Fintech in the Time of COVID-19: Trust and Technological Adoption During Crises

This publication, originally published in April and updated in December 2020, draws on mobile application data from 71 countries to document the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the adoption and usage of digital finance and fintech.

It estimates that the spread of COVID-19 and related government lockdowns have led to between a 29.2 and 32.8 percent increase in the relative rate of daily downloads of finance mobile applications during the peak of the pandemic. The study analyzes factors that may have driven this effect on the demand-side and better understand the “winners” from this digital acceleration on the supply-side. The overall results suggest that traditional incumbents exhibited particularly large gains relative to “BigTech” companies and newer fintech providers during this crisis period. Finally, it shows that businesses that are amalgamated with existing digital payment infrastructure are better able to offset the adverse economic effects of COVID-19.