Date of Award

Spring 2017

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science (BS)

Advisor(s)

Maya Waisman

Abstract

The Financial Technology sector’s growth in size and investment in the years 2010-2016 has in called into question the stability and future of the sector. This paper will explore the FinTech space - taking into consideration the 8 new sub-sectors of the FinTech space namely: Lending, Payments, Money Transfers, Personal Financing, Insurance, Institutional Tools, and Equity Crowdfunding. Using these categories, the study divides up a list of IPOs since 1990 in order to analyze the potential existence of a bubble. A bubble is essentially when there is a disproportionate level of market value increase relative to the amount of actual new value being. The following measurements are used to analyze the plausibility of a bubble: amount of IPOs, the levels of underpricing, dividend premiums, share turnover, new stock issuances, and real income each year for FinTech sector relative to the HighTech space. “Is the FinTech sector in a bubble?” This is the guiding question that will be leading this study. The study will include FinTech IPOs from 1990-present as well as corresponding HighTech IPOs. We define HighTech firms to be the traditional firms that manufacture, produce or provide technological services. This will offer the study a more well-rounded perspective of the events that transpired during the Dot-Com bubble since firms affected were not solely financial services. Looking at these measurements on a year to year basis, and using SIC Codes as a differentiator, the study aims to find mirroring trends during the years of the Dot-com bubble versus the recent years of explosive growth in the FinTech space.The initial data for this study was pulled from SDC Platinum, backed by Thomson Reuters.

Download

Share

COinS