International Monetary Fund, IMF, Managing Director, Christine Lagarde has warned that the increasing presence of technology giants using big data and artificial intelligence could cause a significant disruption to the world’s financial system.

Speaking at a financial technology symposium on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in Japan, she said while such innovation may help modernise financial markets, they could make the financial system vulnerable thereby putting payment and settlement systems under the control of a handful of technology giants.

The rapid development of financial technology has increased access to cheap payment and settlement systems for low-income households in emerging countries where traditional banking networks are scarce.

But it has raised concern about the increasing dominance of big technology firms in mobile payments, which could force global policymakers to rethink the way they regulate the banking system and ensure financial settlements are executed safely.