Should You pursue a career in a hedge fund or a fintech startup?

 

To answer this question, we must remember that the operational frames of banks, hedge funds, software companies, and financial consultancies differ greatly and impact the roles when working within areas like Big Data research, financial services, and sellable products. This affects the type of work done, the people they recruit and promote, and of course the opportunities they generate. Let us understand these choices a little better to decide based on a logical thought process. 

Hedge Funds:
Hedge funds are research-based institutions. The aim here is to understand defined financial markets for a specific purpose at all levels micro, macro, micro, and nano. To provide the best solutions and financial strategy and make that into a sellable product for investors is the ultimate aim.

You will need to be good at figures, statistical analysis, mathematics and have great inquisitiveness, perception, and attention to details and figures if you want to excel in this field. The hedge funds pace is set by financial markets they research and operate in. Hence expect seasonality and waves of workflow intensity in this job role.

Banking sector:
The banks service investors and institutions including the hedge funds. The focus areas are sales oriented and aggressively client dependent on customer services, rates of interest and user experiences.

Communicative skills, polish, suavity, thoroughness, and great presentation skills are crucial in the job roles in banks. Investment banking would provide a better concept and maturity in business-values if you have done market studies and research for a hedge fund. This role is a fusion of customer first and a thorough knowledge of financial analytics.

Fintech sector:
A fintech startup cannot be compared to banks and hedge funds. The software industry is the link between fintech startups, hedge funds or banks. Their environments are incomparable and goals different. The fintech startup aims for traversing the startup phase, become a stellar successful software company and then think of its IPO or selling company shares.

Software firms:
A software company, on the other hand, would be into developing marketable products and services and can connect to the financial sector, banks, hedge funds and fintech companies with its products. They should be classified as software engineering enterprises which require a mechanical and precise skill set.

The end products differ in each of the above. It would be best to make a career based on your aptitude for the end products in these sectors rather than look at the entire gamut of sectors as a viable career option. Here is some information that can enable a decision.

Industry payouts:
The highest compensation can be expected from hedge funds. Banks offer reliability and advancement of career paths through their payouts are relatively fixed and lesser than in hedge funds. Fintech startups are very selective and offer high payouts for skilled persons. One must be highly trained and lucky to land jobs or make a paying career in Fintech startups.

There are very few large fintech companies offering huge payouts. Angel investors track many of the fintech startups and landing those super high payouts means working full time and more in the race to out-perform peers, make wise choices of investments, and having a great amount of luck.

What you need to do to decide your career path is to
•Have the far-sight to go beyond the financial aspects.
•Study blockchain technology within the industries environments
•Learn more about specific teams and their functioning.
•Do fintech courses to equip yourself 

How did Fintech do in 2018 in India?

Just like the previous two years have been, 2018 was a big year for the Fintech industry in India. This sector has grown with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 22%, which is about three times the GDP growth rate of the country, in the last year alone. The Fintech sector is one of the most rapidly changing sectors in the country today.

While it was somewhat dormant just a few years ago, the sudden drought in cash brought on by demonetization in November 2016 gave this industry a huge boost with the number of online transactions increasing exponentially by the day. As such, Fintech has been at the forefront of rapid economic growth in the last couple of years. Let us look at a few of the major developments that happened in the space in 2018:

  • The banning of Cryptocurrencies

The Reserve Bank of India shocked all of the cryptocurrency marketplaces in India with a sudden order banning all cryptocurrency transactions in India. This order banned all Indian banks from taking part in any transactions involving cryptocurrencies and dealing with firms who use them. This happened at a time when the value of cryptocurrencies was at a peak and disgruntled a lot of investors in India wishing to enter the space. However, this ban could not have come at a better time considering the fact that the cryptocurrency market decreased by half and lost almost $200 billion in value within the next two months.

  • The Growth in Mobile Wallets

In light of other direct payment options like UPI, the growth in transactions involving mobile wallets has gone down compared to last year. As such, these mobile wallet companies are adding new and more exciting features into their services and forging tie-ups with other service providers like e-commerce platforms and cab service providers to continue being relevant in the field. Many of them have also introduced UPI within their mobile wallets to make them more easy to use and convenient for customers. Paytm’s UPI payments alone saw a growth of 600% in the last six months of 2018 alone.

