reported that some systems were useable but added that if a particular user could not use them a third party would act on their behalf. The use of carers and other intermediaries is problematic as it can both remove the autonomy of the end-user and facilitate financial crime against them. Meanwhile many end-users expressed fear of digital financial systems when they were not accessible and when they did not provide information in the form that the end-user could understand. On a positive side, the report found some reassuring information on how digital financial systems could enable vulnerable end-users to use and access their money in a time and place that was suitable for them. This was particularly true for deaf or hearing-impaired ATM users. The report also highlights that despite there being legislation in all three countries it is adopted in very different ways. This includes access to information provided by government departments' online services and by banking service providers. The use of best practise approaches to assist vulnerable people was found to not be used consistently resulting in different levels of accessibility in all three the countries for different users. The research identified a number of positive examples of alternative practise that enabled safe and practical access to digital financial systems. But the main findings were that there is a lack of knowledge about accessible systems and processes among financial services institutions together with a lack of knowledge of the demand for these systems from users. Knowledge-sharing among institutions and countries could be of great value here to assist in inclusion in financial digital services. Results of the findings suggest that there is further work that can be done in this area for financial inclusion of vulnerable people. The comparison of the three countries in the study found that whilst technology can assist these people, it is often used by the financial sector to provide efficiency in business processes, often at the cost of access to those that are vulnerable. The following recommendations are based on the research findings carried out in the study. 1 The financial sector should consider the impact of change, innovation in technology and access to technology when providing: a. New services b. Amending services c. Curtailing services due to the adoption of technological solutions and efficiency driving measures d. Training for employees administering the services e. The sector should anticipate vulnerable people’s requirements for assistance, training and accessibility. Investment in new innovation should not be at the expense of exclusion of any sector of the population. The advancements in financial services and increasing use of alternate financial systems should be recognised by the regulated sector and provisions be made to assist all users and vulnerable users. This includes the training of employees to anticipate the requirements and difficulties that vulnerable persons may experience. Protection of vulnerable peoples should be at the forefront of those in the financial sector and the consideration of increasing lifespan of people globally means that vulnerability changes over a lifespan. Therefore, a concerted effort should be made for users that are currently vulnerable, those that may become vulnerable by ensuring security measures are safe but do not exclude this user group. This may be achieved developing technology, improving usability methods, recognition and secure measures for third party carer givers. 2 Financial service providers should ensure that technology and services are accessible (online and in person), that they meet local and EU accessibility legislation and best practise criteria and that they adopt the recommendations of organisations such as the W3C. This would ensure all users would experience similar security and autonomy when accessing services. 3 Interest groups that represent vulnerable persons should consider more effective strategies to represent the concerns of the vulnerable at national levels in Estonia and Italy, whereas such groups in the UK have more direct involvement with providers of financial services. Such concerted co-ordination will increase the recognition of how financial service providers should meet their obligation of inclusivity and accessibility. 4 Information on alternative ways of accessing services including the use of talking ATMs should be published by both the financial institutions and local and regional support groups to enable end-users to make informed decisions about their use of digital financial services. 5 Recognition must be given to the use of care givers acting as conduits to financial services. Secure measures must be designed to protect vulnerable persons, care givers and the financial service providers from a. Prospect of financial crime b. Risk in using carers to terms and conditions of these providers Furthermore, consideration needs to be given as to the transparent response mechanisms to be provided and action to be taken if financial crime takes place, that takes into account vulnerabilities of the user

Allosteric Activation of the Par-6 PDZ Via a Partial Unfolding Transition

Proteins exist in a delicate balance between the native and unfolded states, where thermodynamic stability may be sacrificed to attain the flexibility required for efficient catalysis, binding, or allosteric control. Partition-defective 6 (Par-6) regulates the Par polarity complex by transmitting a GTPase signal through the Cdc42/Rac interaction binding PSD-95/Dlg/ZO-1 (CRIB-PDZ) module that alters PDZ ligand binding. Allosteric activation of the PDZ is achieved by local rearrangement of the L164 and K165 side chains to stabilize the interdomain CRIB:PDZ interface and reposition a conserved element of the ligand binding pocket. However, microsecond to millisecond dynamics measurements revealed that L164/K165 exchange requires a larger rearrangement than expected. The margin of thermodynamic stability for the PDZ domain is modest (∼3 kcal/mol) and further reduced by transient interactions with the disordered CRIB domain. Measurements of local structural stability revealed that tertiary contacts within the PDZ are disrupted by a partial unfolding transition that enables interconversion of the L/K switch. The unexpected participation of partial PDZ unfolding in the allosteric mechanism of Par-6 suggests that native-state unfolding may be essential for the function of other marginally stable proteins

