The Real Promise of FINTECH
“Fintech’s true promise springs from its potential to unbundle banking into its core functions of: settling payments, performing maturity transformation, sharing risk and allocating capital. This possibility is being driven by new entrants — payment service providers, aggregators, roboadvisors, peer-to-peer lenders, and innovative trading platforms. And it is also being influenced by incumbents who are adopting new technologies in an effort to reinforce the economies of scale and scope of their business models”
Dr. Mark Carney, Bank of England Governor and FSB Chairman
Speech at Deutsche Bundesbank G20 conference
In Nigeria, and indeed in many parts of the world, when you hear Fintech, the very first thing that comes to mind is mobile banking or mobile money. The narrative that Fintech is a killer of banks and traditional financial institution has gone on for far too long; hence, it is not surprising that most people tend to think about payments when they consider Fintech.
However, there’s more to Fintech than bank apps and USSD short codes for sending money to friends, family, and business associates from a mobile device.
What is FINTECH?
Fintech, a shortened form of Financial Technology broadly refers to the application of technology to break down the barriers between traditional financial services companies and their clients. Fintech refers to a deliberate effort to leverage technology especially through computer software and mobile applications to change the products, services, systems, processes, and business models of financial services companies.
Many people often assume that the payment industry is the custodian of Fintech solutions because its front-facing position has a direct impact on personal finances. However, Fintech is not limited to bank apps and mobile money.
Some other forms of Fintech applications beyond the payments industry include Peer-to-peer lending, crowdfunding, Robo advisory, Insuretech, Credit monitoring and reporting, and cryptocurrencies.
Here is where the real promise of FINTECH lies
The Internet has helped the world to make giant strides in becoming one global interconnected village. We strongly believe that the real promise of Fintech lies in its ability to promote financial inclusion for everybody globally, it can’t be regarded as successful until it has created an enabling environment for people to become a part of the global economy on a level playing field.
The current setup of the global economy is lopsided in favour of certain regions — simply because innovations are being driven by private companies — private companies are in turn motivated by potential for profits; hence, some markets and regions are not considered economically viable enough for many products and services.
Cryptocurrencies could unleash the true promise of FINTECH
Blockchain is a disruptive force of unprecedented proportions and it is facilitating some of the biggest changes in the global economics through cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies provide an enabling environment for everyone to be a player in the global economy irrespective of their location, income level, and other differentiating factors.
We strongly believe that cryptocurrencies will continue to open up opportunities for Nigerians, Africans, and people in “emerging markets” to take part in global economic growth. Cryptocurrency is decentralized; hence, governments and corporations will not be able to set up screening parameters to exclude some people from the global market.
One of the reasons many people have not been able to get involved with cryptocurrencies is that the entry and exit procedures are confusing and complicated. We are positioning NGNT to be an invaluable tool for facilitating the merger of fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies.
With NGNT, people interested in cryptocurrencies can see a clear entry point because the platform provides a simple way to fund their cryptocurrency wallet directly from any bank account. NGNT provides instant funding of your cryptocurrency wallet directly from your bank account without subjecting you to a long and uncertain period of verifications.
NGNT also provide people interested in cryptocurrencies a clear exit direction from the market. Some exchanges allow just about anybody to buy cryptocurrencies, but they’ll make it incredibly hard to get your money out. With NGNT, you can easily liquidate your cryptocurrency into fiat currency and have the funds automatically deposited into your bank account.
We strongly believe that the clear, simple, and straightforward entry and exit doorways that NGNT provides into cryptocurrencies will be instrumental in encouraging more people to explore cryptocurrencies. NGNT is shaping up to be a tool for financial inclusion as we work toward unleashing the true promise of Fintech.
