From Fintech to Financial Stability: The Role of ESG, Basel III Liquidity Ratios, and Default Risk in European Banking

Our study examines the relationship between fintech adoption and liquidity management in European banking, investigating how digital transformation influences Basel III liquidity compliance and default risk. Using a sample of 45 European banks from the STOXX 600 index over 2019–2024, we employ textual analysis of annual reports to construct a fintech adoption index and examine its effects on liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) and net stable funding ratio (NSFR). Our findings demonstrate that fintech adoption significantly enhances banks’ liquidity management capabilities. However, ESG performance moderates this relationship, with higher ESG commitments weakening the positive fintech-liquidity association, suggesting resource allocation conflicts between sustainability and technological investments. Through mediation analysis, we find that liquidity management partially mediates the fintech-default risk relationship, revealing complex trade-offs where fintech-driven liquidity improvements may increase default risk through alternative channels. Robustness tests using lagged variables, propensity score matching, alterative proxies, and size-based subsamples confirm our findings. Notably, smaller banks derive substantially greater liquidity benefits from fintech adoption compared to larger institutions. Our results provide the first comprehensive analysis of how digital transformation affects regulatory liquidity compliance in European markets, offering important implications for bank management and regulatory oversight in the post-Basel III era.