IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/buecrs/v78y2026i1p40-53.html

Fintech, Technology Spillover and TFP of Commercial Banks: Evidence From China

Author

Listed:
  • Xin Du
  • Ya Bu
  • Qian Zhang
  • Hui Li

Abstract

This article derives the theoretical relationship between Fintech and total factor productivity (TFP). In the empirical test, it calculates the TFP of 110 commercial banks in China from 2013 to 2020 using the non‐oriented DEA‐Malmquist index model. It then estimates the effects of Fintech on TFP using a dynamic panel SYSGMM model. The results show that Fintech has a direct positive spillover effect on the TFP of commercial banks. A portion of the intermediary effect existing in the growth of online banking transactions can indirectly promote the improvement of TFP. The Fintech spillover is heterogeneous, varying with different shareholding backgrounds and economic regions. City commercial banks, joint‐stock commercial banks, and commercial banks in the eastern region have relatively strong technology absorption capacity. This article offers some suggestions for commercial banks to apply Fintech to improve their TFP.

Suggested Citation

  • Xin Du & Ya Bu & Qian Zhang & Hui Li, 2026. "Fintech, Technology Spillover and TFP of Commercial Banks: Evidence From China," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 78(1), pages 40-53, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:buecrs:v:78:y:2026:i:1:p:40-53
    DOI: 10.1111/boer.12504
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/boer.12504
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/boer.12504?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lihua Zuo & Jack Strauss & Lijuan Zuo, 2021. "The Digitalization Transformation of Commercial Banks and Its Impact on Sustainable Efficiency Improvements through Investment in Science and Technology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-17, October.
    2. Matousek, Roman & Tzeremes, Nickolaos G., 2016. "CEO compensation and bank efficiency: An application of conditional nonparametric frontiers," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 251(1), pages 264-273.
    3. Berger, Allen N, 2003. "The Economic Effects of Technological Progress: Evidence from the Banking Industry," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 35(2), pages 141-176, April.
    4. Ding, Na & Gu, Leilei & Peng, Yuchao, 2022. "Fintech, financial constraints and innovation: Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    5. Zvi Griliches, 1998. "Issues in Assessing the Contribution of Research and Development to Productivity Growth," NBER Chapters, in: R&D and Productivity: The Econometric Evidence, pages 17-45, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Duygun, Meryem & Sena, Vania & Shaban, Mohamed, 2016. "Trademarking activities and total factor productivity: Some evidence for British commercial banks using a metafrontier approach," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(S), pages 70-80.
    7. Sanaa Belasri & Mathieu Gomes & Guillaume Pijourlet, 2020. "Corporate social responsibility and bank efficiency," Post-Print hal-02434348, HAL.
    8. Belasri, Sanaa & Gomes, Mathieu & Pijourlet, Guillaume, 2020. "Corporate social responsibility and bank efficiency," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    9. Zhuming Chen & Yushan Li & Yawen Wu & Junjun Luo, 2017. "The transition from traditional banking to mobile internet finance: an organizational innovation perspective - a comparative study of Citibank and ICBC," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 3(1), pages 1-16, December.
    10. Sangita Dutta Gupta & Ajitava Raychaudhuri & Sushil Kumar Haldar, 2018. "Information technology and profitability: evidence from Indian banking sector," International Journal of Emerging Markets, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 13(5), pages 1070-1087, November.
    11. Escribano, Alvaro & Fosfuri, Andrea & Tribó, Josep A., 2009. "Managing external knowledge flows: The moderating role of absorptive capacity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 96-105, February.
    12. Lina Novickytė & Jolanta Droždz, 2018. "Measuring the Efficiency in the Lithuanian Banking Sector: The DEA Application," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-15, March.
    13. Hassan, M. Kabir & Isik, Ihsan & Mamun, Abdullah, 2010. "Trade liberalization and industry performance in Bangladesh," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 399-417, May.
    14. Deli Wang & Ke Peng & Kaiye Tang & Yewei Wu, 2022. "Does Fintech Development Enhance Corporate ESG Performance? Evidence from an Emerging Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-21, December.
