Financial technology or fintech is a term used to describe any technology that delivers financial services through applications, like mobile payment software, online banking, or cryptocurrency. Fintech meaning is an umbrella term that encapsulates several diverse technologies. However, the main objectives are to transform the way businesses and customers access their finances and challenge conventional financial services.
The term and meaning of fintech were first used to refer to the financial institutions and the technology utilized in their back-end setups. However, over time, its sense has shifted to primarily consumer-oriented services. Fintech now entails fundraising, retail banking, investment management, and more. Around 1.7 billion people around the world don’t have bank accounts, and fintech here pitches in by helping them participate in various financial services without depending on conventional brick and mortar financial institutions.
How did Fintech evolve?
Fintech is no new thing. At least, it is much older than the majority of folks think of it. While the current iteration of fintech solutions lets you pay for regular purchases like coffee with a mobile application, the history of the domain can be traced back to the first credit cards that were embraced in the late 1950s by the general public.
Fintech continually evolved after the credit card and introduced many big milestones into the market like electronic stock exchanges, ATMs, online stock exchanges, and mainframe computers. Every latest technology piece advanced the financial architecture that many people utilized regularly but hardly had to think about.
Nowadays, fintech is challenging the conventional infrastructure as more services shift to new technological models, like employing a payment app on mobile rather than carrying a physical wallet full of physical credit cards. The domain of fintech has transformed countless different markets, most prominently the trading, banking, risk management, and insurance industries. Fintech enterprises, including technology companies, startups, and established financial organizations, use the latest technologies like big data, blockchain computing and edge computing, and artificial intelligence to render financial services more efficient and accessible.
Top fintech examples
- Open Banking: Open Banking is a highly disruptive concept to the banking industry. It utilizes APIs to allow third-party financial services the ability to access financial data, consumer banking, and transactions from banks and non-bank financial institutions.
- Cryptocurrency & Blockchain: Owing to cryptocurrency exchanges, users can purchase and sell cryptocurrency. However, the blockchain offers way beyond that. The platform allows the stay of data on the blockchain, thereby eventually reducing fraud.
- Mobile Payments: Fintech solutions allow immediate money transfer, which is convenient at the same time as you don’t need to wait for many days for a check to be cleared. Some of the popular payment apps are PayPal, Venmo, and so on.
- Stock Trading: Gone are the days when users had to bring a huge amount of money to invest in the stock market.
- Crowdfunding: Crowdfunding allows your potential customers to invest their support in your project and company.
- Insurance: Fintech has made ground-breaking advances in the insurance industry, to the extent that some have even begun to employ the term “insurtech”.
- Online Financing: Online financing helps people to enjoy the flexibility and freedom to buy online and pay for those purchases over time, thereby eliminating the need to own credit cards.
- Budgeting: financial technology solutions allow consumers to track monthly payments, income, expenses, etc., with their mobile devices. It facilitates customers to make better decisions while protecting their confidential financial data.
- Fintech & B2B: Fintech products allow businesses to access a range of financial services solely via mobile technology. BOS services render it possible for businesses to engage with their financial data to enhance their services.
The future of Financial Technology
In the year 2016, fintech startups got $18.9 billion through funding worldwide. Investment in the fintech venture increased threefold and went from $4.05 billion in 2013 to $12.2 billion in 2014, and Europe in the field has become the fastest-growing region globally. So, it is plain that consumers badly want it and that businesses, too, without a doubt, can benefit from it. Failure to embrace advanced technology will hold you back in this cut-throat competition.
So, are you ready to save millions of dollars by entering the fintech industry through enhanced speed management, reducing financial risks, and automating finance and purchasing processes? Grow your business with BOS and take your company to the next level.