Financial technology (FinTech) uses technology and innovation to help automate and improve the delivery and use of financial services. By design, FinTech is made to challenge, threaten and ultimately topple the traditional financial service providers, by providing quicker, better and more agile services in general.
As the world emerged into the internet and smartphone revolution, FinTech emerged with it to become an extremely customer-oriented form of technological intervention into personal and commercial finance, and has made its way into various sectors and industries such as education, retail, banking and investment management, to name a few.
FinTech takes apart offerings by traditional financial methods, combines them with the newest technological developments and creates new markets for them. We experience several forms of FinTech on a daily basis- when we use internet banking, or transfer money to a friend for our share of food, make a payment to 7-11 using a digital wallet, withdrawing money from an ATM, and so much more.
FinTech was one of the few industries that thrived during the Covid-19 pandemic. Both consumers and businesses started opting for contactless/ cashless payment methods, and has become the new normal method of transactions- it’s hard to imagine going back to how things were before.
2021 and beyond sees the FinTech revolution gaining even more traction. With new emerging trends such as digital-only banking systems, increasing popularity of cryptocurrencies, the implementation of artificial intelligence and machine learning in banks, to name a few, we expect to see better, faster and improved financial services.