The Role of Fintech in Entering the Uzbek Stock Market

Uzbekistan's stock market is among the least active in the world, with a turnover ratio of about 5.3 percent, yet it is also one of the fastest to adopt financial technology. This paper asks whether fintech can overcome the market's underdevelopment, drawing on a synthesis of twenty peer- reviewed studies spanning the domestic, theoretical, behavioral, and comparative literature. Using Levine's account of the functions of a financial system, it develops a three-layer framework in which fintech reduces the friction layer of transaction and information costs, while two deeper layers a structural barrier of state ownership, thin free float, and weak regulation, and a behavioral barrier of low financial literacy, investor biases, and fragile sentiment remain beyond its reach. The evidence indicates that fintech has raised market activity substantially but has not deepened the market, because these two barriers cap its effect. The paper concludes that fintech is necessary but not sufficient: real entry into the Uzbek stock market requires fintech to be paired with structural and regulatory reform on the supply side and financial and behavioral education on the demand side.