FinTech Platforms and Mutual Fund Markets

This paper investigates the influences of FinTech platforms on Chinese mutual fund markets. Using staggered adoption of FinTech platforms as a new way of distributing mutual funds, we find that being on the FinTech platforms attracts more fund flows relative to those funds that are being distributed only through traditional ways. These results are mainly driven by top performing funds, indicating a stronger flow-performance sensitivity. Moreover, fund stock clustering reduced after the adoption of FinTech platforms for bottom performing funds as managers are incentivized to deviate from the crowds to improve performance in order to attract more fund flows.