Jones & Maynard: Unfulfilled Promises Of The FinTech Revolution

Lindsay Sain Jones (Georgia-Terry Business School; Google Scholar) & Goldburn Maynard Jr. (Indiana-Kelley Business School; Google Scholar), Unfulfilled Promises of the FinTech Revolution, 111 Cal. L. Rev. ___ (2023):

Racial wealth inequality is complex. While not entirely to blame, lack of access to credit and financial services, lower rates of return, and discrimination have contributed to this persistent gap. Some are hopeful that financial technology (fintech) can address these underlying issues by broadening access to capital and providing fairer lending standards, better investment advice, and more secure transactions. Indeed, key players in the industry promote fintech as a primary means to advance financial inclusion for minorities. Despite promises of financial inclusion from the fintech industry, however, underserved populations continue to experience unequal access to financial services and wealth. This Paper evaluates claims relating to key components of the so-called “fintech revolution” to determine whether they can address underlying causes of wealth inequality.

While fintech developments may have the potential to expand financial inclusion, we have yet to see these technologies employed to significantly address underlying causes of the wealth gap. Further, in some instances, fintech may exacerbate existing inequalities. Given this lack of sufficient progress and potential exploitation vis-à-vis these innovations, this Paper explores oversight of fintech as well as other means to address the underlying causes of wealth inequality.