The impact of fintech startups on financial institutions’ performance and default risk

Abstract

We study the impact fintech startups have on the performance and the default risk of traditional financial institutions. We find a positive relationship between fintech startup formations and incumbent institutions’ performance for the period from 2005 to 2018 and a large sample of financial institutions from 87 countries. We further analyze the link between fintech startup formations and the default risk of traditional financial institutions. Fintech startup formations decreases stock return volatility of incumbent institutions and decreases the systemic risk exposure of financial institutions. Our findings indicate that the development of fintech startups should be monitored very closely by legislators and financial supervisory authorities, because fintechs not only have a positive effect on the financial sector’s performance, but can also improve financial stability relative to the status quo.