Abstract: Developing banking fintech to reduce the scale of non-standard debt of local financing platforms and optimize the debt structure of financing platforms is a long-term mechanism for preventing the risks of implicit government debt. Based on the sample data of 282 cities from 2010 to 2023, this study explores the impact of banking fintech development on the non-standard debt of local financing platforms. The results show that the development of banking financial technology can significantly reduce the proportion of non-standard debts of local financing platforms, and this effect is particularly pronounced in the cities with a relatively higher proportion of land transfer revenues, a higher level of new digital infrastructure construction, and a better-developed financial sector. As for the impact mechanism, the development of banking fintech not only alleviates the reliance of urban development on the non-standard debts of local financing platforms by enhancing financial inclusiveness, but also reduces the reliance of bank credit issuance on the financial momentum of financing platforms, thereby curbing the disorderly expansion of non-standard debt in these platforms. In the future, it is necessary to vigorously develop banking fintech to facilitate the transformation of local financing platforms. We should strengthen the monitoring and supervision of the operation of financing platforms through the development of banking fintech, promote the conversion of non-standard debts of local financing platforms into standard ones, reduce the proportion of non-standard debts of financing platforms, optimize the structure of local government debts, and guard against and defuse the risks of local governments’ implicit debt risks.

Key words: banking fintech, financing platform, non-standard debt, financial inclusiveness, financial momentum