arbiter
JournalsAccount

Digital empowerment: Banks and the rise of FinTechs in Kenya and Nigeria

Florence Dafe & Radha Upadhyaya

Competition and Change2026https://doi.org/10.1177/10245294261426516article
AJG 2ABDC B
Weight
0.50

Abstract

This article examines how the rise of FinTech companies has affected the power of commercial banks. Specifically, we employ comparative case studies of Kenya and Nigeria to explore how the rise of FinTechs has affected banks’ ability to exercise control over the emerging digital financial infrastructure. We find that cross-national variation in the relationship between the state and private sector in the allocation of economic resources has led to cross-national differences in the regulatory framework for digital financial services, which in turn explain differences in banks’ ability to control the emerging digital financial infrastructure. Our article makes an empirical contribution by studying how banks’ power is affected by digitalisation in under-researched middle-income country contexts and contributes to broader theoretical discussions about the changing power and purpose of banks in the digital era.

Open via your library →

Cite this paper

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/10245294261426516

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{florence2026,
  title        = {{Digital empowerment: Banks and the rise of FinTechs in Kenya and Nigeria}},
  author       = {Florence Dafe & Radha Upadhyaya},
  journal      = {Competition and Change},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/10245294261426516},
}

Paste directly into BibTeX, Zotero, or your reference manager.

Flag this paper

Digital empowerment: Banks and the rise of FinTechs in Kenya and Nigeria

Flags are reviewed by the Arbiter methodology team within 5 business days.

Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.