Digital supply chain finance is an innovative product created through the integration of the blockchain technology and traditional supply chain finance. This paper constructs the theoretical framework of mortgage financing from banks by enterprises in the supply chain network, and systematically analyzes the economic rationale governing the digital supply chain finance, along with its pros and cons compared with traditional supply chain finance. The findings show, when there are enough enterprises on the supply chain and sufficient qualified information about these enterprises, the consensus mechanism of the supply chain can reveal close-to-truth enterprise information and prevent information manipulation, malicious fraud, and other moral hazards so that banks can provide accessible and affordable financing services for enterprises on the chain with risks effectively controlled. Otherwise, if there are not enough enterprises on the chain and the credibility of their information cannot be guaranteed, banks will prefer traditional offline methods such as due diligence for risk control. This paper theoretically reveals that, along with the broad application of the blockchain technology in the supply chain and the resulting digitalization of enterprises, digital supply chain finance based on blockchain technology will become a more efficient and inclusive means of financial support.

It will be an important task to improve the ability to use and manage the blockchain and facilitate the development of China’s cyber and digital economy in a safe and benign way during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021–2025). The synchronous “shock reduction” of the top-level system is needed to escort the safe and benign development of blockchain as the driving force and potential energy of blockchain development is released at a high speed. As an important prerequisite for exploring the design ideas of the top-level system of blockchain, it is necessary to grasp the international and domestic development opportunity of blockchain and identify its internal and external security risks. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China should establish the legislative concept of the organic integration of legal governance and technological governance, establish an effective market competition mechanism driven by the coupling of incentives and regulations, and realize the management synergy between government plans and enterprise strategies. For the sake of promoting the safe and benign development of blockchain, it is the fundamental policy to accelerate blockchain technology development by developing key technologies, advancing the industrial innovation process and strengthening the construction of talent pool. Meanwhile, it is the safeguarding policy to strengthen the top-level system design of blockchain through advancing legislation timely, improving market mechanisms and optimizing governance system.

With the rapid development of fintech as represented by the internet, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing and big data, especially the evolution of big data and deep learning, and the major changes in financial service models and products in recent years, the development of global inclusive finance has undergone different stages, from “micro finance,” through “inclusive finance,” to “digital financial inclusion.” In the context of growing global competition in the financial sector, many countries are promoting digital financial inclusion and formulating applicable national development strategies. Therefore, it is suggested that China should further strengthen support policies, increase its influence on global financial governance, construct a long-term regulatory mechanism for digital financial inclusion, and build digital inclusive financial infrastructure in order to improve the international competitiveness of China’s financial industry.

With the development of digital technology, the way that banks serve small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has undergone a disruptive change. Besides labor-intensive ways, banks can now serve SMEs through technology-intensive ways such as big data and artificial intelligence (AI). This has given rise to internet banks and made traditional banks face the choice of digitalization, thus igniting the technological competition in the banking sector. This paper builds a competition model among three types of banks, including small and medium internet banks with unique data advantages, large banks with economies of scale, and regional small and medium banks with comparative advantages in acquiring internal information. Then, the paper studies the digitalization strategies of different types of banks and their influence on the financing options of SMEs. The model shows that there may be a digital matching relationship between banks and SMEs in the era of AI. Large banks and small and medium internet banks have the advantage in the research and development and application of digital loan technology and serve SMEs with a more digital footprint. Regional small and medium banks have an advantage in traditional loan means and serve SMEs with a less digital footprint. This paper suggests that banks choose the transformation direction and development orientation according to their own conditions, such as bank scale, data accumulation, and internal information screening capability because this affects not only the development of banks and but also the extent to which AI can improve the financing environment for SMEs. These conclusions not only provide a theoretical basis for the decision-making mechanism of bank digitalization strategy and the applicability of AI to different types of banks but also have important policy implications for the government to better promote the digital transformation of banks and alleviate the financing constraints for SMEs.

Recent years have seen an increasing integration of fintech and inclusive loans, leading to significant changes in banking business models and operations. The paper analyzes the impact of fintech on bank risks and performance. The research findings show the following results. First, fintech has made banks more willing to issue inclusive loans. Second, by leveraging fintech, banks have lowered the risks associated with inclusive loans and improved their performance, particularly manifested by inclusive loans to small and micro enterprises. Third, in regard to financial geographic heterogeneity, with the increasing distance between branches and sub-branches, and head office, fintech, as an effective regulating tool, can help to improve the inclusive loan operations and risk control capabilities of remote branches and sub-branches. This paper argues that digital financial inclusion contributes to the stable operation of banks; banks can take advantage of fintech to digitalize and intelligentize financial inclusion, thereby improving business efficiency, reducing risk exposures and expanding profitability. Therefore, banks should adhere to the “prudent and stable” risk appetite and “small and decentralized” credit granting principle to make safe, convenient and impartial inclusive finance services available to a variety of market entities. When implementing the inclusive finance development strategy, head office should consider different results among branches and sub-branches due to their varied financial geographic locations, and release differentiated assessment and incentive policies to branches and sub-branches based on economic regions in a bid to minimize policy spillovers.

Financial technology (fintech) and digital currency are irreversibly reshaping the global financial system. Through the analysis of the development of fintech and digital currency, and the resulting major influences on the global financial system, this paper discusses the impact of issuing legal digital currency on a monetary base and money multiplier, and the possible influences on central banks’ monetary policies. It shows that the integration of artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, the Internet of Things and other information technologies with traditional finance will greatly enhance the efficiency of financial service, and help to identify, quantify and minimize financial risks, and reinforce the financial agglomeration effect of traditional financial centers. At the same time, the development of digital currency entirely based on blockchain technology may weaken the financial agglomeration functions of traditional financial centers. The development of private digital currency based on blockchain is unstoppable, thus the legal digital currency of the People’s Bank of China will play an important role in restructuring the global currency framework. Taking advantage of the internet financial market, China should strengthen its infrastructure in fintech, promote integrated innovation, increase research spending on core technology, and tighten top-level design and regulation, so as to advance a faster development of fintech and digital currency.