Research On The Impact Of Digital Finance On The Competitiveness Of Commercial Banks

With the rapid development of digital technology,online financial service has been pushed to a new height,which also promotes the rapid rise of digital finance and becomes a new driving force for the development of our financial industry.In recent years,digital finance,with its features of non-contact,continuity and high efficiency,has played a vital role in supporting small and medium-sized enterprises,fighting the epidemic and stabilizing economic development.It has become an indispensable part of China’s economic and social activities,and has also had a great impact on the competitiveness of commercial banks.On the one hand,the Internet finance companies,mainly Alipay,have impacted the traditional commercial banking business.A large number of businesses have been replaced,and the offline branches are being integrated and cut,weakening the competitiveness of commercial banks.On the other hand,commercial banks are actively promoting digital transformation,expanding the coverage of traditional businesses,reducing operating costs and improving the competitiveness of commercial banks.Therefore,the influence of digital finance on the competitiveness of commercial banks and its transmission mechanism have become the subject of much attention in the current research field,aiming to help commercial banks fully grasp the opportunities contained in the field of digital finance and cope with the challenges brought by digital finance,so as to enhance their market competitiveness.This paper selects the data of 30 commercial banks from 2011 to 2021 as samples,first uses factor analysis to establish a commercial bank competitiveness index,takes it as the explanatory variable,takes the digital financial index as the core explanatory variable,and adds macro and micro control variables to study the impact of digital finance on the competitiveness of commercial banks.Secondly,the three subdivision indicators of digital finance,namely coverage breadth,depth of use and digital level,are taken as the core explanatory variables,and the regression analysis of the competitiveness index of commercial banks is carried out,and the heterogeneity impact of different dimensions of digital finance on the competitiveness of commercial banks is studied.At the same time,the digital financial index was used to analyze the competitiveness index of three types of commercial banks,namely state-owned commercial banks,joint-stock commercial banks and city commercial banks,respectively,to study the heterogeneous impact of digital finance on the competitiveness of different types of commercial banks.The final results show that:(1)digital finance can significantly improve the competitiveness level of commercial banks;(2)there is heterogeneity in the impact of different dimensions of digital finance on the competitiveness of commercial banks,among which the influence of coverage is large;(3)the impact of digital finance on the competitiveness of different types of commercial banks is heterogeneous,among which the impact on the competitiveness of joint-stock banks is the largest,and the impact on state-owned commercial banks and urban commercial banks is small.Accordingly,this paper puts forward the following suggestions:(1)commercial banks should actively embrace digital technology and carry out digital reform from three aspects: human resource management,financial risk management and characteristic development;(2)government departments should improve the corresponding regulatory system,strengthen their market-oriented functions,and make digital finance play a full role in enhancing the competitiveness of commercial banks.