Top 10 Trends in Fintech you’ll see in 2017

Financial technology christened popularly as ‘Fintech’, honestly speaking, has been in existence for decades. It’s always been a disruptive technology, which is changing the conventional models of the trading world in several ways. The last couple of years have been extremely crucial for the financial technology sector, with regulators, institutions, venture capitalists and startups fuelling the growth of the burgeoning ecosystem. Under such circumstances, here are 10 trends in fintech that are expected to take root in the coming days.

1. Increased sophistication and technological collaboration

While 2015 was a watershed year for the Fintech industry, 2016 was the year of consolidation. The trend is likely to continue, with increased sophistication in the available tools for the common investor. Startups will fill every growing niche, and will be recognized as acceptable and trustworthy service providers.

2. Plastic money to be passé

The ubiquitous smartphone is now more important than the physical wallet. Contactless cards are expected to double by 2021. People have already started to ditch their credit/debit cards, as retailers have begun to accept digital payments. Download the relevant app, and you can send and receive payments anywhere in the world.

3. Enhanced mobile security

Hackers are likely to come calling, close on the heels of increased number of smartphone payments. Biometrics will become more omnipresent, as a result. Fingerprint and iris scans will be the norm. The easier it becomes to transfer money through a smartphone, the harder will it be to steal personal information. Biometrics are all set to become one of the major trends in fintech.

4. AI will rise

Artificial intelligence (AI) will contribute in taking decisions, especially in banks. Quite often, banks take weeks to relay a decision to customers. With AI, the time can be considerably reduced. A more intuitive user interface, better customer interaction, robo-advice, and similar technologies are in the offing.

5. Defense to be the new offense

Regulatory tech, or RegTech, is one of the biggest emerging trends in financial services. RegTech companies extend tools and services for automating compliance, and improving identity authentication and management. Though the market is still young for RegTech, companies are scouring ways to improve their defense and go on the offensive.

6. Alpha-chasing bots

Bots on financial advisory services have already enabled a greater level of granularity. They help advisors directly integrate investment communities and enable automation of proprietary investment theses. White-label bots also help clients feed their own ideas into an investment process. Going ahead, bots will be counted among the pertinent trends in fintech.

7. Hassle-free invoicing

Farewell to lengthy payment invoices. Invoice automation is one of the upcoming trends in fintech. Prompt collection of money will be in high demand with payments riding on the back of digital invoicing. Companies will move from merely collecting, imaging, and uploading invoices to ERPs, to where digital signatures will facilitate payments.

8. Fintech crowdfunding to rise

There has been an exponential rise in fintech funding. It’s a hot sector for venture capitalists. Crowdfunding may well steer fintech investment trends in the days ahead. It will help startups collect their working capital. Those who can’t attract big-ticket investments will look for crowdfunding.

9. More virtual banks

Many economically backward countries, that have no exposure to traditional banks, will see a proliferation of virtual banks, courtesy mobile phones and internet service providers. A large section of population in these countries was never exposed to brick and mortar banks. Fintech will drive in banking solutions in these pockets.

10. Blockchain to remain hot

While the “hype” of blockchain will die out due to the time it will take to implement correctly, the potential of the system lies in currency conversions and transactions. Bitcoin could be a game changer in the field of remittances. Insurance and cloud banking may see a greater influence of blockchain as one of the imminent trends in fintech.

It was another exciting year for fintech services. It’s now clear that financial technology is more of an evolution than revolution. Industry sectors must welcome the fintech rather than being critical of it.

Check us out at www.banknovo.com