In 2019, fintech and big tech credit reached US$795 billion globally, a study by the Bank for International Settlements found.

Global fintech credit volumes of US$223 billion “actually declined in 2018–19 due to market and regulatory developments in China,” the BIS study says.

“Outside China, fintech credit is still growing.

“We also show that returns to investors in fintech credit have declined over time, and that big tech firms show much higher profit margins in their overall business.”

Fintech credit volumes “reached US$297 billion in 2018, while big tech credit volumes surged to US$397 billion,” the BIS said.

"This represents a dramatic increase since 2013, when volumes were only USD 9.9 billion and 10.6 billion, respectively.”

One takeaway of the study is that reliable and timely data on a faddish (and, in Australia, greatly-valued) segment is in short supply.

“Data on their overall size are notably scarce,” the BIS said.

“There are well-developed systems for official reporting of bank lending volumes (flow) and credit outstanding (stock). Recently, there have been efforts to improve the data on non-bank credit to the private sector and on fintech.

“Central banks and public sector authorities use such data to monitor economic and financial conditions, to guide monetary policy decisions and to set macroprudential policies, such as the countercyclical capital buffer.

“Yet for fintech and big tech credit, authorities [globally] often rely on non-official sources.”