FinTech adoption and bank risk-taking: evidence from China

Abstract

We examine the impact of FinTech adoption on bank risk-taking. Applying the instrumental variable panel quantile regression (IV-QRPD) approach to the data of 160 Chinese commercial banks over the period of 2011–2020, we provide fresh evidence on the quantile-varying relation between FinTech adoption and bank risk-taking. We show that FinTech adoption increases bank risk-taking in low and middle quantiles but reduces bank risk-taking in high quantiles. We further find that this quantile-varying impact works through the efficiency-enhancing, gamble for resurrection, and credit expansion channels.