Abstract
Recently we have seen an emergence of FinTechs in Australia and beyond. This phenomenon has especially been helped by the Covid 19 pandemic. Such entities and processes have not only helped reduce the time and money required to perform various financial procedures in the banking and finance industry but have also improvised upon the technical issues plaguing the age-old and cumbersome legacy procedures. While going through the literature on the subject, the researcher did not find any significant material upon FinTechs in general and upon the leadership styles being observed inside them in particular. Resultantly, the researcher became curious to know about the style of leadership followed in those entities in Australia, which are either providing these services or are employing such processes. A qualitative case study was pursued, wherein the researcher was lucky to get five participants for this study. Two of them worked at senior positions within FinTech-services providers, while the other three worked in the banking and insurance industry, which are top-most implementors of FinTech services. The findings of the study demonstrated that overwhelmingly the transformational style of leadership is followed by the higher management in Australia, which deals with FinTechs related processes in the broader banking and finance industry. The interview questions were structured as open-ended and focused upon the respondents' beliefs and actions concerning their leadership practices. The answers of the participants were assessed in the light of the three different theories of charismatic, autocratic and transformational leadership respectively, in order to determine, which one amongst these three styles of leadership, were they seem to be following. This research is significant because it sheds deep insights regarding the ways in which the top hierarchies of the Australian FinTech sector are overwhelmingly relying upon the transformational style of leadership. The findings of this research demonstrate the various benefits of this leadership style, which clearly outweigh any of its associated drawbacks. Last but not the least, another practical implication of this case study comes in the shape of aptly highlighting the roles played by the transformational leaders in the implementation and provision of FinTech services in Australia. The researcher was faced with a research limitation, when due to the current Covid-19 Pandemic in Australia, it became very difficult to find willing participants and the study was then restricted to only five participants