Understanding FinTech – Part 2 (Financial Service Functions)

From start-ups in California, New York, London, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa, entrepreneurs are applying their creativity and technical ingenuity all along the financial services value chain.

This wave of innovation promises a revolution in the production and consumption of financial services. Aptly combining the words “financial” and “technology” the FinTech revolution promises changes that will democratize financial services.

The FinTech revolution holds much promise. Expected benefits include;

• Consumers who will get more choice, better-targeted services and keener pricing.

• Small and medium sized businesses who will get access to new credit.

• Banks that will become more productive, with lower transaction costs, greater capital efficiency and stronger operational resilience.

• The financial system itself that will become more resilient with greater diversity, redundancy and depth.

• New forms of currency (like Bitcoin) that will change the way we think of and use money.

• And most fundamentally, financial services that will be more inclusive; with people better connected, more informed and increasingly empowered.

Because of its seemingly vast and varied scope FinTech is not really understood by many in the real world, whether they be business executives, managers or staff (who fail to understand what technology can do) or technologists themselves (who have scant knowledge of the practical needs/problems of business and finance).

This three part course is a basic primer to understanding FinTech in all its forms and guises.

In Part 2 we take a detailed view of financial service functions and clusters of innovation in six key areas – Payments, Market Provisioning, Investment Management, Insurance, Deposits & Lending and Raising Capital. We examine each of these functions in terms of the current “clusters” of innovation, the key disruptive trends, the main thrust of current developments and the specific implications for financial institutions.