## Prometheus Unbound: What Makes Fintech Grow?

_IMF Working Papers, February 21, 2025_

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [Prometheus Unbound: What Makes Fintech Grow?](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2025/02/21/prometheus-unbound-what-makes-fintech-grow-562159)

## Other formats

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## Bibliographic details
- Authors: Serhan Cevik
- Published: February 21, 2025
- Series: IMF Working Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798229001892.001

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### Summary
- Research question: What makes fintech grow and why do some countries have more financial innovation than others?
- Scope: Comprehensive dataset covering a diverse panel of 98 countries over the period 2012–2020.
- Approach: Empirical analysis to ascertain economic, demographic, technological, and institutional factors that enable fintech development.
- Core conclusion: Policies and structural reforms can help promote financial innovation and cultivate fintech ventures—particularly by strengthening technological and institutional infrastructures and reducing cybersecurity threats.

### Major empirical findings
- The emergence and spread of fintech are associated with multiple factor categories:
  - Economic factors
  - Demographic factors
  - Technological factors
  - Institutional factors
- The magnitude and statistical significance of these factors vary according to:
  - The type of fintech instrument
  - The level of economic development (advanced economies vs. developing countries)

### Implications by fintech type and development level
- Heterogeneity in drivers:
  - Different fintech instruments respond differently to the identified economic, demographic, technological, and institutional factors.
  - Advanced economies and developing countries exhibit different magnitudes and statistical significance for these drivers.

### Policy recommendations and actionable insights
- Strengthen technological infrastructure to support fintech development.
- Reinforce institutional infrastructure to foster financial innovation.
- Reduce cybersecurity threats to enable the growth and spread of fintech ventures.
- Implement policies and structural reforms tailored to country-specific development levels and fintech instrument types.

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## Content in this bundle

- **Working Paper**
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_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2025/02/21/prometheus-unbound-what-makes-fintech-grow-562159_