Exploring The Landscape of Financial Inclusion Through the Lens of Financial Technologies: A Review

Abstract

The paper gives an in-depth review of the dynamic environment of financial inclusion in a transformative perspective of financial technology (FinTech). With the world economy shifting to complete digitalization, it is crucial to comprehend the processes that would allow the 1.4 billion unbanked people in the world to have access to sustainable development. A bibliometric method has been pursued to trace this development, with 425 high-impact peer-reviewed articles that were published between 2021 and 2026 being analyzed. Scopus and Web of Science databases have been searched to retrieve data and science mapping methods have been implemented using VOSviewer and Biblioshiny to detect intellectual clusters and thematic trends.

The results indicate a major thematic shift in the domain of too simple mobile payment infrastructure to the advanced usage of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Decentralized Finance (DeFi). The main findings define four main research agendas including adoption of infrastructure, advanced tech integration, AI-driven risk management, and the new nexus of so-called Green FinTech. Moreover, the analysis points to a geographic change, as the rising economies such as China, India, and Kenya are the front-runners of the discussion on digital equity. The implications of these results imply that even though FinTech promises unparalleled prospects regarding the economic agency, policymakers need to tackle the so-called digital divide and algorithmic biases to make the shift to digital finance both all-encompassing and stable.