Financial technology (Fintech) is an economic industry composed of companies aimed at making financial services more efficient and is one of the most lucrative industries for startups as its catching momentum. Companies such as Borowell are becoming increasingly popular with consumers as they charge lower interest rates and there are fewer processing barriers compared with regular financial institutions.
If you go on Borrowell’s website their value proposition is to “use technology to make financial services fast, fair and friendly. We believe that Canadians deserve more choice and more transparency when it comes to their personal finances.” From this they are targeting people rather then cooperations as they said personal finance and their points of difference are creating a fast, fair and friendly financial services through technology that is transparent. This is exactly what consumers want in this industry, a quick affordable way to obtain credit with transparency. Therefore, financial analysts have predicted that regular financial institutions will loose about 60% of their retail sales to fintech according to McKinsey and Company.
This new age of digital finance is going to rapidly change how people interact with their finances. However, I must add that Fintech was seen in Africa much earlier then in Europe and 
America. Countries such as Kenya Fintech is being used through services such as M-PESA and M-Shwari which are mobile based services that allow Kenyans to obtain credit/loans manage their finances and so fourth. Fintech in my opinion was developed in Kenya as a way to provide rural Kenyans access to such services. For more visit my post on M-PESA.
On another note, the conventional financial services sector should be vary of Fintech companies as people today are getting more connected and are looking for easy and affordable ways to obtain credit. I would urge banks to diversify their range of services and consider opening up services that are easier to connect to and that are application based. If I were a banking executive I would move away from universal interest rates and into personalized rates in conjunction with creating more accessible services. As a bank I would then market it is as being more secure and more reliable as they have more capital to maintain services as well as providing other services that Fintech firms can’t such as one on one financial services. This is what conventional banks in Kenya are doing with some even partnering up with services such as M-PESA.
All in all, Fintech in my opinion is the way forward due to the convenience and affordability it provides consumers and many banks will struggle to stay a float if they do not get on this wave before it’s to late.
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Article Link: – http://www.canadianbusiness.com/innovation/the-new-connected-world-finance/
Pictures from: –
http://www.thedbagency.com/?clients/broadcast-production-projects/safaricom-m-shwari.php
http://leave.eu/en/media/2016-08-01/uk-fintech-funding-startups-raised-40m-in-july-showing-brexit-hasnt-killed-the-hot-sector