Abstract: The role of fintech in addressing the pain points of SME financing is becoming more prominent. From the perspective of information economics, thefintech development can relieve information asymmetry and reduce the geographic exclusion from SME financing. This paper conducts an empirical test by making use of the data of bank branches, the fintech development level data, and the data of enterprises in the National Equities Exchange and Quotations of SMEs from 2011 to 2020. The results indicate that geographical distance increases the financial exclusion of SMEs, while fintech development decreases the geographical exclusion of SME financing. However, geographical distance remains a significant factor influencing SME financing. The result of the heterogeneity analysis reveals that when there is a higher proportion of large banks and a higher degree of bank competition, as well as in economically backward and transportation inconvenient areas, the positive effect of fintech development on the geographical exclusion of SME financing is more pronounced. The result of the mechanism analysis reveals that the development of fintechcan solve the problem of information asymmetry between banks and enterprises, which is essential for fintech to reduce the geographical exclusion of SME financing. Therefore, we should both strengthen the research and application of fintech and optimize the layout of physical bank branches, so as to promote the financial resources to serve SMEs and to address the“last mile”of financial inclusion.

Key words: fintech, geographical distance, SME financing, information asymmetry