Transformation of investment banking and financial intermediation in the era of BigTech

Abstract

The transformation of the financial system in the era of digitalization increasingly reflects the growing role of BigTech companies in financial services and investment banking. The relevance of the research is determined by the emergence of new forms of financial intermediation in which technology platforms integrate payment services, lending operations, investment instruments, cloud infrastructure, and algorithmic analytics into unified digital ecosystems. These processes alter the competitive structure of the financial sector, redistribute economic rent between banks and technology companies, and generate new forms of regulatory and operational uncertainty. The article aims to develop a theoretical and methodological framework for studying the transformation of investment banking and financial intermediation in the era of BigTech and to identify the institutional and systemic implications of synthetic banking models within the contemporary financial system.The methodological basis of the research includes structural-logical analysis, comparative analysis, systematization, and theoretical generalization. The study conceptualizes regulatory asymmetry as a structural inequality in competitive conditions between banks and BigTech companies arising from differences in prudential regulation, access to customer data, and control over digital infrastructure. The scientific originality of the study lies in the development of an analytical framework fointerpreting BigTech-driven transformation of financial intermediation as a hybrid institutional configuration combining elements of banking, platform economy, and digital infrastructure governance.