Fintech empirical studies: a state-of-the-art systematic literature review

This article conducts a systematic literature review of empirical research on fintech firms, with a particular focus on studies that utilize firm-level financial data and econometric analysis. Applying the PRISMA methodology, 25 peer-reviewed articles were identified from the Scopus and Web of Science databases. A combined bibliometric and content analysis was performed to uncover the main research trends, thematic clusters and methodological approaches in this emerging field. The findings reveal three key areas of focus: (1) fintech and sustainability (ESG), (2) innovation and banking performance and (3) the application of advanced econometric models. Despite the increasing academic interest, the review identifies persistent gaps, including a lack of firm-level data, underrepresentation of certain geographical regions and limited exploration of policy implications. The study concludes by proposing future research directions at the intersection of fintech, sustainability and data-driven financial innovation. Given the small but exhaustive corpus (N = 25), these network maps are used as exploratory, descriptive visualizations only and are not interpreted as stable thematic clusters or robust network structures.