Intermediating export trade finance under institutional asymmetry: evidence from Kenyan fintechs

Abstract

Export trade finance in Kenya remains constrained by fragmented institutions, restrictive regulatory arrangements and high-governance requirements that non-bank actors struggle to meet. This study examines how fintech firms structure and deliver export-oriented financing under these institutional asymmetries. Using an interpretivist qualitative design, the research draws on ten semi-structured interviews with senior fintech professionals and integrates empirical insights with institutional and financial-intermediation perspectives through abductive analysis. The findings show that fintechs enable export finance through sequential institutional substitution: a staged progression in which firms build operational capacity and domestic legitimacy before entering high-governance export domains. Fintechs navigate layered regulative, normative and cognitive voids while constructing multi-level legitimacy across State, market and professional audiences. Once credible, fintechs deploy digital and organisational intermediation mechanisms, including alternative-data triangulation, hybrid screening, external capital coordination, purchase-order financing and value-chain orchestration, to embed governance and verification within transactions where formal systems are weak or inaccessible. The study advances theoretical understanding of how non-traditional financial intermediaries operate within institutional voids and demonstrates that export finance intermediation requires the co-evolution of legitimacy, capability and digital mechanisms. The results offer practical implications for regulators, DFIs and trade-promotion stakeholders seeking to expand export finance access through fintech-enabled models.