Information Systems Management

Responsible FinTech and the Future of Digital Finance

The rapid digital transformation of the financial sector has brought unprecedented innovation, along with profound questions of responsibility, trust, and governance. As financial technologies continue to reshape how individuals, institutions, and societies interact with money, there is a growing need to understand not only what FinTech can do, but also how it should be done.

This Special Issue on Responsible FinTech and the Future of Digital Finance invites original research that examines how digital financial systems can be designed, governed, and managed responsibly. It aims to bridge FinTech innovation with ethical leadership, organisational responsibility, and sustainable value creation — aligning technological progress with the principles of inclusion, transparency, and trust.

We welcome submissions that reflect a variety of disciplinary lenses, methodological approaches, and research traditions, including theoretical analyses, empirical studies, conceptual papers, design science contributions, case studies, and practice-focused analyses.

Indicative Topics of Interest

We encourage submissions that address, but are not limited to, the following themes:

Trust, Governance, and Transparency in Digital and Distributed Financial Ecosystems

• Governance frameworks for ethical and responsible financial technologies
• Algorithmic transparency and explainability in financial decision-making
• Trust-building mechanisms in digital financial platforms and ecosystems

Cybersecurity, Privacy, Risk, and Digital Resilience

• Managing operational and cyber risks in digital financial infrastructures
• Privacy-preserving technologies and responsible data stewardship
• Organisational resilience and risk governance in FinTech-enabled environments

RegTech, Compliance, and Responsible Data Management

• Regulatory innovation, sandboxes, and adaptive compliance models
• Automated compliance systems and their organisational implications
• Ethical challenges in data-driven finance and consumer protection

Blockchain, Digital Assets, and Decentralised Finance (DeFi)

• Governance and accountability in decentralised ecosystems
• Organisational adoption and management of tokenised assets
• Risks and opportunities arising from smart contracts and decentralised protocols

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and User Adoption Dynamics

• Trust, usability, and acceptance of CBDCs among different demographic groups
• Managing interoperability and public–private collaboration in digital currency ecosystems
• Policy and organisational challenges related to sovereign digital money

Sustainable, Inclusive, and Ethical Innovation in Digital Finance

• FinTech as a catalyst for financial inclusion and empowerment
• ESG-driven financial technologies and green digital finance
• Digital literacy, fairness, and equitable access to financial services

This Special Issue aims to reframe recurring Information Systems Management themes -  including trust, governance, leadership, organisational capability, and digital transformation - through a FinTech lens. Our goal is to offer timely academic and managerial insights into the future of responsible finance, supporting practitioners and policymakers as they navigate this next generation of digital financial systems.