What do you believe is the single most important factor driving up the cost of living in Nigeria?

Financial services, like many institutions, are losing Americans' trust. That's a problem. Economies depend on a healthy financial system, as became painfully evident during the 2008 financial crisis, and that system operates largely on trust—confidence that people can access the money in their bank accounts, that their investment accounts are secure, and that their trades will be filled at quoted market prices, to name just a few everyday financial interactions.

But building confidence in financial services is tricky. Financial systems are technical and complex and therefore somewhat opaque, and that opacity erodes trust. Financial technology from online trading and blockchain to mobile payments and banking has the potential to make financial services more transparent and trustworthy, but it's not yet clear if, or to what extent, those innovations are making a difference.

Take blockchain, for example. Its proponents argue that trust isn't necessary because a decentralized network of computers verifies and collectively stores transactions, making the record tamper-proof. Even so, I suspect few people understand how blockchain works, or how to mine or store digital coins.

That may explain why many investors own cryptocurrencies through financial intermediaries such as crypto exchanges and banks, or more recently, exchange-traded funds, all of which require no less trust than traditional financial services.

Now add artificial intelligence to the mix. AI could conceivably make financial services more accessible but also less transparent.

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