The dual path of digitalization: evaluating the impact of bank-FinTech collaborations on standardized and customized service performance

Abstract

This study explores bank-FinTech collaboration in retail banking, focusing on digitalizing existing and new service offerings. Leveraging primary data from Canadian banks and credit unions, we categorize digital services into high- and low-standardized services and offer empirical support for the interplay among digitalization efforts, operational agility, FinTech collaboration, and service performance. Results show that digitalizing existing services enhances performance across both categories, while digitalizing new services only enhances high-standardized service performance. Interestingly, collaborating with FinTech firms positively impacts low-standardized services, especially in banks with high operational agility, yet offers limited additional benefits for the ongoing digitalization of existing services.