Semiclassical Theory of Quantum Chaotic Transport: Phase-Space Splitting, Coherent Backscattering and Weak Localization

We investigate transport properties of quantized chaotic systems in the short wavelength limit. We focus on non-coherent quantities such as the Drude conductance, its sample-to-sample fluctuations, shot-noise and the transmission spectrum, as well as coherent effects such as weak localization. We show how these properties are influenced by the emergence of the Ehrenfest time scale \tE. Expressed in an optimal phase-space basis, the scattering matrix acquires a block-diagonal form as \tE increases, reflecting the splitting of the system into two cavities in parallel, a classical deterministic cavity (with all transmission eigenvalues either 0 or 1) and a quantum mechanical stochastic cavity. This results in the suppression of the Fano factor for shot-noise and the deviation of sample-to-sample conductance fluctuations from their universal value. We further present a semiclassical theory for weak localization which captures non-ergodic phase-space structures and preserves the unitarity of the theory. Contrarily to our previous claim [Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 116801 (2005)], we find that the leading off-diagonal contribution to the conductance leads to the exponential suppression of the coherent backscattering peak and of weak localization at finite \tE. This latter finding is substantiated by numerical magnetoconductance calculations.Comment: Typos in central eqns corrected (this paper supersedes cond-mat/0509186) 20page

Comparative study of design: application to Engineering Design

A recent exploratory study examines design processes across domains and compares them. This is achieved through a series of interdisciplinary, participative workshops. A systematic framework is used to collect data from expert witnesses who are practising designers across domains from engineering through architecture to product design and fashion, including film production, pharmaceutical drugs, food, packaging, graphics and multimedia and software. Similarities and differences across domains are described which indicate the types of comparative analysis we have been able to do from our data. The paper goes further and speculates on possible lessons for selected areas of engineering design which can be drawn from comparison with processes in other domains. As such this comparative design study offers the potential for improving engineering design processes. More generally it is a first step in creating a discipline of comparative design which aims to provide a new rich picture of design processes

Herschel Observations of a Newly Discovered UX Ori Star in the Large Magellanic Cloud

The LMC star, SSTISAGE1C J050756.44-703453.9, was first noticed during a survey of EROS-2 lightcurves for stars with large irregular brightness variations typical of the R Coronae Borealis (RCB) class. However, the visible spectrum showing emission lines including the Balmer and Paschen series as well as many Fe II lines is emphatically not that of an RCB star. This star has all of the characteristics of a typical UX Ori star. It has a spectral type of approximately A2 and has excited an H II region in its vicinity. However, if it is an LMC member, then it is very luminous for a Herbig Ae/Be star. It shows irregular drops in brightness of up to 2 mag, and displays the reddening and "blueing" typical of this class of stars. Its spectrum, showing a combination of emission and absorption lines, is typical of a UX Ori star that is in a decline caused by obscuration from the circumstellar dust. SSTISAGE1C J050756.44-703453.9 has a strong IR excess and significant emission is present out to 500 micron. Monte Carlo radiative transfer modeling of the SED requires that SSTISAGE1C J050756.44-703453.9 has both a dusty disk as well as a large extended diffuse envelope to fit both the mid- and far-IR dust emission. This star is a new member of the UX Ori subclass of the Herbig Ae/Be stars and only the second such star to be discovered in the LMC.Comment: ApJ, in press. 9 pages, 5 figure

The origin of mid-infrared emission in massive young stellar objects: multi-baseline VLTI observations of W33A

The circumstellar structure on 100 AU scales of the massive young stellar object W33A is probed using the VLTI and the MIDI instrument. N-band visibilities on 4 baselines are presented which are inconsistent with a spherically symmetric geometry. The visibility spectra and SED are simultaneously compared to 2D axi-symmetric dust radiative transfer models with a geometry including a rotationally flattened envelope and outflow cavities. We assume an O7.5 ZAMS star as the central source, consistent with the observed bolometric luminosity. The observations are also compared to models with and without (dusty and gaseous) accretion disks. A satisfactory model is constructed which reproduces the visibility spectra for each (u,v) point. It fits the silicate absorption, the mid-IR slope, the far-infrared peak, and the (sub)mm of the SED. It produces a 350 micron morphology consistent with observations. The 10 micron emission on 100 AU scales is dominated by the irradiated walls of the cavity sculpted by the outflow. The visibilities rule out the presence of dust disks with total (gas and dust) masses more than 0.01 Msun. However, optically thick accretion disks, interior to the dust sublimation radius, are allowed to accrete at rates equalling the envelope's mass infall rate (up to 10^(-3) Msun/yr) without substantially affecting the visibilities due to the extinction by the extremely massive envelope of W33A.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&