Fintech is an important technology and model innovation of commercial banks. Accelerating the strategic deployment and application of fintech has become an effective way to enhance the ability of financial services to the real economy and prevent major financial risks. Fintech has the basic functions of reducing transaction costs, reducing information asymmetry, alleviating moral hazard and adverse selection problems, and improving financial operation efficiency. It has natural advantages in alleviating the “pain points” of non-performing loan risk management.

Based on the micro data of A-share listed banks from 2005 to 2020, this paper constructs a theoretical and econometric model of fintech, non-performing loans and bank performance. The results show that: (1) Fintech can significantly improve bank performance, but this promotion has a lagging effect. Fintech has weakened the current performance of banks, but after an average lag of 4 to 5 years, it begins to play an important role in improving bank performance, and shows an increasing trend of marginal contribution. (2) Fintech helps banks to identify, quantify and price risks. By suppressing the loss of non-performing loan risks, the expected return of banks is improved, in which the investment of information technology personnel, software and hardware has a more obvious inhibitory effect on the interest loan rate and loss loan rate. (3) The heterogeneity of bank scale will widen the fintech investment gap and cause risk spillover and risk migration in the credit market. The non-performing loan risks faced by small and medium-sized banks have a tendency to expand. The research has important enlightenment for the current commercial banks to reasonably arrange fintech, prevent and resolve non-performing loan risks, improve business performance, and achieve high-quality development.

The research value and contribution are as follows: (1) This paper discusses the theoretical mechanism of fintech for the non-performing loan risk suppression and performance improvement of commercial banks, and provides new research ideas for the academic research on systemic financial risk theory and financial security theory. (2) The research result provides a new perspective for the non-performing loan risk prevention and risk management in China. First, it provides theoretical tools for the non-performing loan risk management of commercial banks. Second, it provides research reference for the scenario application of related innovative services and products of fintech companies. Third, it provides the countermeasures for the regulatory innovations of financial regulatory agencies to help financial security and financial stability.