This study is an empirical literature review about the strategic adaptation in the context of COVID-19 that is a cause of economic shock. We reviewed existing publications and determined that COVID-19 is an economic shock; it significantly influences firm strategy. Besides that, the fintech company's characteristics and the firm respondents' experience lessons from the previous crisis are explored, which are the background to propose the two strategic adaptations for the fintech company. Firstly, the consolidation strategy for the time of COVID-19 contains three respondents: maintain frequent operational activities, increase research and development investment, and implement marketing campaigns. Secondly, in the spreading strategy for the post-COVID-19 period, we recommend a product and customer diversification strategy, concentrating on the risk of law and allocating resources efficiently. Besides that, we discuss the trend of an alliance network between the fintech company and the traditional financial institution, like the win-win strategy for both entities. Furthermore, suggestions for the directors of the fintech companies and directions for further research are proposed.

Based on the relationship between fintech and bank performance and the role of mobile applications in bank operations, we investigate the impact of mobile banking application (MBA) ratings on bank service income. The quarterly data from the 15 biggest Vietnamese commercial banks in 2019–2020 were extracted from the public financial statements and the Google Play Store. The Generalized Least Squares method is applied to process the proposed regression models. We find a positive impact of MBA ratings on bank service income. We additionally explore the MBA quality of a large bank that does not meet customer expectations and how the interaction between MBA ratings and leverage harms bank service income. Finally, users generally appreciate the MBA quality, and COVID–19 does not affect the link between MBA ratings and bank service income. The study provides novel knowledge on customer behavior through MBA ratings and their effect on bank service income in an emerging country.