Fintech has started to revolutionize travel and money transfers. More neobanks like N26 and Revolut now offer a fee-free exchange on foreign currency and Travelwise makes intercountry transfers stress free and possible for anyone with a half-decent smartphone. Here’s what you can expect from the world of Fintech-2020.
Where there is money, there is compliance and regulation. 2020 will see an increase in RegTech investment and a spike in the creation of jobs in the RegTech sector. As fintech booms, so does the need for transparency and a need to meet required compliance rules. RegTech is the secret sauce that helps emerging fintech automate standard requirements and handle compliance efficiently. AxiomSL has already announced 100 jobs RegTech jobs for 2020. Expect more to follow suit.
If your bank still has bricks and mortar in the form of a local branch, you are probably hard-pressed to find a human working there. With more services moving online, bank branches are being kitted out with machines and screens that do more with less need for teller assistance. Cash is a rare sight in any bank branch now and checks are almost unheard of outside of business checking accounts. Digital-only is here to stay and it looks set to make more changes to how we bank.
Tech players like Google and Apple have already lined up their pieces and players, aligning themselves with finance houses like Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. Fintech's short history shows clearly that eCommerce is more likely to gain the trust and money of consumers than banks are. Expect to see more big brand names in tech and eCommerce pairing up with financial institutions to offer new and exciting financial products and services.
Following the blockchain lull of 12 months ago that saw the companies having to let people go, blockchain looks set to bounce back in 2020. LinkedIn cites it as one of the most in-demand hard skills of the year. A quick search of Indeed offers up more than 2000 related jobs in the US alone. With big names like IBM, Cisco, and Deloitte offering more roles than anyone else for blockchain engineers and related roles.
Expect to see more fintech giants, and startups, working to address the issues experienced by the many people who have no formal banking. This may come as a surprise to anyone residing in a high-income economy, but there are nearly 2 billion adults worldwide who have no bank account. Unbelievably, Some of these are business owners, working old fashioned systems of cash under the mattress and hidden in the biscuit tin. Poverty and gender are the two top causes of the banking-under-served, 56% of adults with no bank account are women.
Expect to see more fintech giants, and startups, working to address the issues experienced by the many people who have no formal banking. This may come as a surprise to anyone residing in a high-income economy, but there are nearly 2 billion adults worldwide who have no bank account. Unbelievably, Some of these are business owners, working old fashioned systems of cash under the mattress and hidden in the biscuit tin. Poverty and gender are the two top causes of the banking-under-served, 56% of adults with no bank account are women.
Visa has already made strides in finding solutions, pledging to provide “access to financial services for 500 million people who don’t currently have it”. Whilst mobile phone-based microfinancing service, M-Pesa is already providing solutions in East Africa. Vodafone owned, M-Pesa has already been successful in providing solutions for the under-served, providing access to money transfers and payment services. With its heavyweight owners focussed on "extending financial inclusion", it is a fintech name to watch.
In the US, industries, as varied as agriculture to business services, are adopting new initiatives like Gusto that help their employees manage their finances better. Whilst in the UK, London based app fastPAYE has attracted significant investment. Both applications offer a flexible approach to employee salaries that aim to mitigate the need for mid-month loans with high-interest fees.
Like most innovative sectors, fintech will only continue to grow if the real stakeholders - in this case, consumers and businesses - take to what is on offer. 2020 will see many start-ups fizzle out without buy-in and investment. We can expect that only those with stellar communication (with all stakeholders) and thorough ongoing research to stay the distance and see us into 2021.
Michael Dehoyos is an enthusiastic marketer and contributor at Phd Kingdom and Academic Brits. He is the go-to expert for all things finance related and an early adopter of most fintech offerings. Michael can also be found at Case Study Help service.