Purpose This paper critically examines the evolving financial technology (FinTech) landscape, with the aim of synthesising its conceptual foundations, technological drivers, and systemic implications, while advancing a capacity-building perspective for sustainable and secure financial innovation. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts a rigorous integrative literature review methodology, implementing a systematic four-stage search and screening protocol across major electronic databases (Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar) for the period from 2015 to 2026. Applying explicit inclusion and exclusion criteria to a synthesised corpus of 87 core studies, the paper utilises a two-cycle thematic coding process, alongside comparative institutional analysis and expanded case-based insights to map regional variations in FinTech governance. Findings The review identifies FinTech as a multi-domain ecosystem encompassing digital payments, alternative lending, wealth management, insurance technology, and blockchain-based systems, underpinned by enabling technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data analytics, and cloud computing. The findings demonstrate that while FinTech enhances financial inclusion, operational efficiency, and innovation capacity, it simultaneously introduces systemic vulnerabilities, including cybersecurity threats, regulatory arbitrage, and ethical risks. Effective deployment is contingent upon the development of complementary institutional, regulatory, and technological capacities, which vary significantly across jurisdictions. Practical implications The paper provides actionable guidance for policymakers, regulators, and industry practitioners by outlining capacity-building priorities, including regulatory harmonisation, digital infrastructure investment, and risk governance frameworks. Importantly, it introduces a structured implementation framework that translates these priorities into a phased strategic roadmap for resilient FinTech ecosystems. Originality/value Unlike standard descriptive reviews that focus primarily on market actors or product classification, this paper introduces a novel, structurally grounded capacity-building framework. It conceptualises ecosystem readiness through three distinct, intersecting dimensions: institutional-regulatory capacity, technical infrastructure scalability, and human capital capabilities. By explicitly contrasting these pillars across diverse economic realities, the study provides a unique comparative synthesis of global and Sub-Saharan African regulatory models, delivering a precise, actionable roadmap for balancing systemic stability with frontier technology governance.
Atinyo et al. (Wed,) studied this question.