The effects of fintech development on financing constraints of small and medium‐sized enterprises—Evidence from China

Abstract Based on the data of listed small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) from 2011 to 2020, this paper studies the effects of fintech on the financing constraints of SMEs in China. The results denote that fintech can significantly ease financing constraints of SMEs; with a 1% increase in fintech, the financing constraints of SMEs decrease by 0.0767%. The intermediary mechanism analysis illustrates that fintech can ease the financing constraints of SMEs by alleviating financial industry concentration and information asymmetry. Besides, regions with a higher degree of marketization and industries with relatively free competition are both more conducive to fintech alleviating the financing constraints of SMEs.