Financial Innovation in Switzerland: Innovative Strategies in Ticino´s Banks

Abstract

The present study, upon trying to explain the nature of innovation in the banking sector, also aims at verifying if banks are in fact as innovative as statistics based on CIS (Community Innovation Survey) in several European countries suggest (Napoli, 2008b). Furthermore, the present work also contributes to the theoretical debate. In fact, a new view is proposed in order to assess innovativeness of banks, which bases on their propensity to finance innovative projects. With their allocating decisions, financial intermediaries act as a multiplicator of innovative capacity and hence overtake a leading role in driving innovative forces.