  • Increase in Online Lending Platforms

The number of online lending platforms has steadily risen in the country during the last few years. Between 2015 and 2018, the share of online lending platforms in NBFC’s (Non-Banking Financial Company) has increased to twice the previous share showing a 35% annual average, while the loan share of traditional banks in MSME’s (Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises) decreased from 95% to 90% within the same period. This growth in online lending platforms can largely be attributed to the vast improvements made in the fields of artificial intelligence and data analytics.

  • Collaborations between traditional banks and Fintech companies

Considering how the Fintech sector has managed to overtake the traditional banking system when it comes to offering new and improved services to the customers in the country, several banks have now joined hands with Fintech companies to offer their customers better services. Fintech courses have managed to make the processes of automating services, acquiring customers, credit profiling etc. much easier and more efficient for traditional banks.

Are Fintechs Really An Enabler For The Traditional Banks

Fintech or Financial Technologies is the new branch of technology that aims to improve and automate the delivery of financial services. In the beginning, Fintech was employed for the back-end applications of the financial institutes.

But, since then, the technology has taken a diversion towards the consumer-oriented services. Fintech is expected to change the face of the banking sector in the next two decades. Whenever a new technology is introduced, a battle for the market domain is typical between the old guards and new entrants. The story is not different for Fintech.

So many organisations are out there with an opinion that Fintech is going to make a negative impact on the traditional banking services. This article discusses how the Fintech is going to act as an enabler to the traditional banks rather than being a challenge.

The Technological Challenges: Past and Present

In the past, the financial institution has proven to be slow towards the innovation. Yet, showing great resilience towards the challenges in the past. More than 450 attackers such as digital currencies, networks, wallets etc. attempted to challenge the traditional institutes in earlier days. Fewer than 5 of them have survived to the date. Other than PayPal no one has really disrupted the banks.

But the time has changed. The modern markets and new generation banking customers are promoting the new age financial services. Various reports are suggesting that millennials are more faithful towards the Fintech companies than the traditional banks. The expectations of customers are on the rise, and it is favouring the Fintech companies. With the evolution of the digital economy, the rise is expected to continue.

In short, the transformative forces are seemingly unstoppable with the current social environments. The traditional banks need to elevate their digital experience to survive. However, a complete one-on-one competition between traditional banks and Fintech companies is not going to take place.

The Collaboration

The progress brought by the Fintech companies presents large opportunities for the traditional banking institutes. Rather than disrupting each other, a collaborative movement can benefit both banks and Fintech companies. Following are the few important ways how Fintech can be used to improve the banking services.

Reduced operational costs – The efficiency of staff and other elements can be increased through Fintech thereby reducing the operating cost.

Expansion – The limitations of the legacy systems can be overcome through the Fintech. This competitive advantage can be used to expand the organisation into foreign markets and new customer segments.

Revenue Growth – The Fintech can be used to scale the less capital-intensive business such as insurance and wealth management.

The Fintech also needs these collaborations to succeed. The regulatory challenges and difficulties with scaling the customer base are a great barrier for Fintech companies to overcome. Many researchers believe a “better together” policy is going to profit both players rather than a stealing business strategy.

Clearly, the young generation of banking customers is in need of a better digital experience. It has led the traditional banks to collaborate with these Fintech companies. With banking giants recognizing the potential of this new branch of technology, the demand for well-equipped experts is expected to reach new heights. You can prepare for this lucrative opportunity ahead through various Fintech courses available.

Should You Do Masters in Fintech or Digital Marketing? Why?

Fintech and Digital Marketing are the latest buzzwords in new professions. These are coming-of-age roles ushered by the advent of the internet. Since the internet is the go-to medium for every geography and demography, creating the medium first and then the content has become a large and significant part of this eco-system.

Fintech

The study of technology that is related to finance is known as Fintech. Fintech comes as there placement from the traditional financial services. This technology is dedicated to improving the finance sector. Now it has to be noted Fintech is being used in established organizations and startups to have a growth in their financial sector. 

Thus a person with knowledge of Fintech courses is likely to get a job over a person who only knows the basics of traditional marketing. Some of the subjects that are involved in Fintech courses are:

Robotics
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Cryptocurrency
Advanced Analytics
Digital cash and open banking
Hadoop

Further, if you don’t have time to learn in all these subjects by attending an institution,then you can always opt for Fintech online courses. Some universities like the offer these courses online which comes with a 15-week time frame. 

Fintech online courses offered by this university focus on important areas like implications,valuations, risks, and startups.