    15. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Vaneet Bhatia & Sankarshan Basu & Subrata Kumar Mitra & Pradyumna Dash, 2018. "A review of bank efficiency and productivity," OPSEARCH, Springer;Operational Research Society of India, vol. 55(3), pages 557-600, November.
    2. Changzheng Zhang & Yuchao Wang & Yanbing Zhang, 2025. "Can digital transformation improve commercial banks’ performance?," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 50(4), pages 1341-1362, August.
    3. Clement Olalekan Olaniyi, 2023. "Do the same executive compensation strategies and policies fit all the firms in the banking industry? New empirical insights from the CEO pay–firm performance causal nexus," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(7), pages 4136-4160, October.
    4. Kevork, Ilias S. & Pange, Jenny & Tzeremes, Panayiotis & Tzeremes, Nickolaos G., 2017. "Estimating Malmquist productivity indexes using probabilistic directional distances: An application to the European banking sector," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 261(3), pages 1125-1140.
    5. Karl Aiginger & Michael Landesmann, 2002. "Competitive Economic Performance: The European View," WIFO Working Papers 179, WIFO.
    6. Dipanita Deb & Philippe Gillet & Philippe Bernard & Anupam De, 2025. "Examining the Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on the Financial Performance of Indian Companies," FIIB Business Review, , vol. 14(4), pages 521-539, August.
    7. Benjamin Montmartin & Nadine Massard, 2015. "Is Financial Support For Private R&D Always Justified? A Discussion Based On The Literature On Growth," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 479-505, July.
    8. Jos� Lobo & Charlotta Mellander & Kevin Stolarick & Deborah Strumsky, 2014. "The Inventive, the Educated and the Creative: How Do They Affect Metropolitan Productivity?," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(2), pages 155-177, February.
    9. Nieves Remo‐Diez & Cristina Mendaña‐Cuervo & Mar Arenas‐Parra, 2025. "Board Capital and CEO Power Configurations to Promote ESG Performance: The Case of the European Banking Industry," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(2), pages 2815-2834, March.
    10. Christian Schröder, 2014. "Dynamics in ICT cooperation networks in selected German ICT clusters," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 197-230, February.
    11. Carlino, Gerald & Kerr, William R., 2015. "Agglomeration and Innovation," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 349-404, Elsevier.
    12. Roberto Antonietti, 2011. "From creativity to innovativeness: micro evidence from Italy," Openloc Working Papers 1117, Public policies and local development.
    13. Rosamaria D'AMORE & Roberto IORIO & Giuseppe LUBRANO LAVADERA, 2017. "Exploring the Relationship Between Human Capital and Innovation at the Firm Level: A study on a Sample of European Firms," CELPE Discussion Papers 144, CELPE - CEnter for Labor and Political Economics, University of Salerno, Italy.
    14. Wu, Mingran & Zhao, Min & Wu, Zhaodan, 2019. "Evaluation of development level and economic contribution ratio of science and technology innovation in eastern China," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    15. Tappeiner, Gottfried & Hauser, Christoph & Walde, Janette, 2008. "Regional knowledge spillovers: Fact or artifact?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 861-874, June.
    16. repec:elg:eechap:14395_24 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Stavins, Robert & Jaffe, Adam & Newell, Richard, 2000. "Technological Change and the Environment," Working Paper Series rwp00-002, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    18. Hamzeh F. Assous, 2022. "Prediction of Banks Efficiency Using Feature Selection Method: Comparison between Selected Machine Learning Models," Complexity, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 2022(1).
    19. GUILLAIN, Rachel & HURIOT, Jean-Marie, 1999. "How information shapes cities: theory and facts," LATEC - Document de travail - Economie (1991-2003) 1999-05, LATEC, Laboratoire d'Analyse et des Techniques EConomiques, CNRS UMR 5118, Université de Bourgogne.
    20. Boyan Jovanovic, 1995. "Learning and Growth," NBER Working Papers 5383, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Hasan, Iftekhar & Li, Xiang & Takalo, Tuomas, 2023. "Technological innovation and the bank lending channel of monetary policy transmission," IWH Discussion Papers 14/2021, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH), revised 2023.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:buecrs:v:78:y:2026:i:1:p:40-53. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0307-3378 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.