Abstract
In this report, I review interdisciplinary research on the actual and potential consequences of FinTech, with emphasis on ideas from and for geographers, and three areas: financial sector and centres, financial regulation and stability, and financial inclusion and governance. I show that the consequences of FinTech are full of controversies, which are part of broader, long-standing debates on the role of finance in economy and society, and need to be approached from geographical perspectives. The intense fusion of fin and tech, arguably accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, complicates and elevates these controversies to a new level.
Highlights
I defined FinTech as a set of innovations and an economic sector that focus on the application of recently developed digital technologies to financial services, which arose around the time of the global financial crisis of 2007–8 (Wojcik, 2020)
Given the young age of FinTech, and that it is yet to be tested over a full economic cycle (Claessens et al, 2018), it is difficult to assess the impacts on its users, not to mention the broader economy and society
As the debate on financial inclusion hinges on the views on the relationship between finance and development, more geographical research is necessary on the finance, growth and inequality nexus at all scales and in various contexts to overcome the methodological nationalism of the economic literature on the topic (Ioannou and Wojcik, 2020)
Summary
I defined FinTech as a set of innovations and an economic sector that focus on the application of recently developed digital technologies to financial services, which arose around the time of the global financial crisis of 2007–8 (Wojcik, 2020). Given the young age of FinTech, and that it is yet to be tested over a full economic cycle (Claessens et al, 2018), it is difficult to assess the impacts on its users, not to mention the broader economy and society. I review this body of research, with emphasis on ideas from and for geographers. I begin with impacts on the financial sector and centres, discuss financial regulation and stability, and consider financial inclusion and governance. I reflect on FinTech in the context of COVID-19, and future research directions
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