Digital Marketing

The use of electronics and the internet to promote a business can be termed as digital Marketing.  In this type of marketing channels like email, social media, the search engine is used to attract traffic. Start-ups who need potential leads need digital marketing at all cost since they have limited resources and are fixed with a tight budget.Some of the courses that are available in digital marketing are:

Website planning
Search engine optimization
Lead generation
Social media  and email marketing
Knowledge of Blog through Ad Sense

Choosing the Right Program for Yourself

Digital marketing and Fintech both have their USPs but if a choice has to be made, then going with Fintech would be a better choice. The things that you will get to know by studying Fintech are all related to future employment. Nowadays companies are in dire need of hiring professionals who know robotics or data analysis. 

There are so many digital marketers but a very few people who have the knowledge of Fintech. Over the next few years,Fintech will have some massive growth and salaries for this job will reach sky high. 

Some of the companies now regret the fact they have invested too much in digital marketing rather than paying attention to Fintech.  Big data management is very important since the internet is growing at a nonstop rate, for this knowledge of Hadoop is important which is again offered by Fintech courses.  Furthermore, digital marketing is not as difficult as learning Fintech. So concentrating on a tougher course is a good option for being successful later.

Conclusion

From the above points, the reader gets a clear idea about both the courses and which one is better. While one is ruling the present market (digital marketing) the other is likely to rule the future market (Fintech).

Are Fintechs Really An Enabler For The Traditional Banks

Fintech or Financial Technology is the new branch of technology that aims to improve and automate the delivery of financial services. In the beginning, Fintech was employed for the back-end applications of the financial institutes. But, since then, the technology has taken a diversion towards the consumer-oriented services. Fintech is expected to change the face of the banking sector in the next two decades.
Whenever a new technology is introduced, a battle for the market domain is typical between the old guards and new entrants. The story is not different for Fintech. So many organisations are out there with an opinion that Fintech is going to make a negative impact on the traditional banking services. This article discusses how the Fintech is going to act as an enabler to the traditional banks rather than being a challenge.
The Technological Challenges: Past and Present
In the past, the financial institution has proven to be slow towards the innovation. Yet, showing great resilience towards the challenges in the past. More than 450 attackers such as digital currencies, networks, wallets etc. attempted to challenge the traditional institutes in earlier days. Fewer than 5 of them have survived to the date. Other than PayPal no one has really disrupted the banks.
But the time has changed. The modern markets and new generation banking customers are promoting the new age financial services. Various reports are suggesting that millennials are more faithful towards the Fintech companies than the traditional banks. The expectations of customers are on the rise, and it is favouring the Fintech companies. With the evolution of the digital economy, the rise is expected to continue.
In short, the transformative forces are seemingly unstoppable with the current social environments. The traditional banks need to elevate their digital experience to survive. However, a complete one-on-one competition between traditional banks and Fintech companies is not going to take place.
The Collaboration
The progress brought by the Fintech courses presents large opportunities for the traditional banking institutes. Rather than disrupting each other, a collaborative movement can benefit both banks and Fintech companies. Following are the few important ways how Fintech can be used to improve the banking services.

  • Reduced operational costs – The efficiency of staff and other elements can be increased through Fintech thereby reducing the operating cost.
  • Expansion – The limitations of the legacy systems can be overcome through the Fintech. This competitive advantage can be used to expand the organisation into foreign markets and new customer segments.
  • Revenue Growth – The Fintech can be used to scale the less capital-intensive business such as insurance and wealth management.

The Fintech also needs these collaborations to succeed. The regulatory challenges and difficulties with scaling the customer base are a great barrier for Fintech companies to overcome. Many researchers believe a “better together” policy is going to profit both players rather than a stealing business strategy.
Clearly, the young generation of banking customers is in need of a better digital experience. It has led the traditional banks to collaborate with these Fintech companies. With banking giants recognizing the potential of this new branch of technology, the demand for well-equipped experts is expected to reach new heights. You can prepare for this lucrative opportunity ahead through various Fintech courses available.

How to Start a Career in the Blockchain?

In the past three years, blockchain has presented itself as the next generation solution for many of the problems faced by the tech world. Recognising its potential, various governments and industry titans have provided powerful endorsement to this technology. Blockchain was developed as an underlying technology for cryptocurrencies, and right now it is being adapted to a large number of industries.
Health care, financial technology, real estate, supply chain, logistics and education are a few sectors who are adopting this technology to make an improvement. With demand for blockchain rising day by day, the career opportunities are also looking very bright. The TechCrunch report suggests that there are 14 job opening for each blockchain developer. So, how do we prepare for this huge opportunity lying ahead? We will discuss in this article.

