Review Context:

• As part of my thesis, I conducted a comprehensive review of Science and Technology Studies (STS) and Social Sciences research on the fintech sector. I argued that the fintech sector is worthy of study due to its growth, scale, and increasing influence on one of the most significant global sectors - financial services.
• While a fast-growing body of broadly positive industry-practitioner literature has kept pace with the growth of the fintech sector, I found that academic research and critical engagement on the sector has lagged behind.
• From 2015+, STS scholars have begun to mobilise to address research gaps on fintech and a series of research themes and novel critiques of the sector have emerged. As with other complex sociotechnical phenomena, STS scholars have aimed to open the ‘black-box’ of fintech to return its social complexities and politics back into analytical view.
• These research themes and findings are relevant to policymakers tasked with balancing financial services growth objectives with social risks and responsibilities.

Emerging Themes in Fintech Research:

• The Sociotechnical Imaginary of Fintech: STS researchers have studied the ‘imaginaries’ of the fintech sector, imaginaries are the collectively held, normative visions of the future that are powerful in their ability to mobilise resources in the present. Fintech imaginaries are found to be characterised by narratives of market disruption and techno-solutionism - a belief that all problems have technical fixes (which may be overly simplistic when addressing complex, structural barriers to issues such as financial inclusion).
• Efficiency vs. Social Responsibility: STS scholars have argued that fintech imaginaries often prioritise logics of efficiency during product development - for example, prioritising a reduction in transaction costs over all other considerations. It has been proposed that this may lead to an lack of attention being paid to the broader social costs and responsibilities of certain fintech innovations.
• The Political Economy of Fintech Platforms: STS scholars have drawn comparisons between fintech infrastructures and platform capitalism business models, raising questions about market power and consolidation, data privacy, and the potential for regulatory capture as the fintech sector continues to grow.
• The "Everyday" Integration: Within this research theme, STS scholars have examined how the fintech sector has reconfigured daily life. For example, mobile apps have transitioned retail banking into a daily practice of financial companionship compared to something which was historically centred around scheduled periodic appointments and major life events.
• Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI): Recalling lessons from the 2008 Great Financial Crisis, STS research has advocated for the adoption of RRI frameworks across the financial services sector to manage the inherent risks of new financial technologies and prioritise social welfare alongside maxims of efficiency and growth.

Policy Insights:

• STS and Social Sciences research reiterates that the growth and evolution of the fintech sector is not a predetermined path, but rather a socially constructed process that has the potential to be shaped in socially desirable directions through policy interventions.
• The fintech sector has brought new innovation, growth, and improved outcomes for many stakeholders in the financial services sector, however, as STS research has begun to show these positive dynamics must be balanced by awareness and actions to manage innovation risks and long-term social impacts.

To discuss this topic further or to read the literature review on STS and Social Sciences Research on the Fintech Sector in full*,* please contact me via Linkedin.