Analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on financial technology (FinTech), interest rate liberalization (IRL) and commercial banks’ risk-taking: Chinese empirical evidence

Abstract

ABSTRACT Financial Technology (FinTech), which drove changes in the financial business landscape during COVID-19 May 2001also contribute to Interest Rate Liberalization ( IRL ) and increase risk-taking by commercial banks. Therefore, it is important to analyse the impact of FinTech and IRL on risk-taking behaviour, and to examine whether the development of FinTech will hinder IRL. To analyse the complex relationship between FinTech and commercial banks under the COVID-19 lockdown, reduce the possibility of systemic risk outbreak in the banking industry, based on the data of 34 commercial banks in China from 2008 to 2022, this paper empirically tests the impact of FinTech and IRL on risk-taking of commercial bank under the COVID-19 lockdown. Under the impact of the COVID-19, IRL has pushed up the risk of commercial banks, which is not conducive to the stability of the asset-liability structure of commercial banks. Second, there is a U -shaped relationship between FinTech and risk-taking, that is, the risk-taking level is reduced at the beginning of the development of FinTech, and then increased. Third, under the impact of COVID-19, the development of FinTech has accelerated the process of IRL , intensified the price competition of commercial banks, and further pushed up the risk-taking levels.