Financial Technology (Part 1)

Financial Technology or FinTech is one of the most promising industries in 2016. FinTech revolution, driven by a wave of start-ups with innovative new business and revenue models, new products and services, is changing finance for the better globally, At the end of 2015 Forbes concluded :

The banking industry is ripe for change with the rise of fintech startups, the growing popularity of blockchain technology, and the dominance of millenials. The industry is evolving and the ever-increasing need to prepare for cybersecurity threats remains top of mind, as bank continue evaluating new threats and potential fraud risks.

Back to 2007, the year that saw the launch of the first-generation Kindle. E-readers were widely available in electronic stores, but there was no real indication that a revolution was about to sweep the publishing industry.

Fast-forward to the present day and both readers and publishers are in a very different place, and sales of e-books have rocketed. US digital book market was worth just USD 0.27 billion in 2008, but by 2015 that figure had risen to USD 5.69 billion. Physical book sales haven’t collapsed; what we have seen is digital publishing taking a rapid route from the periphery of public consciousness to the mainstream in less than 10 years.  The e-book is now part of our lives.

The world’s major retail banks still dominate the financial services landscape, providing the deposit, payment, and credit facilities that we all use and take for granted, but they are no longer the only players in town. Today’s online shopper might pay with a debit card but equally they might choose PayPal. The business that would once have relied on its bank for credit can now borrow from peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms or specialist lenders.