Here’s when the fintech ventures tripled their global investments to 12.21billion USD. Clearly, since then the fintech industries have taken root in the revolution of digitization and blockchain technology. The early innovators accepted the challenges and the financial services industries took bold engaging steps to get them there.
Accenture reported their insights into the common themes needed for reimagining the fintech sector as openness, investment, and collaboration. Prophetic words and insights!
Cut to the present!
“Fintech banks all set to be scrutinized heavily by relevant regulators.” Is the latest shock to the growing fintech industries.
Fintech ruled the last half decade and emerged the most successful multi-billion dollar worth industry innovation in the financial world which can potentially disrupt and transform the way money is spent.
With the aim of developing faster-advanced systems for payment, the success of Fintech led to real-world banks totally powered by such innovations. Revolut, Monzo and such companies led the revolution’s success and the market was burgeoning with others who wanted to start such fintech banks and numerous applications targeted to make that possible. That’s when the ‘openness’ criterion apparently overstepped its boundaries and the regulators began taking a hard-stance in going slow with the green-light for such banks. Currently, their scrutiny is pretty stringent with the ultimate goal of ensuring fintech banks unscrupulous few do not cheat their customers.
Openness:
Transparency, customer trust, and openness are the core of the revolution where fintech innovation, digital technology and a lot of money is invested. Large organizations have the resources and knowledge capital to engage with such revolutionary technologically innovative solutions and change their culture and organizational structure to scale profitability very rapidly. They invest their assets, intellectual properties, and skilled resources to open up newer areas of services and products where customers are invested.
When the banks and financial services sectors grow explosively there are many who jump onto the bandwagon to unscrupulously make a profit at the expense of the customers. Scrutiny, regulation and heightened awareness is thus natural, essential and should be mandatorily undertaken. The PRA- Prudential Regulatory Authorities has rightly clamped down to take the necessary measures. The yearly approved proposals till Feb 2019 were just 4 compared to 12 licensed proposals in the previous year!
Investment:
Innovation, industrial growth and the promotion of financial systems never grow in isolation. Venture investing, capital markets and such are also invested in such fintech banks and industries. More than ever, the present trend is to focus on the immensely popular and profitable fintech innovations and even governments are not far behind in offering sops to the growing industry.
The decrease in the fintech banks approvals makes it very clear that the PRA means business. James Borley of PRA was quick to clarify that this was not a rap on the knuckles of an industry that is booming. Rather the stringent scrutiny measures are meant to ensure the dubious proposals stay out and transparency and openness encouraged while protecting the investors.
Collaboration:
The platform of fintech is a unique example of collaboration between two areas where traditionally there was none. Technology and finance both traditionally collaborated and shared process within their own areas. Fintech effectively opened up the rush for all industries to collaboratively partner in the quest for newer ideas, market opportunities, reduced costs, and increased value. With the PRA’s action collaboration will now have to be more effective, across diverse industries and outlooks to ensure value generation.
According to the PRA, they are encouraging increased inter-bank competition and will encourage the new bank players with a careful eye on scrutiny measures. The PRA challenges to approval can be easily gotten over with being prepared for ensuring the process does score on openness, transparency and investment protection.
Embracing scrutiny on all the above counts can create the foundation to disrupt their business models. By active participation, they do not need to sideline their core models for challenger non-core models where they could be relegated to the sidelines.
Concluding notes:
It is definitely going to be uphill to get fintech bank approvals from the PRA watchdogs. The very pace and rate of fintech disruption have meant that banks have altered their models to introduce new-age banking and a bouquet of services. Newer banks and services mean a boom in the need for trained professionals, training and better use of data analytics and customer insight.
If you are interested in a Fintech Career try the Imarticus Learning Academy who believes heightened scrutiny always makes better fintech banks.
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