Fintech framing financial ecologies: Conceptual and policy-related implications

Abstract

PURPOSE: Financial ecologies (FEs) are place-based governance forms of financial services provision, currently undergoing a transformation through financial technologies (Fintech). The idea of FEs is socially and economically relevant, since they reach toward underserved or excluded market segments and intermediate for territorial development across industries and sectors of private and public entities. At the same time, the FE remains at the early stage of conceptualization and empirical corroborations, in particular regarding how Fintech affects its core elements and related policy implications. In response to the theoretical and practical relevance, and early stage of theorizing the recent Fintech developments in the FE, this article aims to identify how Fintech frame FEs and to propose the resulting conceptual and policy-related implications. METHODOLOGY: To frame the FE concept, we used the methodological lens of construct clarity principles and the concept reconstruction. The research method includes a systematic literature review of 48 publications selected from Scopus and WoS databases. FINDINGS: We have analyzed the concept of FE according to its major elements and related concepts. The FE remains at the intersection of other outcome-oriented ecosystems that focus on territories, but it can also be treated as an independent phenomenon and research object. The idea of FE has been shaped by Fintech-driven developments in all its constituent elements with conceptual and policy consequences formulated as a set of propositions. IMPLICATIONS: The findings are relevant for future theory development and empirical corroborations of the FE. They can also enhance the integration of research communities of practice to accumulate knowledge. Despite standardization brought about by technological innovations, the availability, usefulness, and effects of financial ecosystems depend on the multiscalar spatial contexts that differ in socio-economic and institutional dimensions. ORIGINALITY AND VALUE: First, the article frames the understanding of FE as financial services governance based on technological advancements and focused on territorial projects and communities. Second, the FE concept was clarified according to major properties and relationships to other adjacent ideas of spatial networking for socioeconomic development. Third, propositions and research areas were formulated for further investigations.