A critical review of blockchain applications to banking and finance: a qualitative thematic analysis approach

Blockchain technology is a disruptive technology which has revolutionised the conventional business models, traditional business transaction work flows and opening the door to huge opportunities of business value co-creations. Blockchain holds the promise to disrupt various industries and organisations, and one of the most well-known areas is its applications to the banking and finance sector. This qualitative study has analysed state-of-the-art blockchain research and technology in the banking and finance sector. Firstly, we selected and reviewed 76 literature in the banking and finance sector from 2016 to 2020 and provided a critical bibliometric review of existing literature. Secondly, we applied the well-known thematic analysis methodology to systematically identify the hot research topics, five potential business benefits and three types of potential challenges of applying blockchain technology to the banking and finance sector. Finally, we concluded by summarising the limitations of our study and subsequently highlighted future research directions. Despite several studies in other fields, no systematic review has thus far synthesised the research on blockchain application in this field to the best of the authors’ knowledge. Hence, the current study provides a starting point for future research and facilitates the work of both academic scholars and industry practitioners.