FinTech Global Outlook and The Bahraini Landscape: Empirical Exploratory Analysis and Documentary Evidence

FinTech ecosystem has been growing as an integral part of many business infrastructures. This paper aims to examine the FinTech ecosystem growth opportunities, global trends, significant developments and the Bahraini Landscape. A qualitative exploratory research methodology using content analysis is employed to analyze the social, technological and institutional aspects of FinTech verticals growth and benefits, landscape and global trends, notable developments, sustainability issues, and future prospects within the FinTech ecosystem, with a special focus on the Kingdom of Bahrain. Data are collected from the technical reports and other materials published by professional accounting firms, financial consulting firms, international standard setting organizations, and institutional statistical websites, as well as e-governmental portals. A sample of 40 professional reports, surveys, and technical articles is content analyzed for a period of seven years from 2015 till 2021. Results show that FinTech, along with the accompanying digital financial transformation, is playing a key role in helping business industries to achieve value creation while promoting sustainable development by providing the necessary balance between economic, social, and technological concerns. Findings specifically indicate that FinTech ecosystem supports a wide variety of FinTech growth verticals that provide numerous benefits in terms of time, cost, effort, quality, and security, exhibits relatively high average adoption rate, presents an attractive Bahraini landscape for FinTech ventures, utilizes sustainable FinTech solutions to help achieve UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and promises further prospected developments in Bahrain's FinTech ecosystem.