Theoretical Basis of Determining the Essence of Financial Innovations and the Directed Application of Financial Engineering

The article examines financial innovations in a historical aspect, the relationship between financial innovations and financial engineering, the needs of financial market participants as a factor in the development of activities to create new financial instruments and technologies. The classification of financial innovations is given, the main driving factors of their creation are determined: mega-level (global trends, for example, climate change, globalization), macro-level (national economic policy, regulatory environment), and micro-level (internal policy of companies, technological opportunities). It is concluded that the accumulation of such innovations at a certain stage leads to significant qualitative changes, which, in turn, causes the emergence of «financial engineering». And with the development of financial engineering, the understanding of its essence as a separate type of activity for the development and implementation of innovations evolved.