Bank-Transaction Data in Academic Research
Informing Public Policy

Convened by

Arna Olafsson
Senior Fellow 2025–2026

Details

Venue & accessibility info: Meridian Hall, Collegium Helveticum

This is a public event. Participation is free of charge and registration is not required.

The panel is followed by a small reception.

Financial institutions hold some of the richest data ever created on household and firm behavior—data that can reveal how people and businesses make financial decisions, take risks, invest, and respond to economic shocks. This granular, real-world information is key to answering today's most pressing questions about financial stability, inequality, digital finance, and monetary policy.

Internationally, leading financial institutions are increasingly opening their data and infrastructure to academic researchers, combining methodological rigor with institutional knowledge to produce analysis that serves both public and business interests. These collaborations have generated top publications on topics ranging from monetary policy transmission to household financial decision-making.

This panel examines what makes such partnerships work in practice. Featuring academic researchers with direct experience collaborating with major financial institutions, it will explore what these partnerships can achieve for both academia and industry, and what it takes to make them work — from data access and governance to incentives and research independence — and what effective models might look like for Switzerland.

Program