Top seven 2020 Fintech trends in South Africa
Fintech is transforming the foundations of financial services, with this in mind we look at the top seven emerging Fintech trends in South Africa in 2020.
Dominique Collett, Senior Investment Executive at Rand Merchant Investment Holdings and the head of AlphaCode details her predictions for the financial services market for 2020 based on global and local industry knowledge.
SME banking
With 2019, seeing the introduction of consumer digital banks, 2020 will see the focus shift to the SME market. Following a US$186mn takeover of Mercantile by Capitec Bank, the industry has shown that it views SMEs and entrepreneurs as vital for growth opportunities.
Shared finances
Stokvels — something which has become an integral part of society in South Africa, serving as a savings scheme. Many insurers are working with the National Stokvel Association of South Africa (NSASA) to offer financial services products. As a result this concept of mutual services will see strong growth.
Bitcoin
Making a return, 2020 will see Bitcoin come into focus. For countries that typically have political instability, a volatile market, high exchange controls and expensive money transfers Bitcoin could be the best use case where cryptocurrencies can deliver significant disruption.
Insurance
Smart insurance — as the use of data continues to evolve, insurers such as Discovery and OUTsurance are harnessing data to reward good driving behaviour, using telemetry data to improve and more fairly calculate their premiums.
Financial inclusion
Expanding financial inclusion, organisations are working to make it easier for informal traders to sell their products. Innovators are bringing alternative channels and platforms to easily connect merchants to suppliers and customers.
Proptech
Proptech, the use of information technology and platform economics in real estate markets. Organisations are harnessing tech-enabled platforms to better rental management, with new innovations expected to emerge in 2020.
Alternative Fintech partnerships
Within South Africa, the region has seen many new partnerships investing in innovations driving the fintech industry. Including Root and Investec launching a programmable bank account for software developers. While Lulalend and Vodacom have partnered to provide SMEs with finance through a digital portal.
SEE ALSO:
- Fintech: bridging the unbanked and digitally excluded
- Somaliland-born CEO of major fintech firm to top Powerlist 2019
- DIFC registers over 100 fintech firms across MEASA region
- Read the latest issue of Business Chief, EMEA edition, here
For more information on business topics in Africa, please take a look at the latest edition of Business Chief EMEA.
