Financial Technology (“FinTech”) firms invest significantly more in customer capital relative to traditional financial firms, and such investment builds valuable customer capital. Higher investment by FinTech firms is not accounted for by sectoral focus or differences in firm age. Reasons for higher customer capital investment are explored, including the need to build trust with customers, the focus on downstream segments of the financial marketplace, the operation of platform-based business models, and a heavier reliance on valuable customer data.

More on this topic

BFI Working Paper·Oct 21, 2026

Venture Capital and Customer Capital

Martin Aragoneses, Young Soo Jang, and Amir Sufi
Topics: Financial Markets
BFI Working Paper·Oct 21, 2026

When Cash Wakes Up: Inertia in Institutional Money Market Funds and the Potential Effects of AI Disruption

Ali Hortaçsu and Younggeun Yoo
Topics: Financial Markets
BFI Working Paper·Oct 6, 2026

Do AI Assistants Reinforce Investor Beliefs? Evidence from Human and AI Replies

Swaminathan Balasubramaniam, Jorge Sabat, and Soumyajit Ray
Topics: Technology & Innovation