The role of financial centres in establishing an innovation ecosystem through Fintech

Abstract

This study explores the role of the Casablanca Finance City (CFC) in establishing its innovation ecosystem through Financial Technology (Fintech) and provides more understanding of the challenges and barriers that the region of Casablanca faces in terms of financial inclusion, sustainability, and the government’s policies. During the last few years, the business environment has been affected strongly by the continuous advancements in technology especially with the rapid rise of Fintech which has changed the traditional financial system at a regional and national level. This thesis is very essential as it links three ecosystem players, start-ups, government, and universities, in order to generate empirical evidence regarding the impact of Financial Technology on the innovation ecosystem of the region of Casablanca. Therefore, this thesis was guided by the following objectives: To investigate the factors influencing the adoption of financial technology (Fintech) among ecosystem players; to explore the concept of the innovation ecosystem and regional innovation ecosystem in the context of Fintech; to determine the digital inclusion across Morocco and the barriers associated with it; to examine how important is green finance and financial technology (Fintech) in contributing to the innovation ecosystem of the region.
Based on the qualitative approach used in this study, the results show that government policymakers have an important and influential role in the area of innovation and digitalization, and they have the power to encourage the digital inclusion of the region of Casablanca which will improve automatically the innovation ecosystem of the region. Furthermore, the results show that there is a weak interaction between the CFC and other key players in the local ecosystem of Casablanca. This partnership between the actors is vital for the improvement of the global innovation ecosystem of a region, and the involvement of all the key players (government, universities, startups or firms, and research institutions). Thus, the research has an interesting practical implication: ecosystem players such as the government, financial institutions, and fintech companies play an important role in ensuring financial inclusion for the unbanked population and therefore improve the digitalization and the innovation of the ecosystem. With that being said, financial inclusion through fintech is important in eliminating barriers to the digitalization of an ecosystem in an emerging region if it is well implemented.
The results of this thesis are consistent with the theoretical framework, which posits that the rise of financial technology in an ecosystem does impact positively the financial inclusion of a region which helps the improvement of its innovation ecosystem. This study can be useful for other researchers who are willing to explore how financial technology influences financial inclusion and the innovation of an ecosystem. This study will also help other policymakers and practitioners from other emerging markets to improve their policies and the implementation of strategies related to financial inclusion.

Date of Award	Mar 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Brighton
Supervisor	Anne Daguerre (Supervisor), Sue Greener (Supervisor) & Jose Christian (Supervisor)