An Overview of the Evolving Landscape of Fintech: Key Sectors and Trends

Technology has taken the world by storm. One segment that has seen a tremendous and massive evolution is the financial services industry. Today computer technology, communications sector, the finance industry has been also changed, to adapt to the new changes. 

This evolution is mainly driven by change in consumer behavior and better service expectation from the customer. The driver of this evolution can also be credited to increasing use of smartphones and internet accessibility. 

This has led to the rapid rise of the financial technology(fintech) service industry in India. The word Fintech has been around for some time but is now gaining momentum and popularity. What does it mean and how does it work in the ecosystem and what is the future for this segment look like? 

Fintech includes all the companies and products that go the digital and online route for banking and financial services. Customers have easily adapted to the products and services available in this segment because of customization, personalized services and better customer experience. 

The coming together of finance and technology is what falls under the purview of fintech.

Types of fintech services that you should know about

Bank technology 

This includes finance and technological solutions that help banks and financial institutions help meet the needs of the customers that are changing and evolving frequently.

Regulation technology

All technological solutions that help with automation of regulatory compliance. Today regulation is much needed and with technological advancements, automation is a more viable solution, hence the need for better regulation practices in place to avoid fraudulent practices. 

Investment technology 

Investing and personal wealth management today is one of the major segments where financial management comes into play. This uses artificial intelligence as means to advise on financial investing matters. The technology here has come in handy to minimize risk and increase returns. 

Insurance technology 

Today insurance products and instruments are evolving to suit the needs of customers, for insurance companies to capture a larger market share, we see unique products being launched. 

Alternative lending

Today we see a whole new segment of alternative lending options being used to ensure we can support the evolving landscape of the business community and help a build a viable and sustainable infrastructure for supporting the growing and developing economy. 

Digital payments 

Especially during the pandemic, we saw an electronic payment solution becoming a popular method for all segments across all sectors. 

Fintech technology simply refers to companies using technology and software applications to provide financial solutions such as mobile payments to crypto currencies. 

Today technology has made it such that you can access financial management courses online, understand better the evolution of fintech and how it has become relevant in today’s time.

Some examples of fintech include Blockchain and cryptocurrency Mobile payments, Crowdfunding Stock-trading apps and Budgeting apps.

How fintech is transforming India and its financial services 

The financial industry has a range if opportunities and threats at the same time and it needs to safeguard itself from these threats in order to capitalize on the opportunities. 

This is where technology comes in to help fight these threats in order to keep their services fresh, unique and appealing to all customers across various segments. Fintech is becoming a larger part of the financial service industry and business must have the right ecosystem to keep up with the growing demands. 

Let us see how the fintech technology has changed India and the financial services segment:

AI Automation

This process is powered by artificial intelligence. Everywhere around us we see some form of AI automation process being a large part of our day to day lives.  

From chat bots to KYC (know your customer), to even customer services and after care services are to large extent being automated and handled by the AI segment of technology. 

This reduces inaccuracies and faster processing time, hereby enabling financial institutions and banks to enable request faster and with less margin of errors. 

Chatbots are quipped with managing and handling customer service queries better and makes it easier for banks to streamline this process using chatbots. 

This enables them to save time and resources. It’s estimated that chatbots used in the financial sector could save up to $7.3 billion around the world by 2023. 

Digitization 

The days of waiting in long queues to carry out financial transactions are long behind us. Today via a smart phone and internet. 

Financial transactions can be carries out through mobile banking applications. Fintech technology has made it simpler and faster to use financial services via your mobile phones.  

Today from transferring money. to applying for loans and as well as opening new bank accounts can be done from the comfort of your home. 

Security 

Over the last few years, we have seen the fintech technology being applied for security and safety reasons. This includes the implementation of the biometric technology. 

Today fingerprint sensors, to facial id recognition combined with strong passwords, make it difficult to replicate this and thereby providing a safe and secure ways to conduct all your financial activities on your phones.  

Apart from these banks and financial institutions need secure channels of communication be it with customer or internally. The rise of fintech has led to more secure and safe ways on communication channels. 

There are upgraded checked for threats regularly. It also sends warning signals at the mere hint of a threat. 

Blockchain and cryptocurrency 

Blockchain and cryptocurrency have risen in popularity over the last decade or so. This has brought in a slew of opportunities for fintech and the financial sector. 

Block chain is nothing but an open ledger that record and processes all transactions just like a bank. It is more transparent, offers minimal risk due to human error, and removes transaction fees. 

Benefits of fintech

Today with everyone busy in their lives and not enough time on their hands, people are looking for solutions and answers that will make like hassle and stress free. 

This is where fintech comes into play and the one of the reasons for its growing popularity is with ease it brings in conduction financial transactions and accessibility to financial services.  

Some of the benefits of using fintech technology include:

Faster process 

With life becoming so fast paced, the financial services are also now available at the tip of your fingers. Customers do not want to wait in long queues, businesses want to capitalize on opportunities and with evolving times, customer do not have the patience to wait anymore. 

Today the AI technology, combined with bots and machine learning has made the process of providing the best financial services at a faster pace. This is one of the advantages if the fintech services, that requests get processed faster, there is no large waiting time, and minimal margins for error. 

Customization

Today all business and services focus on servicing their customer better and according to their needs. Customization in financial sector has been of the biggest gifts of fintech technology. 

As financial services can now be customized and catered to the personal needs of customers, it has enabled financial institutions to come up with niche and innovative products to suit needs of customers from across various segments.

Safety and convivence 

Technology has enabled the financial sector, to be able to provide security measures to conduct their transactions online. 

Most of the transactions happen through mobile phone and all financial institutions have the safety norms in place to ensure no fraudulent activities take place. These are regularly updated and maintained to ensure security to their customers. 

Financial management and financial sectors have changed from the old traditional ways of working. In order to stay relevant in changing times, they are coming up with new products and services along with a hybrid way of working, combining the old with new, in order to capture the interest of customers and thereby growing and expanding their business. 

Fintech is a product of this and has been growing in popularity along with delivering viable solutions and helping financial institutions focus on customer-oriented services and products. Dealing with finance and technology, and working with companies that will change the way companies and customers perceive fintech, is a rewarding career path to take.

A career in the segment is very lucrative and fulfilling. In order to make a career of give your career the push it needs in financial management, you can always take up online courses in financial management. 

The Integrated Program in Finance and Financial Technologies from Hero Vired is offered in collaboration with MIT and integrates with the MIT MicroMasters® program. It is a detailed in-depth course that can help you understand better the needs of this market, help you understand what the gaps and what could be done to eradicate these gaps.

The program was crafted keeping in mind the need of today and the requirement of the future. In line with that, it is taught by finance experts with decades of experience in equity research, financial services, trading, and more. 

You will also get to work on practical and hands-on projects based on real-world data and industry problem statements. This Finance & Fintech program helps you get a glimpse of the inner workings of the finance industry and find a place in it through the Placement Assurance services.

As this sector continues to grow, better opportunities will also open. As a growing economy needs a strong financial infrastructure, we will see fintech playing a more prominent and vital role in the coming days.