S. Anand is a senior Techno functional professional with over 2 decades with diverse career chronicle working with cross-functional teams to drive unprecedented profitability while focusing on operational excellence, streamlining business processes and cost. He has extensive leadership and management experience in setting up operations and running a business in high growth as well as transformational phases. Build teams with capabilities to drive results in a fast-paced and continually changing environment with deep understanding of the global finance & technology market and enterprises’ growing digital needs.
FINTECH, a combination of the words “financial” and “technology,” is a relatively new term that applies to any emerging technology that helps consumers or financial institutions deliver financial services in newer, faster ways than was traditionally available.
Everything from a consumer’s ability to go online and see their financial transactions to apps that allow you to pay friends to tools that allow financial institutions to make quick lending decisions are all part of the evolution of financial services. The ability for investors to do their own research, choose stocks and see their portfolio performance in real time is also an example of FinTech in action.
Here are the top 10 technology trends that are transforming the fintech sector.
1.Digital-Only Banking
Banks which lack physical locations and can only be accessed via phone are growing in popularity. These institutions frequently offer all payments solutions, P2P transfers, and contactless credit cards with no transaction fees. It’s an attractive option for consumers who can take care of their finances within the comfort of their homes, skipping the queues and unnecessary bureaucracy. All their finances can be easily managed with a mobile app.
It’s expected that visit to Bank Branches will decrease by half in next 6-8 years and number of digital transactions performed will rise. According to Global Market Insights,, the digital banking market is expected to grow at over 6% CAGR between 2020 and 2026.
For the fintech sector, this enforces a new approach to the tech stack, environment, product strategy, and design, meanwhile creating great opportunities for fintech’s which are already focused on simple, app-based solutions.
2.Blockchain
Blockchain is disrupting the payment industry, and it’s expected to become even more visible in the financial sector, especially in fintech. Blockchain technology enables ultra-secure payments and transactions while eliminating any intermediaries, which significantly reduces costs. The World Economic Forum report states that by 2025, blockchain technology will be responsible for storing 10% of global GDP.
Blockchain can provide the following benefits for the financial sector:
- Fraud reduction,
- Trading processes automation,
- Independent client verification,
- Smart payments,
3.Wider adoption of APIs
Simply put, APIs (short for Application Programming Interfaces) serve as ‘shortcuts’ to building new apps or implementing new features and services to existing ones. While, according to a McKinsey study, 91% of Bank developed API’s were privately held back in 2018, we are seeing a continuous rise in partner and open APIs on the market year over year.
This creates a new world of opportunities for fintech’s, banks, and other service providers to join forces, “share technology, and expand their networks”.
4.Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI is likely to make its way to the operations of financial institutions, which anticipate that AI will reduce their operating expenses significantly.
AI will also help financial institutions manage security. They can then identify threats and fraud risks so they can guard their customers against cyberattacks,
Financial institutions can become more customer-centric because AI allows implementing algorithms to record customer interactions accurately.
5.Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
RPA is a technology that automates some tasks that humans do through digital robots or bots.
The advantages are that RPA does away with the need for resources to perform the tasks and maximizes accuracy.
Many banks have already implemented RPA in customer onboarding, security checks, payment reconciliation, account maintenance, etc.
6.Open Banking
You can regard open banking as the fusion of banks and FinTech that allows data networking among different financial institutions. What makes open banking significant is that it makes information sharing among various financial institutions easier through the online mode. Moreover, it ensures the security of data released by financial institutions.
With open banking, users can manage their financial accounts securely. It also allows users to have a consolidated view of their financial accounts. Thus, open banking makes account management easy and can help users to create wealth efficiently.
With such cards, users can better manage their expenses. And many companies have already given their employees virtual cards.
7.Fintech-as-a-Service & Banking-as-a-Service platforms
Banks are continuously exploring the benefits of partnerships and open APIs. A natural outcome of this market demand is another fintech trend on the list – the rise of “fintech-as-a-service” platforms.
“We are also seeing the emergence of the Banking-as-a-Service model, with more and more companies offering the ability to build other brands their own financial products.
8.Autonomous Finance
Autonomous Finance involves machine learning (ML), AI, and automation to enable users to undergo smooth experiences on mobile portals without requiring type details manually. A virtual banker gets created on the portal that manages and analyses customer’s risks, portfolios, and investments. An AI algorithm reduces the risks of human errors by recommending the best savings and investment options for the customers.
9.Voice-Enabled Payments
Voice assistants–Siri and Alexa—have shown the usefulness of voice technology in our daily lives. And the good news is that you can extend their benefit further to make payments. When more and more people use voice assistants for making payments, voice-enabled payments might become the most preferred payment solution, pushing back the traditional payment methods.
10.Cloud and Big Data Analytics
Banks can use cloud computing to remove repetitive activities and function more creatively. Other resources provide information storage, management, and access. Fintech firms that use stable cloud-based technologies can also assist banks in developing unique solutions for improving customer experiences, personalization, and automation.
Big data in fintech is more than just a fad. It will keep growing at an unprecedented rate in the coming years, owing to the increased adoption of mobile technology and the Internet of Things.
Conclusion
Without a doubt, 2020 was both a tumultuous and game-changing year for the financial sector. Due to the pandemic and the global economic uncertainty it evoked, we’ve seen a variety of new trends emerge on the horizon. Fintech experts particularly emphasize the need for operational efficiency. This entails creating recession-proof business models, updating the pre-COVID-19 tech stack, and finding ways to automate tedious work and make savings.
It is our prediction that the trends featured in this article will dictate the rules of the fintech and banking in the times to come.