Education in the Blockchain Technology

Since the blockchain is still in its early stage of development, the career path in this technology is going to be very different from others. With blockchain continuously evolving, you will have to improve your skills regularly. The following steps will help you start a good career in the blockchain.
Understanding The Basic Concepts

The understanding of its unique value proposition is the basic building block of blockchain education. Features such as decentralisation, smart contracts and Dapps are not just buzzwords. They are the elements of the blockchain. An intimate understanding of these features is necessary for a successful career in the blockchain. Technical skills such as JavaScript for website development and Solidity for the development of smart contract can be beneficial to excel in Fintech career.
Some Cryptography Lessons
Cryptography has been picking up popularity with more and more assets moving online. Blockchain’s ability to protect and secure online assets is primarily a function of cryptography. Organisations are seeking skilled cryptographers to upscale their cybersecurity. A high-level Cryptography course from any reputed online sources will equip you with the necessary skills for this.

Distributing Computing Theory And Its Applications

With reliability and security emerging as most pressing worries, distributed computing is the solution offered by blockchain. Even though the applications are limitless, the technology is not yet ready for commercial use. The deployment of this tech is delayed by the excessive energy consumption of these systems and so many other issues such as scalability. But, as a student of blockchain technology, you will have to understand this technology and develop solutions for its successful implementation.

Reach Out the Blockchain Community

There are hundreds of cryptocurrency projects happening around. You can use them as an on-job-training mechanism. Reach out to some reputable, verifiable start-ups and provide your service and intake the valuable lessons from these experiences. Starting this way will give you the leverage of both work experience and networking with the right people from the industry.

Make Your Own Path

The blockchain job market offers a huge amount of opportunities, with a proper skillset and attitude anyone can make use of it. Rather than investing years at an academic institute, the DIY steps above will help you find a prominent position in the ongoing blockchain revolution.

The Skills You Need To Excel In This Fintech Era!

Nowadays, our financial sector has been witnessing the digital evolution, and as a result, the era of FinTech has begun. To reform the financial sector, the FinTech industry offers a variety of services such as SME finance, online Peer-to-Peer lending, crowdfunding platforms, trading management, cryptocurrencies etc. With a great potential to grow, the FinTech business is promising large profits and opportunities to the aspirants. Capitalizing this lucrative opportunity lying ahead requires certain skills.
This article sheds light to few of the skills you will need to shine in the FinTech era.
Finance Vs Technology
The FinTech industry needs people to use technology to resolve the biggest problems in financial services. So, if you have a keen interest in technology, a sound finance background isn’t really necessary. Especially when it comes to core development, an aptitude for technology is considered more significant.
However, for the roles that are more related to the business side, you might need some knowledge of financial concepts. But it is not something to be worried about since many FinTech courses are out there to help you.
The Technical Skills
To excel in the expanding FinTech industry, the following skills will help you.
Blockchain and Distributed Ledger – The explosion of cryptocurrency industry is offering more and more opportunities for experts in Blockchain and Distributed Ledger. As the underlying technology of cryptocurrency, it is already one of the most sought-after skills in the industry.
Programming Skills – The FinTech needs mobile applications, websites and full-stack platforms to realise the innovation powered FinTech Industry. Software engineers who can develop these will benefit from this need.
Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning – When the FinTech redefines the financial services, a huge number of people are going to be associated with it. The amount of useful data generated is also going to very high. To scrutinise and analyse the data, experts of technologies such as machine learning, Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning are needed.
Cyber Security Expertise – The FinTech companies are well aware of the cybercriminals and importance of security measures against them. With the cyber attacks becoming more sophisticated and recurring, the need for cybersecurity experts is ever growing.
The Skills You Need Besides the Technical Skills
Yes, the technical skills are important. But in a diverse, complex and fast-changing industry like FinTech, the following skills are also required.
Problem-solving ability – When you work at the forefront of the financial sector, There would be a constant need for improvement in the system to efficiently handle the huge amount of data with reduced risk. The key thing to do in such situations is to understand the problem, break it down to basic elements and solve them with the technology.
Communication skills – As a FinTech personal you will have to communicate with brokers, traders, business analyst, fellow technologists so and so. