The Influence of Industry 4.0 on Financial Services: Determinants of Alternative Finance Development

Abstract

Digitalization and virtualization in the era of the Industry 4.0 adjust the nature of finance and interaction between market participants. Many financial services are transferred to the virtual plane allowing the development of alternative finance – raising funds and carrying out borrowings through online platforms. Based on the analysis of the influence of factors on the alternative finance development, the paper formulates five hypotheses on the dependence of the amount of financial resources attracted through online platforms on the quantitative characteristics of the relevant factors. The goal is to study the factors of online financing service as an alternative to traditional financial intermediaries (including banks) using the method of correlation analysis. As the quantitative parameters of each factor, the use of commonly accepted indices and individual relative indicators is proposed. The results of the study showed 1) the significant impact of the country's economic development on the degree of the alternative finance development; 2) the strong direct influence of financial inclusion and the level of innovation of the country on the volume of alternative finance; 3) the lack of direct influence of information technology and the absence of the regulatory influence of the state on the development of the alternative finance market.