Fintech trends 2019

2019 kicked off as another exciting year for the technology in Financial Services.

The topic that’s been dominating recently in talks with clients and industry specialists is definitely Fintech.Many events and conferences showcase the Fintech start-ups, that really span an incredibly wide range of technologies and applications.

As fans of technology innovation for Financial services, we would like to share the highlights of what has been dominating the conversations on Fintech and what we see as the most interesting trends going forward this year.

• Open banking: the regulatory environment, together with changing customer behaviors encourage financial institutions to embrace the journey towards open banking. Various Fintech players in the market are developing platforms that can allow financial institutions to connect to the broader API ecosystem.
• AI and ML powered platforms to manage core processes, either paper or data intensive; to analyze data either to provide decision-making support or to detect anomalies; to connect to customers, either to increase empathy or provide powered assistance. The ranges of application seem endless!
• Lending platforms: powered by data analytics and seamless process steps between subscription, data collection and analysis, many players are developing lending platforms to simplify the process and reduce lending time.
• Personalized advice platforms, from investment to lending: user experience powered by simple processes, simple decisions to make, simplified reporting, all with captivating UX design to address processes like wealth management, life insurance, loan subscription. These platforms transform a service that for many users seems complex and difficult to dominate, to something straightforward and almost playful.
• Security and identity: very much linked in the process of client onboarding, many companies are developing solutions related to Digital/ Cyber identity, biometric authentication, fraud detection.
• Blockchain: applications of this technology usually have been studied and applied in cases that evolve around contracts, but there are also interesting features regarding the identity management and onboarding processes.
• Payment technologies: ranging from cryptocurrencies, to global account management, to FX management, Fintech in the payments industry offer a broad range of innovative solutions.

As a closing comment we would like to take a moment to summarize the main take-aways going forward. If we were to use an image to describe the current scenario, our thoughts would go to a big city. Imagine a dense, sprawling city that grows each year with new beautiful buildings connected by roads, undergrounds, trains, waterways. So, new technologies and applications arise, connected by new, open ways of system integration.