An Introduction to Fintech
This book equips readers with a clear, structured framework to understand, evaluate, and apply FinTech solutions in real financial contexts. By combining conceptual foundations with hands-on cases, it enables readers to move confidently from theory to implementation across multiple financial domains.
The book adopts an integrated approach that connects financial logic, managerial decision-making, and core digital technologies. It progresses systematically from the fundamentals of financial systems to enabling technologies-such as big data, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things-and then to their concrete applications in payments, digital currency, credit, capital markets, investment advisory, and insurance. Regulation, governance, and risk management are treated as essential components rather than afterthoughts.
What distinguishes this book is its balanced treatment of finance and technology, avoiding excessive technical abstraction while retaining analytical rigor. Drawing on both Chinese and international case studies, it offers a diverse and comparative perspective on how FinTech evolves across different institutional and market environments. Rich real-world examples, data-driven illustrations, and operational models help readers understand how FinTech works in practice and why it creates value.
The book is designed for upper-level undergraduates, postgraduates, and doctoral students in finance, business, information systems, and related fields, as well as practitioners seeking a systematic introduction to FinTech. No advanced programming background is required.
Dr. Bohui Zhang is a Professor of Finance and the Executive Dean of the School of Management and Economics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen (CUHK-Shenzhen). He also serves as Director of the Center for FinTech and Social Finance, Shenzhen Finance Institute and Associate Director of the Shenzhen Institute of Data Economy. Prior to his current roles, Dr. Zhang was a Professor of Finance at the UNSW Business School, University of New South Wales, where he also served as Associate Director of the Institute of Global Finance (IGF). He studies FinTech, the media, Chinese capital market, and international capital markets. His research has been published in leading journals across finance, accounting, and business disciplines, including the Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Accounting Research, and Management Science, among others.
Dr. Gang Kou is a Professor and Director of Research Institute of Big Data, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, China. His research focuses on big data and decision-making, business intelligence, information systems, credit scoring, and emergency management. He serves on the editorial boards of six SCI-indexed journals. Dr. Kou has received numerous prestigious honors, including the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, the First-Class Award of the Ministry of Education Natural Science Award, and repeated recognition as a Global Highly Cited Researcher. He has published over 100 papers in SCI/SSCI-indexed journals, including 10 ESI Highly Cited Papers, and is consistently ranked among the world’s most highly cited scholars.
Dr. Dan Li is an Associate Professor of Finance at the School of Management and Economics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. She also serves as Director of the MSc Programme in Finance. Prior to joining CUHK-Shenzhen, she was an Assistant Professor of Finance at the University of Hong Kong (2011–2017). Her research focuses on market microstructure, high-frequency trading, and financial technology (FinTech). Her work has been published in leading academic journals such as the Journal of Financial Economics and the Review of Financial Studies. In addition to her academic background, she brings a strong regulatory perspective from her experience as a researcher at the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and Australia’s Capital Markets Cooperative Research Centre (CMCRC) between 2009 and 2011. She currently serves as an Associate Editor of Finance Research Letters.
Dr. Lin Zhao is a Professor and Dean of the School of Digital Economics, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. He is a recipient of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, one of China’s most prestigious academic honors. His research centers on decision theory and methods, behavioral economics, and behavioral management, with a focus on their applications to investment, production, and consumption decisions. His work has been published in leading international journals, including Management Science. He currently serves as an Associate Editor for the Decision Analysis department of Management Science and as an Editorial Reviewer for the Decision Analysis section of Decision Sciences.