FINTECH'S ROLE IN IMPROVING ACCESS TO FINANCE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES IN UZBEKISTAN

This paper investigates the impact of financial technologies (FinTech) on bank lending to small business entities (SBEs) in Uzbekistan, with particular attention to the moderating role of bank size. Using regional panel data from 2015–2023, supplemented with projections for 2024–2025, and applying fixed-effects panel regressions complemented by fractional response and 2SLS robustness checks, the analysis shows that FinTech significantly increases SBE credit supply, but this effect is bank-size dependent: large banks benefit substantially, whereas small banks lose part of their traditional relationship-lending advantage. The main contribution lies in providing the first regional-level macro evidence on the size-dependent effect of FinTech on SBE lending in an emerging-market context, with direct policy relevance for Uzbekistan and similar economies.

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