The rapid expansion of electronic finance (E-Finance) has transformed financial services by enabling digital banking, online payments, and FinTech-driven service innovation. While these developments enhance efficiency and financial inclusion, they also raise significant regulatory challenges that affect the long-term sustainability of digital financial services. Key concerns include cybersecurity risks, data privacy, cross-border compliance, and the enforcement of anti-money laundering regulations. This study provides a bibliometric analysis of global academic research on regulatory challenges in E-Finance published between 2015 and 2025. Using data from 497 publications indexed in Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, the analysis employs the Bibliometrix R package to examine publication trends, citation patterns, keyword co-occurrence, and international collaboration networks. The results reveal a high annual growth rate of publications (37.41%), with cybersecurity, compliance, and financial regulation emerging as dominant research themes. However, international research collaboration remains limited, with cross-country co-authorship accounting for only 6.24% of publications. Emerging topics such as RegTech, Islamic FinTech, and green digital finance indicate a growing convergence between service innovation and sustainability concerns. The findings highlight both the concentration of research output in developed economies and the need for broader global participation. This study contributes to the literature by offering a structured overview of regulatory research in E-Finance and by identifying future research directions that support innovative yet sustainable financial service ecosystems. The insights are relevant for scholars, regulators, and financial institutions seeking to balance innovation with stability and long-term development.
