As the financial world hurtles toward an increasingly digital future, the intersection of fintech and banking risk has emerged as a pivotal domain capturing the attention of academics, policymakers, and industry experts alike. Recent scholarly endeavors underscore a burgeoning interest in unpacking the multifaceted relationship between innovative financial technologies and the inherent risks that banks face. A comprehensive analysis of nearly three dozen key studies spanning from 2019 to 2023 reveals a landscape of rapid growth in research output, steeped in methodological diversity and theoretical complexity, forming an indispensable foundation for future inquiry.
At the heart of this evolving discourse lies an intricate taxonomy of fintech measures. Researchers dissect these metrics primarily at three analytical strata: the bank level, the national or country level, and the level of fintech-related keywords captured through advanced text mining techniques. Within banks themselves, the pervasive adoption of financial innovations—including the deployment of online channels and digital services—serves as a critical indicator of fintech integration. Simultaneously, nation-wide indices such as the digital finance index and the commercial bank digital transformation index offer broad-brush assessments of how financial ecosystems are structurally adapting to technological advances.
The use of keyword analysis represents a powerful and novel approach to measuring fintech, leveraging the frequency and context of terms within social media and professional documents. This linguistic lens opens new vistas for understanding how fintech narratives evolve and impact broader banking risk paradigms. The symbiotic relationship between these levels of measurement highlights how fintech permeates various layers of the financial system—from concrete bank operations to abstract societal perceptions—ushering in both opportunities and vulnerabilities.
Bank risk itself is dissected into four distinct thematic categories: insolvency risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, and market risk, each reflecting unique challenges and operational concerns. Insolvency risk is often quantified through sophisticated metrics such as the Z score, economic capital ratios, and risk-weighted asset ratios, which collectively assess a bank’s ability to absorb losses and maintain solvency under stress scenarios. Credit risk, a perennial concern in banking, is gauged through the loan loss reserve ratio and nonperforming loan ratio, encapsulating the quality and performance of lending portfolios.
Liquidity risk requires monitoring ratios like the liquidity coverage ratio and the loan-to-deposit ratio, measuring a bank’s capacity to meet short-term obligations without incurring significant losses. Market risk, embodying exposure to fluctuating asset prices and interest rates, is modeled through statistical tools such as value at risk (VaR) and expected shortfall, enabling banks to quantify potential maximum losses over defined time horizons. These detailed measures underscore the complexity and interconnectivity of risks that modern banks must navigate in the fintech era.
Significantly, financial innovation—the introduction of new technologies, platforms, and processes—emerges as a recurrent and dominant factor at the bank level. This suggests a transformative trend where technology not only revolutionizes product offerings but fundamentally reshapes risk profiles and management strategies. At the country level, the commercial bank digital transformation index joins forces with the digital finance index to track how broader economic and regulatory environments influence fintech adoption and its risk implications.
Text mining and keyword studies highlight social media platforms as crucial spaces where fintech’s evolution is both shaped and observed. These digital arenas act as fertile ground for sentiment analysis, risk signaling, and early detection of emerging trends, thereby granting researchers and regulators a dynamic window into the fintech ecosystem’s pulse. The integration of such interdisciplinary techniques, combining finance, technology, and data science, epitomizes a methodological leap forward enabling more granular and timely insights.
For policymakers, these findings carry immense practical weight. The fast-paced convergence of banks and fintech firms calls for agile, informed, and forward-looking regulatory frameworks that can safeguard financial stability while fostering innovation. Text mining approaches empower regulatory bodies to deploy artificial intelligence-based crawlers for real-time monitoring of market dynamics and risk vectors. This technological leverage could prove revolutionary in identifying sources of systemic vulnerabilities, enhancing supervisory capacities, and calibrating interventions to preempt crises.
Yet, the study also recognizes critical lacunae. A notable gap lies in the limited incorporation of individual-level factors influencing fintech adoption. Consumer behaviors such as financial literacy, trust in digital platforms, risk tolerance, and access to technology strongly color the success and risk exposure of fintech innovations but remain inadequately addressed. Future research that integrates these personal determinants promises a more holistic understanding of how fintech percolates through the banking sector and society.
Moreover, the research landscape exhibits considerable geographical concentration, with many interdisciplinary studies clustered in China. This concentration is partly due to China’s unique information ecosystems, including dominant search engines like Baidu and robust professional news databases. Expanding the scope of interdisciplinary research beyond single-country confines toward encompassing cross-national comparative analyses holds promise for uncovering universal patterns and contextual nuances in fintech-risk relationships.
Theoretical frameworks employed in previous studies reveal a patchwork of approaches, with some entirely omitting explicit theoretical underpinnings, while others leverage single or multi-theoretical lenses. Experts recommend a more deliberate integration of multi-theoretical frameworks that can accommodate the complexity and multifaceted nature of fintech and banking risk. Such frameworks will enable researchers to uncover deeper insights, better explain observed phenomena, and develop robust predictive models.
The regulatory implications extend beyond national borders, hinting at the necessity for enhanced international collaboration. Given fintech’s inherently transnational character and its implications for financial crime such as money laundering, establishing global financial prevention systems and harmonizing anti-money laundering initiatives emerge as strategic imperatives. Only through coordinated efforts can the international community build resilience against systemic shocks and safeguard the integrity of the global financial system.
On a broader scale, the study’s insights promise to influence the future architecture of financial markets. By fortifying regulatory oversight, fostering responsible innovation, and advancing interdisciplinary collaboration, stakeholders can collectively aim to stabilize markets, protect consumers, and stimulate sustainable economic development. The ultimate goal transcends risk management alone—it aspires to nurture trust, optimism, and resilience in an age of relentless technological disruption.
This systematic survey of literature thus represents a watershed moment, consolidating current knowledge and charting pathways forward. It illuminates the diverse strategies, measurement tools, and conceptual frameworks employed to dissect fintech’s complex interplay with banking risk. By synthesizing these strands, the study equips scholars, practitioners, and regulators with a comprehensive compass for navigating the intricate future of finance.
In conclusion, as fintech continues to redefine the banking landscape, understanding the entangled risks it introduces is paramount. This evolving dynamic demands rigorous theoretical models, wider geographic inquiry, robust interdisciplinary methods, and keen attention to consumer-level factors. Policymakers must harness emerging technologies and foster international collaboration to construct a regulatory environment that is both protective and enabling. Only through such concerted efforts can the financial system achieve a balance that embraces innovation while safeguarding stability, thereby delivering enduring benefits to economies worldwide.
Subject of Research: The exploration of fintech’s impact on banking risk through a systematic review of academic literature between 2019 and 2023, focusing on measurement models, thematic risk categories, and policy implications.
Article Title: Navigating fintech and banking risks: insights from a systematic literature review.
Article References:
Liu, Y., Abdul Rahman, A., Imna Mohd Amin, S. et al. Navigating fintech and banking risks: insights from a systematic literature review. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 12, 717 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-05055-9
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