The rise of the fintech world
Over thirty years ago, people were talking about technology transformation in banking. Today, everyone is talking about digital transformation in finance. The discussions are the same, but the timing is different.
Why is digital transformation so important today when, thirty years ago, it could have been ignored?
The main change is that the internet is far more advanced in 2022 than in 1992. In fact, the major changes occurred in the late 2000s with the introduction of cloud computing and the smartphone. These two technologies created the imperative to switch from physical distribution in stores and branches to digital distribution through software and servers. It created the opportunity to build multi-billion-dollar organizations with trillion-dollar valuations, whilst those wedded to main street withered on the vine.
How have companies with major physical structures adapted and changed?
The answer is that many didn’t. We saw Wal*Mart, Barnes & Noble, Tower Records and more losing to Amazon, and many industries rocked and restructured. Interestingly banking was not one of them. Banking firmly resisted digital change, even with the onset of cloud computing and mobile apps. Having said that, the technology community didn’t. Starting with a small number of start-ups in the 2000s, the financial technology market better known as FinTech grew. In fact, it grew rapidly and, by the end of the 2010s was on fire, with thousands of companies around the world challenging bank structures, operations, processes and markets.
Most statistics that estimate investment in FinTech firms vary and are wildly different, but this chart illustrates how fast the market has been and is growing.
Please fill out the form to access the content
Resource Sponsored By
