ABSTRACT
The chapter focuses on institutional and regulatory assumptions for the future development of the FinTech industry. The specific focus is crowdfunding as one of the growing FinTech segments with the most potential to impact the development of alternative banking/finance. Particular attention is given to the case of the Baltic countries and, within the region, to Lithuania, where FinTech is considered as tentative catalyst of economic development. We argue that the FinTech ecosystem, taken in a broad sense, is a neglected factor in regional economic development. Policymakers involved in developing new regulatory frameworks and institution building need to consider the long-term perspective of potential structural changes and their implications for the financial industry. Research into crowdfunding's institutional setting and regulation enhances our grasp of how to build an ecosystem which seizes the potential of the FinTech industry and supports the development of the financial industry and the economies in a volatile and highly competitive global environment.
