Joy Malala

Assistant Professor

Multicultural Scholars Programme (MSP) Co-Coordinator
UG Wellbeing Tutor (Intermediate Year)

Financial Inclusion; FinTech Regulation; Digital Platforms; Consumer Protection Law; Financial Regulation

School of Law
S2.27, Social Sciences Building
University of Warwick
Coventry CV4 7AL
United Kingdom

joy.malala@warwick.ac.uk
024 761 51527

Scholarship

Articles

Malala J, 'Consumer Law in Kenya' (2018) 41(4) Journal of Consumer Policy 355–371.

Blogs

Malala J, 'Dispensing Drugs and the Appification of Everyday ‘Health’ in Kenya’ Social and Legal Studies Association Blog

Natile S and Malala J, 'Decolonising for Whom? Recentring Grassroots Struggles and Voices in the Decolonising Fintech Narrative' Developing Economics Blog.

Chapters

Malala J, ‘Digital Identity Systems in the Context of Money Laundering: Reflections on Kenya’ in Unintended Consequences of the FATF's Standards on Developing Countries". Edward Elgar, ( 2025)

Nkechikwu Azinge-Egbiri, Malala J, Donato Masciandaro, " Do Things Fall Apart? (Black)listing and Its Implications for Developing Countries" in Nkechikwu Valerie Azinge-Egbiri, Nicholas Ryder, and Eseoghene Esoimeme (eds),Global Anti-Money Laundering Regulation: Developing Countries Compliance Challenges (Routledge 2024)

Malala J, and F. Adeyemo, 'Rethinking Cryptoregulation: An Examination into the Current Effectiveness of the UK Regulatory Framework' in “Commercial Banking in Transition” (Palgrave Macmillan 2024).

Malala J, 'Deposit Protection Schemes in Effective Bank Resolution Regimes: Kenya’s Experience' in “Bank Insolvencies in Developing Economies” (Routledge 2022).

Micik M and Malala J, 'The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Future of Work' in Argandoña A, Malala J, and Peatfield R (eds), “The Home in The Digital Age” (Taylor & Francis 2021).

Monographs

Malala J, ‘Law and Regulation of Mobile Payment Systems’ (Taylor & Francis 2017).

Reviewed in Geva B, 'Financial Law and Technology: Book Reviews on Mobile Payments and Digital Innovation' (2020) Articles & Book Chapters 2794.

Edited Books

Argandoña A, Malala J, and Peatfield R (eds), ‘The Home in The Digital Age’ (Taylor & Francis 2021).

Bio

Joy obtained her PhD from the University of Warwick. Prior to this she completed her LLB(Hons) and LLM in International Banking and Financial Regulation at the University of Leeds. Between 2018-2022 she worked at Aston University, Birmingham and prior to that Strathmore University in Nairobi Kenya. She is now an Assistant Professor in the School of Law. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She is also an Executive Board member of the Global South Dialogue on Economic Crimes.

Teaching Projects

Funded Projects

1. ESRC Impact Accelerator Fund £27709): Principal Investigator- FATF Greylisting: Implications and Lessons from a Global South Perspective: Nigeria as a Case Study (2023-2024)

2. Warwick Research Development Fund £15,405: Principal Investigator-Between Life and Debt: Between Life and Debt: Minding the Dignity and Equity gap inthe UK Consumer Credit Market.

3. Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics Seed corn Funding-£3160.80, Principal Investigator: Mapping The ‘Success Narrative’ Of M-Pesa, In Assessing the Impact of Financial Inclusion in Kenya (2021)

4. Aston Internal Research Grant £400 to host the Inaugural, Global South Dialogue on Economic Crime Conference. (2021)

5. Member of Successful Grant Applications as Co-Investigator on Small Project and Events Fund by the Society of Legal Scholars to host the following:

- Webinar on April 6^thand 7^th2022 ‘Errors in Transplantation and Unintended Consequences for Developed Countries’

Highlighted

Between Life and Debt: Minding the Dignity Gap in the UK Consumer Credit Market (PI)

This interdisciplinary research project investigates the temporal dynamics of indebtedness which leads many people to live invisible lives. Specifically, it asks in what ways is the burden of debt experienced amongst ethnic minorities in the UK’s consumer credit market by offering a qualitative analysis of their lived experiences. Through data visualisation, the project aims to examine the debt management and relief strategies employed by making visible the voices and narratives of those impacted by debt. It will consider how these communities reject, resist and negotiate the debts they undertake.

Fusing a legal and economic analysis, the impact of this project is to make a case for dignity within financial services that challenges the normative framing of problem debt. This research is topical and timely as it examines the consequences of the ‘cost of living crisis’ and the past decade of austerity that has pushed many within the UK to the margins.

I will be working with Dr Samuel Obeng from the Department of Economics and Dr Beatrice Gobbo from the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies on this project.

Research Supervision Impact

ESRC-IAA 2023-2025 : FATF Greylisting : Implications and Learnings from a Global South Perspective: Nigeria as a Case Study

In February 2023, Nigeria was greylisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) standard setter. The project’s aims are to provide critical insights into the implications of Nigeria’s greylisting and enhance the ability of key stakeholders to implement the FATF’s AML/CFT recommendations.