Abstract

The emergence of financial technology (FinTech) lending platforms has fundamentally disrupted the architecture of corporate debt markets in the United States. By offering faster, algorithm-driven credit origination, broader accessibility, and lower transaction costs than traditional bank intermediaries, FinTech platforms have introduced a new class of financing instruments that may materially alter the capital structure choices of publicly listed firms. Yet despite the dramatic expansion of US FinTech credit   surpassing USD 368 billion in platform credit volume by 2023   the empirical literature on how FinTech lending access affects the leverage ratios, debt maturity profiles, and capital costs of listed firms remains sparse and inconclusive. This article addresses this gap by developing a comprehensive theoretical framework integrating trade-off theory, pecking order theory, agency theory, and financial intermediation theory, and by presenting illustrative panel regression evidence based on a sample of 2,847 US listed firms over the period 2015 to 2023. Our results demonstrate that FinTech lending access exerts a statistically significant positive effect on book leverage (beta = 0.284) and market leverage (beta = 0.261), while significantly reducing debt cost (beta = -0.312). These effects are moderated by firm size   with large-cap firms benefiting most from leverage optimisation and small-cap firms gaining disproportionately from credit constraint relief   and are mediated by access to alternative finance that reduces information asymmetry and lowers financial distress risk. The article further examines how credit market competition, bank loan dependence, and macroeconomic conditions interact with FinTech access to shape capital structure outcomes. Policy implications for securities regulators, the Federal Reserve, and FinTech platform governance are discussed.