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Top1. Introduction
One of the key characteristics of the human mind is creativity and innovation. A mind whose owner does not look for everything new, or at least deal with scientific progress positively, is considered by people as a negative mind, or that its owner is not qualified to live in an advanced society, on the one hand, and is unable to keep pace with the development that the world is experiencing every day, on the other hand. The world of today is experiencing a tremendous technological revolution that is developing constantly with an amazing speed; this revolution has affected almost all aspects of everyday life, including financial institutions, in general, and the banking sector, in particular (Bomod et al., 2020; Derbali, 2021).
One of the most important outputs of the current technology revolution is the concept of Fintech, which resonated and spread quickly at the global level until it swept over the Arab world. Fintech has originated in China, New York, London, Singapore and Hong Kong. It provides various, useful services to many individuals and companies in rapid, easy, safe, and less expensive ways compared to the traditional financial services Fintech paves the way to achieving the desired level of efficiency in different sectors (Ben Fadda and Bin Hassan, 2020).
In general, Al-Hafiz (2019) has postulated that Fintech is any technological invention and/or innovations that are employed in the financial services and banking industry; these innovations are used in this vital sector and have developed a serious technology that competes with traditional financial markets. It is worth noting that a lot of emerging companies have had a major role in the process of creating new technologies. Abdulaziz (2017) has added that Fintech represents a set of supply and demand markets for goods and services through which companies use electronic applications and digital platforms to achieve communication between providers of goods and services and their consumers, and thus support trade based on demand. According to the Reserve Bank of India (2017), Fintech is a set of financial innovations that can produce new business models, applications, processes or products that directly affect financial markets, institutions and the provision of financial services. Fintech has created a new field that has attracted banks that sought to increase their profits and achieve an economic position within a new world of competing banking systems; most of these banks have extensive experience in this field; they constantly try to create a business plan that combines software and technology to provide a distinct variety of financial services (Abdul Rahim and Bin Kaddour, 2018; Adeosun et al., 2021).
Among the most important sectors that financial institutions adopt in the field of Fintech are payments and money transfers, insurance, digital financing, lending, wealth management, and block chains and cryptocurrencies; it is worth saying that the payments sector is the most significant sector that uses Fintech the most within global markets, Ben Alqamah and Saihi, 2018).
Based on the foregoing, the technological revolution witnessed by all economic sectors, in general, and the banking sector, in particular, has made the necessity employing or even dealing with technology the cornerstone of all transactions in a way that contributes to survival, growth and continuity. The current study tries to identify the barriers, advantages, components and dangers or risks of adopting Fintech in Palestine from the perspective of bank customers (Razzaque and Hamdan, 2020; Mohamed et al., 2021). This study constitutes a strong scientific basis for potential, prospective or future research because there is a noticeable shortage or lack of similar studies in the Palestinian field; consequently, the current study is meant to contribute to guide decision makers towards the risks and barriers of Fintech in the Palestinian banking sector from the point of view of customers.