Institutional and technological determinants of FinTech diffusion: A systematic review applied to the Moroccan case

Abstract

The literature on FinTech diffusion remains compartmentalised between technological, institutional and regulatory approaches, with no integrated reading articulating these families of determinants. This article addresses that gap by analysing their interaction and its effects on the transformation of financial systems. The research is theoretical in nature: it relies on a systematic review conducted in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines, complemented by institutional secondary data. The Google Scholar search, carried out in July 2026 over the period 2004-2025, led to the screening of 98 unique references and the retention of 74 publications, after applying explicit criteria of document type and editorial quality; reliance on a single database constitutes the main limitation of the protocol. The findings show that diffusion does not stem from a single dominant factor, but from the interaction of four determinants: underbanking constitutes its functional driver, as FinTech primarily addresses unmet basic financial needs; digital infrastructure forms its channel, without guaranteeing the effective appropriation of services; financial crises and institutional voids accelerate its expansion by weakening the legitimacy of established intermediaries; regulatory frameworks, finally, determine less its pace than its nature. The Moroccan case illustrates this: a developed payment infrastructure coexists with an account ownership rate limited to 44% of adults, indicating a binding constraint that is not technical but social and institutional. The article offers three theoretical contributions: an integrated reading of diffusion, the conditional nature of perceived innovation attributes depending on the adopter’s socioeconomic position, and the reframing of regulation as an endogenous variable of diffusion rather than an exogenous framework applying to it.

JEL Classification : G21; G28; O16; O33.

Paper type: Systematic Literature Review.