Competition or cooperation? Disentangling the Bank-FinTech interaction through a hybrid literature review

The advent of FinTech companies (FTCs) in the banking sector has sparked a transformative shift, encouraging banks to navigate responses ranging from competition to collaboration. Through a comprehensive hybrid literature review and structured exploration of Bank-FinTech interaction models, we provide an actionable framework for understanding cooperative and competitive dynamics in Bank-FinTech relationships. Our analysis highlights a prevailing consensus within the literature favouring a cooperative strategy over competition between banks and FTCs. We examine the prevalent types of collaboration, their underlying rationales, and their effects on banks’ performance and activity. Through the identification of emerging themes and specific strategic gaps, we also suggest a targeted pathway for further inquiry, pointing at potential directions for future research. • A hybrid literature review on Banks-FinTech companies interaction strategies. • Cooperation emerges as the dominant strategy in bank-FinTech relationships. • We show motivations, types, bank-specific drivers, and effects of bank-FinTech collaborations. • Future directions: bank digitalisation index and bank-green FinTech interaction. • Further research: banks’ talent acquisitions, training programs, board’s composition.