Table 1

Definition of variables in the datasets

VariableDescription
Online visibility measures
Google_PageRankOrdinal categorical variable assuming a value ranging between 0 and 10
G_TrendsYearly average of Google Trends
G_Trends_GrowthYearly Google Trends growth indicator. It assumes the value of 1 until the FinTech firstly register a positive yearly average Google Trends score (base year). In subsequent years, it measures the increase or decrease compared to the base year
Bank-FinTech relationships
Equity_AgrBinary variable equal 1 if the FinTech has had at least a shareholder bank
Partner_AgrBinary variable equal 1 if the FinTech has previously established a contractual agreement with at least one bank
BankBinary variable equal 1 for treated FinTechs (with equity or contractual agreements with at least a bank)
FinTechs' features
BlogBinary variable equal 1 when the FinTech includes a blog/forum on their website
SocialBinary variable equal 1 when the FinTech includes external link to social media platforms
CustomerCategorical variable with three levels: “Business”, “Consumer” and “All”
ProductCategorical variable with five levels: “Payments”, “Financing”, “Investments”, “Insurance” and “Diversified”
AgeFinTechs' years of business activity
ROA (*)The ratio of EBIT to total assets multiplied by 100
Revenues (*)Logarithm of revenues
Efficiency (*)The ratio of EBIT to operating costs
Leverage (*)The ratio of debt to total assets
Intangibles (*)Incidence of intangibles on total assets
Size (*)Logarithm of total assets

Note(s): (*) Variables ONLY employed for propensity score matching (PSM)

Source(s): Table was created by the authors

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