Financial technology

FinTech is a transformative and “disruptive” innovation occurring within the financial services sector.

PayTech, WealthTech, Capital Markets Tech, and InsurTech all fall under the umbrella of FinTech as an industry; financial technology is not a standalone industry working independently, instead, it comprises several sub-industries creating better and more streamlined services.

PayTech, a term coined in 2018, is short for Payment Technology. A fast-growing industry, PayTech is developing new ways to make contactless payments through applications on mobile devices, cryptocurrencies, and even as wearable technology.

WealthTech is Wealth Management Technology and the digitalization of financial investing. WealthTech is increasingly disruptive as it provides consumers with key tools to become their own financial advisors. Many investment firms are working to integrate this technology to better serve their clientele and expand investment portfolios.

Capital Markets Technology is similar to WealthTech, however, it provides a much larger frame of data to its users and customizable API's. This technology is often paired with AI's that can detect upcoming market trends and how they should be addressed. Many Capital Market Technology companies include CRM's, analytics, risk calculations, solutions, and more within their software.

InsurTech is short for Insurance Technology. This sub-sector of FinTech utilizes data to leverage savings and profit for insurance companies and their customers. Many insurance companies have employed deep learning AI's to remove the need for a broker entirely, allowing a fully customized mix of policies to complete a consumer's coverage at an affordable cost.

FinTech has several technology components, however, some pieces play a larger role in the overall success of the FinTech industry. The ingredients driving FinTech to the top of the financial sector are as follows: Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), real-time delivery, Distributed Ledger Technologies, and cloud-based delivery systems.

API environments are a low-cost solution to development. APIs are constructed as a set of reusable functions, procedures, and various tools. They allow for multiple applications, regardless of language, media, or application type, to communicate in a seamless fashion. This provides consumers with a real-time ability to personalize and streamline their multi-application experiences. APIs also foster a workplace culture of innovation and autonomy as anyone can access the code ingredients and build new applications that may enhance user experiences while maintaining ownership of the resulting application. This keeps companies utilizing API environments at the top of their proverbial “game” leading to fiercer competition and disruption within the financial sector.

Real-time delivery is exactly that, instant notifications, and updates on financial decisions or consumer analytics. This could be a reflection of a purchase made and immediately seeing a notification via smartphone or it could be signing up for a bank account on that same smartphone in a matter of minutes and instantly being able to access and utilize its features. Real-time delivery has become more important as time has passed due to demand. Millennials have empowered a new age of technology where desired results are given nearly instantly and are additionally customizable to user's preferences. Real-time delivery is all about data and the instant ability to use that data to achieve set goals.

Distributed Ledger Technologies are a type of ledger system that has multiple points of data collection that are synchronized across multiple sites, geographies, and institutions, allowing access from multiple people. This system has no centralized location where data is stored making it less vulnerable to cyber attacks and hackers. Additionally, each person with access has their own copy of the ledger that updates in real-time allowing any discrepancies to be managed efficiently. Distributed Ledgers utilize the same technologies as blockchains, which is used by BitCoin as its ledger system. Using a distributed ledger removes all human error providing its clientele with accurate and real-time data.

Provide larger servers, meaning data is computed and managed faster than one central server located onsite. If an online company is not diligent with server capacity, a quick influx of users can easily crash their servers causing delays and unsatisfied consumers, which is where the benefits of a cloud-based system come into play. Companies like Amazon and Microsoft are providing cloud-based delivery to companies around the world large and small.