Exploring the Development Path of Digital Finance—From the Impact Evaluation of Cooperation between Commercial Banks and Technology Enterprises

The Central Financial Work Conference in October 2023 pointed out that digital finance is one of the five major areas for the future development of the financial field. To explore the development path of digital finance and evaluate its impact, this paper focuses on the strategic cooperation between commercial banks and technology enterprises, investigating the influence of cooperation events on bank stock prices and operational performance. Results show that on the trading day when the cooperation was reached, bank stocks exhibited significantly positive excess returns, and bank performance in terms of profitability, cost efficiency, and risk management improved after the strategic cooperation. Further analysis reveals that the positive change in bank stock prices around the cooperation event was more prominent in state-owned commercial banks, as well as banks with a higher proportion of non-interest income, a lower non-performing loan ratio, a lower leverage, and a higher capital profit margin. Moreover, this effect was more significant in collaborations with large technology companies, bank-led cooperations, and relatively in-depth cooperations such as the establishment of joint laboratories. This study contributes to our understanding of how commercial banks can achieve digital transformation through cooperation with technology companies and develop digital finance through technological empowerment, providing empirical evidence and decision-making references for the exploration of digital finance development paths for commercial banks.