Fintech or financial technology is bringing innovative solutions to improve people’s lives. With superior financial services and advanced features, finance-oriented applications are meeting the unique needs of businesses and individuals. They allow users to do more than even basic banking and help them streamline their finances, control over-spending, track payments, and more.
Considering the positive changes, fintech solutions make operations easier and more efficient. Besides, they can be used for vendors, employees, and customers, making banking quick, simple, and secure.
In this blog, we will highlight some of the top trends in banking and fintech for 2021 that you need to know.
#1. Customer-centricity
In addition to offering quality products and services, fintech businesses need to be customer-centric by creating offerings based on the latest technologies and emerging needs of customers. Here better, digital customer interaction makes a point and works well for financial service providers.
Digital engagement is an important aspect of this changing landscape that banks need to keep up with. And the fintech industry is increasingly focused on providing exceptional customer experiences.
With new-age features and applications, companies will provide unified digital solutions to customers across domains. There are ample opportunities for businesses looking to provide digitally smart, customer-centric services.
#2. Digital-only Banking
It is now more convenient to access a range of banking and financial services. Thanks to digital banking which has made things easier while discarding the need to visit a bank branch. Today, more and more people are using online banking over traditional paper-based banking.
Neobanks or digital-only banks are making a big contribution to this advancement and are driving a positive change in banking in 2021. They operate as product-specific institutions and offer innovative fintech products, personalized services, and seamless banking experiences through a smart digital interface.
#3. Innovation in payment space
The rate of adoption of innovative payment solutions in the retail and e-commerce industry is outstanding. Digital wallets, mobile/QR payments, vouchers, and contactless payments are some of the growing payment methods these days.
As customers move towards cashless payments, these digital payment options will continue to grow and flourish soon. All these innovations are performing well and the number of cashless transactions is increasing significantly. Moreover, the instant payment modes will accelerate the growth of cashless transactions.
Fintech companies are also innovating cashless products and services, such as spend cards or team cards, to better manage business finances.
#4. Open Banking, Open APIs
Open banking connects fintech and banking, enabling access to data across institutions. With the increasing development in open banking technology and APIs, we expect greater acceptance of this trend that delivers a superior customer experience driven by data.
We see traditional banks, fintech, and third parties working jointly to offer innovative services and advanced functionalities that contribute to the growth of digital payments. Open banking creates opportunities for both consumer and commercial finance.
#5 Rise in the Fintech-as-a-Service Platforms
“Fintech as a Service” companies aim to offer financial technology and functions as a service to a variety of businesses that want to use modern technologies to simplify their core processes and increase efficiency. Banks and NBFCs are a few top sectors availing this service.
With improved financial products/services, Fintechs are rapidly transforming the way banking is done with easy integration. And the technology provider is solely responsible for platform development, compliance, maintenance, upgrades, etc.
Banks are continually exploring the benefits of APIs and partnerships, which accelerate demand for “fintech-as-a-service” platforms.
#6 E-Commerce
Post-2020, the market is turning more towards e-commerce as there has been a huge increase in online shopping with security and convenience. Businesses are taking advantage of this new platform and achieving success. In India, more and more people are using e-commerce solutions and prefer online shopping more than ever.
Most importantly, online shopping is beneficial for businesses, banks, and other financial institutions as loads of transactions take place online, generating income for the institutions.
In conclusion
With the exponential growth in the fintech and banking industry, we expect a lot from the above-discussed trends that can bring about significant changes in the industry. From neo-banking to bank-fintech collaboration to open APIs, all these trends and related activities will change the way we bank and operate businesses in 2021 and beyond.
