Ecosystem bubbles and their role in banking sector transformation

Introduction. Over the past few years, the banking sector of the Russian Federation has gone through two major stages of metamorphosis associated first with the digital transformation of the country’s economy and then with the emergence of financial ecosystems. The use of revolutionary fintech solutions has allowed ecosystems to form ecosystem bubbles around clients in a short period of time – a new and unique phenomenon that requires further research. Ecosystem bubbles have become a tool for ecosystems to achieve leadership positions by attracting and retaining more and more customers, not only in the financial market, but also in other sectors of the economy. Goal. The study aims to investigate ecosystem bubbles as a new phenomenon of the financial sector in order to form a holistic picture of the impact of ecosystems on the economy. Materials and methods. The study is based on the analysis of scientific literature in the field of financial ecosystems. The study analyzed statistical data on banking indicators of large financial ecosystems and the number of credit institutions. Correlation analysis was conducted in order to search for signs of presence of destructive effect of financial ecosystems on the banking sector. Results and discussion. This study presents the authors’ definition of ecosystem bubbles and approaches to understanding the essence of this phenomenon. The authors’ elaborations on the identification of individual components of ecosystem bubbles are presented. Conclusion. The results of this study can be used by other scientists to study the phenomenon of ecosystem bubbles, allowing us to look at financial ecosystems from a different perspective. The authors’ concept of ecosystem-customer relationship development serves as a demonstration of potential opportunities for commercial banks to compete both in the financial market and in other sectors of the economy.