China stands at the historic juncture of a century’s transformation and a fresh wave of scientific and technological revolution, confronted with complex domestic and foreign environments, and urgently requires the formation and enhancement of new quality productive forces. FinTech is recognized as a pivotal component in deepening the structural reform of the financial supply side and establishing a modern financial system, serving as a significant driver for the advancement of regional new quality productive forces and providing substantial impetus for achieving high-quality economic development. Consequently, investigating the impact of FinTech on regional new quality productive forces holds considerable practical importance. Taking 30 provinces (Due to the lack of data, the statistical data mentioned here do not include the Tibet Autonomous Region, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macao Special Administrative Region and Taiwan Province.) in China from 2012 to 2022 as research samples, the influence of FinTech levels on regional new quality productive forces was explored. It identified and tested the moderating effect of financial regulation, leading to several conclusions. Firstly, FinTech is found to empower the development of regional new quality productive forces, with this finding remaining robust after various tests, including replacing explanatory variables, altering the sample time frame, and addressing endogeneity issues. Secondly, the analysis reveals heterogeneity across three dimensions: regional disparities, differences in private finance levels, and variations in regional finance levels. Specifically, FinTech significantly boosts new quality productive forces in both eastern and central-western regions, but the effect is more pronounced in the central and western regions. Additionally, FinTech has a greater impact on new quality productive forces in areas with lower levels of private finance. Lastly, FinTech needs to reach a certain threshold to exert a promotional effect on regional new quality productive forces. Thirdly, empirical analysis shows that financial regulation positively moderates the relationship between FinTech levels and regional new quality productive forces. Fourthly, further research indicates a nonlinear relationship between the driving effect of FinTech levels on new quality productive forces, with its impact constrained by the level of financial regulation. These findings offer empirical support for promoting FinTech development, strengthening financial regulation and governmental governance capabilities, and enhancing the level of regional new quality productive forces.