Habits and adoption of financial solutions : Managing risks and leveraging opportunities in financial institutions through the TCCM framework

Academic interest in understanding the role of financial technology (FinTech) in financial institutions has grown significantly in recent years. FinTech is defined as the use of innovative digital tools and platforms — such as mobile applications, blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing and application programming interfaces — to improve, automate and transform the delivery of financial services and risk management processes. Many studies have explored FinTech adoption, yet few have examined its integration with risk management and regulatory compliance. Therefore, this study sheds light on the literature trends associated with FinTech adoption and operational risk management using a systematic literature review (SLR) and the Theory, Context, Characteristics and Methods (TCCM) framework. The analysis reviews the habits and patterns of FinTech adoption across financial institutions, emphasising the regulatory landscape and cyber security challenges. With the SLR approach, 44 articles published from 2002 to 2023 were analysed. The findings indicate a strong nexus between FinTech adoption, operational efficiency and regulatory compliance, showing an increasing interest among scholars and practitioners. A comprehensive review of dominant theories (eg technology acceptance model and diffusion of innovations), specific contexts (eg banking and financial service providers), characteristics (eg independent, dependent, moderating and mediating variables) and methods (eg research approaches and analytical tools) is provided. This review is the first to critically assess the underexplored intersection between FinTech adoption and regulatory compliance. The findings may help policy makers, banking service providers and academics understand the necessity of balancing FinTech innovation with risk management. The future research agenda outlined in this study will facilitate researchers in exploring new insights within the domain of FinTech adoption and risk mitigation. This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection which can be accessed at https://hstalks.com/business/.