Time for Fintech

Hot Tech Trend

By Adina Rogoz on Feb 19, 2021 in Technology

Fintech emerged in the 21^st century and the term was applied to the technology employed at the back-end systems of established financial institutions. These days, it includes multiple industries including education, retail banking, fundraising and the nonprofit realm, among others. Additionally, it includes the development and use of cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, and describes various financial activities including money transfers, depositing a check with your smartphone, applying for credit, raising money for a business startup and many other, generally without human assistance.

The use of technology has increased significantly in the past years, but especially last year as the need for touchless interactions grew. As of now, businesses rely on technology for payment processing, e-commerce transactions and accounting. Contactless payments are now the norm.

According to a report by KPMG, financial institutions have invested more than $27 billion in digital innovation and fintech since 2015. Tech giants such as Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple started with digital payments and moved on to more serious business. In 2019, Apple launched its credit card with Goldman Sachs which eliminates processing fee and also provides a layer of privacy and security. Last year, Google launched a checking account product in partnership with Citigroup, which will be available through the Google Pay app. As part of stepping up its fintech game, Amazon offers mature financial services across payments and lending to 100 million Prime customers, and in India the company offers Amazon Pay credit card with ICICI Bank.

Earlier this year, Walmart announced that is launching its own fintech startup in a joint venture with Ribbit Capital. This partnership combines Walmart’s retail knowledge with Ribbit’s fintech expertise with the end goal of providing tech-driven financial experiences for customers and associates. The retail mogul already offers some financial products such as credit cards, check cashing, money transfers and installment financing.

Many fintech companies such as Revolut and Ant Group’s Alipay are developing so-called superapps, intended to serve as personal virtual financial hubs.

Expected fintech trends we’ll continue to see are mobile-first and more mobile-optimized experiences, together with remote transaction tools, growing the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence in order to provide efficiencies and security, according to Kosta Ligris, co-founder of Stavvy.