Finance

Business

Biology

Marketing

Financial services

Data science

Computer science

Botany

Business model

Taxonomy (biology)

FinTechs are companies that combine technological and financial attributes in theirbusiness models. In recent years, the rise of FinTechs has attracted much attention sincethey challenge incumbent financial service companies including the traditional bankingmodel. In this paper, we aim to contribute to a better understanding of this phenomenon.Therefore, we develop a taxonomy of FinTech business models following a theoreticallygrounded and empirically validated approach for identifying and defining underlyingbusiness model elements. After developing our taxonomy, we use a clustering-basedapproach to identify business model archetypes on which to showcase our results, reexaminethe assumptions made during taxonomy development, and validate thepresented findings. Based on the gained insights, we discuss implications for research,practice and policy makers, as well as directions for future research.

What do FinTechs actually do? A Taxonomy of FinTech Business Models