Fintech is used describe new technology that seeks to improve and automate the delivery and use of financial services.
Originally the term was applied simply to technology employed at the back-end systems of established financial institutions.
Over time, however, the Fintech definition has been expanded to include any technological innovation in — and automation of — the financial sector, including advances in financial literacy, advice and education, as well as streamlining of wealth management, lending and borrowing, retail banking, fundraising, money transfers/payments, investment management, asset management and some would now also include crypto currencies such as Bitcoin and their administration.
Fintech is also sometimes described as disruptive technology, in that many Fintech start-ups are designed to provide financial services in non-traditional ways, such as by offering online shoppers to secure immediate, short-term loans for purchases, bypassing their credit cards or by offering online and App-only services that bypass traditional lenders.
While traditional lenders and finance providers have tried to adopt some of the Fintech innovations, they begin with burdensome overheads and cannot generally compete unless they embrace the need to fundamentally change their existing thinking, processes, decision-making, and overall corporate structure. This is not something most managers can cope with.
There is now a vast array of Fintech categories of which the following are just a few examples:
B2C for consumer banking activities such as arranging loans and providing customer credit facilities,
B2B for small business clients (as above)
B2B for small businesses for activities such as taking payments, credit management and managing debtor ledgers
B2C for consumers for activities such as contactless payment and payment by mobile phone, online banking, applying for financial services such as a mortgage or loan, online shopping payments and many more.
Fintech as a part of the UK economy
In 2017 at the first ever International Fintech conference argued that the UK was the leader in this sector with a competitive advantage in the provision of Fintech services due to its sophisticated financial community and the growth of technology hubs like Silicon Fen in Cambridge and Silicon Roundabout in London.
The phenomenon was described as being an essential aspect of the UK vision for “an outward-looking, Global Britain” which would not only provide a high skilled, high wage economy but would attract the best talent from all over the world.
At that time, according to Treasury figures, the industry was worth £7 billion to the UK economy and employed an estimated 60,000 people.
It has been calculated that there are almost three times as many UK banking and payments companies now than there were in 2005 while the rest of the world has seen theirs fall by around one-fifth on average.
In May 2018, Technation reported their research in an article in Information Age that the UK’s tech sector, of which Fintech is a part, was expanding 2.6 times faster than the rest of the UK economy, with Fintech start-ups located not only in London but throughout the UK.
The Technation analysis also looked at the impact of Brexit on the sector, finding that by and large tech firms were undaunted by the prospects of leaving the EU.
However, Financierworldwide, provided a more sober analysis, identifying some of the potential challenges to Fintech.
These included future freedom of movement of labour and the absence of sufficient numbers of skilled tech workers available in the UK, the loss of the ease of the passporting of services to other EU markets and consequently the decision Fintech companies may face of whether to relocate to other countries in Europe, at least in the short term. Among the cities expected to be most likely to benefit from welcoming such moves are Dublin, Paris and Berlin.
There is also the worry that the loss of passporting rights after Brexit would deter the currently high levels of investment in UK Fintech.
Finally, regardless of Brexit, if Fintech is to thrive, after a year of seemingly frequent banking technology meltdowns, not to mention hacking scandals, there needs to be much more robust and secure protection against fraud and data protection. To achieve this we at K2 have invested in Tricerion as the future of login security. Check it out at www.tricerion.com.