A Study On The Impact Of Fintech On Regional Disparities In Financial Inclusion

The Party Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to enhancing financial inclusion,and are actively developing inclusive finance to achieve their goals."In the 14 th Five-Year Plan,it is explicitly proposed that "building institutional mechanisms for effective financial support to the real economy,upgrading financial technology and enhancing financial inclusion." This plan implies that continuously enhancing financial inclusion will remain a key objective in the financial sector during the 14 th Five-Year Plan.Obviously,in order to continuously enhance China’s financial inclusion,we must have a clear understanding and accurately judge the degree of financial inclusion in China.At present,the level of financial inclusion in China has improved,and the breadth and depth of financial services as well as the level of public satisfaction have all increased,however,the uneven development of financial inclusion in China still exists,and the development gap between the east and the central and western parts of the country is still large.With the advent of the digital economy,financial technology tools such as big data,cloud computing and artificial intelligence are becoming more and more mature and have great potential to solve information asymmetry,improve the efficiency of financial services,reduce the cost of financial services and increase the accessibility of financial services,providing new technical support to further enhance financial inclusion.The coupling development of financial technology and financial inclusion will further enhance the degree of financial inclusion in China.Based on this,this paper will analyse the current status of China’s Fintech development and the current status of the regional gap in financial inclusion,and explore the relationship between Fintech and the regional gap in financial inclusion in China based on the measurement results.The research of this paper consists of six chapters.The first chapter introduces the current background of financial inclusion development,proposes the reasons for research on Fintech and the regional gap of financial inclusion based on the development process and current situation of financial inclusion,and understands the current research direction of academia through literature research.Chapter 2 defines the concepts of Fintech and financial inclusion and introduces the theories related to them,and theoretically paves the way for the later empirical evidence through the study of the mechanism of Fintech and financial inclusion regional gap.Chapter 3 establishes the index systems of the Fintech Index and the Financial Inclusion Index based on the analysis of the current situation of domestic and international research in Chapter 1.Chapter 4 proposes to conduct an empirical analysis through a double fixed effects model by using the index results measured in Chapter 3 to explore the relationship between Fintech and the regional gap in financial inclusion.Chapter 5 summarises the overall findings of the article based on the previous analysis,and accordingly proposes a convergence strategy for the financial inclusion regional gap in the context of Fintech,and finally presents an outlook for future scientific research based on the shortcomings in the research process.By constructing and measuring the 2011-2020 Fintech Index and Financial Inclusion Index,this paper finds that:(1)the gap in the level of Fintech development between regions in China is relatively obvious,with the eastern region having a higher level of Fintech development according to the region,while the central and western regions are in decreasing order.(2)China’s regional financial inclusion development shows an uneven trend,with the financial inclusion development in the eastern region being much higher than that in the central and western regions.In addition,the regional gap in financial inclusion in China is gradually narrowing,with the eastern region making a greater contribution to narrowing the regional gap.(3)There is a significant negative correlation between financial technology and the financial inclusion gap,while the strength of government guidance can significantly strengthen the impact of financial technology on the regional gap in financial inclusion.Heterogeneity analysis was conducted by grouping according to information technology level and population density,and it was found that the convergence effect of Fintech on the financial inclusion regional gap was significant in the groups with higher information technology level and population density.By exploring the relationship between Fintech and the regional gap in financial inclusion,this paper concludes that Fintech will play an important role in the process of narrowing the regional gap in financial inclusion.Based on this conclusion,this paper proposes recommendations for the regional gap in financial inclusion from the perspective of Fintech development,including: promoting the coordinated regional development of Fintech and financial inclusion;promoting the establishment of a sound Fintech application support system;popularising Fintech knowledge to narrow the regional digital divide;promoting inclusive financial product development with the support of Fintech;accelerating the research and development of Fintech usage scenarios and Promote the use of Fintech.