Top FinTech Trends To Watch Out In 2021

 

Top FinTech Trends To Watch Out In 2021

Progressive technologies like mobile-only banking and digital wallets have pushed customers to embrace the ideas of on-demand finance. The shift to online finance management is prominent today, more than ever.

As a result, the fintech sector is sizzling, with a large number of banks and financial institutions increasing their fintech investments in cutting-edge innovations and technologies to transform the way they deliver financial services.

According to the recent reports of The Business Research Company, the global Fintech market reached a value of nearly $111,240.5 million in 2019, having grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.9% since 2015. It is further expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.2% to nearly $158,014.3 million by 2023.

It is compelling to see that the FinTech market is expected to grow significantly, even further, over the next decade.

What is FinTech?

Short for financial technology, Fintech is an emerging industry composed of banks and finance companies that use non-conventional technologies to support financial services and make them more efficient, secure, and accessible.

This booming technology has shaped key financial areas including insurance, banking, and investments.

Companies across the fintech sector are racing to implement advanced new technologies like cryptocurrencies, automation, artificial intelligence, blockchain, digital wallets, contactless payments, and voice integrations to improve and automate financial processes.

Several reports published by Statista in 2020 show how fintech companies in the United States are valued for millions and billions of U.S. dollars.

The FinTech landscape is changing and how!

The FinTech industry is clearly booming with opportunities.

Here are the top 6 Fintech trends that are going to make it big in 2021:

1. Blockchain Technology

Apparently, this distributed ledger technology is expected to have an enormous effect on the banking sector through 2021 and beyond. It is not only predicted to bring about a global transformation in financial procedures and systems but also their decentralization.

Banks have already started leveraging on this technology to improve their operations, manage large databases, and encourage more secure and transparent transactions.

Some blockchain applications that are already popular with fintech companies include KYC verification, digital records storage and management, smart contracts, and credit scoring, among others.

This evolving fintech trend is certainly going to be more widely adopted by banks and finance companies this year.

A recent Blockchain Market Report by MarketsandMarkets claims that the FinTech blockchain market is estimated to grow from $370.3 million in 2018 to $6,228.2 million by 2023.

2. Voice Search

The future is voice-led!

From smartphones to smart speakers, smart bulbs, smart homes, and other smart gadgets, virtual voice assistants seem to be present in every form today. The majority of American people already use voice search technology to seek information and get things done.

The disruptive technology has stretched into the fintech sector as well. Banks and finance companies are racing to deploy voice searches in their apps to allow users to perform several tasks like requesting e-statements, initiating service requests, pulling up weather forecasts, streaming sports, and making banking transactions, among others.

From Paypal to Royal Bank of Canada, leading banking and financial services companies are integrating voice search into their platforms to transform the way they operate and give their consumers a hands-free option

According to Business Insider’s The Voice Payments Report, 77.9 million voice users are estimated to use the voice technology in banking by 2022.

This fintech trend is certainly going to rise dramatically over the next couple of years.

3. Cybersecurity

With the rise of online business operations as a result of Covid-19, the world has also witnessed a rise in cybercrime. Hospitals and medical institutions are a common target of cybercriminals for malware and ransomware attacks today where the world is still struggling to overcome a major health crisis.

With the rapid rise in cyberattacks, cybersecurity is expected to be massively adopted in 2021 and beyond, especially by fintech companies that deal with sensitive information.

Cybersecurity solutions provide comprehensive digital protection to fintech companies with a range of features like analytics, threat prevention, quick defense mechanisms, compliance, response mechanism, and risk management & monitoring, among others.

The disruptive technology covers diverse security areas including network security, application security, information security, operational security, cloud security, data loss prevention, and end-user education.

Stripe, the San Francisco payments processor company is a good example of a leading financial services company that capitalizes on this technology to combat cybercrime. A report published by Statista shows that in 2020, the valuation of this American FinTech company amounted up to 35 billion U.S. dollars.

4. Digital Currencies

The fintech age is finally here!

Although cryptocurrencies are not very popular among regular banking consumers who deal with the main currency, they are highly adopted in places with unstable currencies. For fintech, this has opened up new markets.

Unlike mainstream currencies, digital currencies are built on a secure, decentralized public ledger, and allow money transfers with reduced transaction costs and hassle.

Digital currencies have made fintech innovation possible.

With the drop in bank visits and shift from traditional ways of making payments, fintech companies are going to embrace the idea of digital currencies even more in the coming times.

5. Robotic Process Automation

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is one of the biggest trends to watch in the FinTech industry for 2021 and beyond.

From claims processing to customer service, accounting, invoicing, and investing, the possibilities for RPA implementation are limitless and exciting in this fast-growing industry. Fintechs can transform their traditional financial establishments by implementing automation in different areas and processes.

With RPA, Banks and financial services companies can anticipate their consumers’ expectations better, turn strings of unstructured data into actionable insights, emulate customer interactions with set instructions, and leave highly-manual tedious tasks on RPA bots.

6. Digital-only Banks

FinTech banks, that provide users with a way to completely manage their finances online, are expected to flourish in the coming years. More and more consumers prefer to choose banks that provide most or all of their services online today.

Digital banking stats by Juniper Research predict that the total number of online and mobile banking users will exceed 3.6 billion by 2024.

Do you know it was FinTech that pushed traditional banks to adopt mobile banking apps that we so commonly use today? But, that’s an old story now.

It is the era of standalone digital-online banking.

New financial start-ups are aggressively adopting the online-only business model to stay on top of the financial world and meet the financial management needs of today’s internet-savvy customers.

Wrapping Up

The fintech trends outlined in this post are constantly evolving as you read this.

SoFi, Avant, Oscar, Square, Jaypee Morgan Chase, HSBC, and Barclays are some excellent examples of fintech companies capitalizing on innovative technologies to drive the fintech revolution.

With this revolution becoming fiercer day-by-day, it has become vital to adopt these groundbreaking technologies and transform the way you deliver financial services.

Jellyfish Technologies is a reputed name in the technology industry that has a proven record of helping fintech companies adopt unconventional technologies and achieve the fintech revolution.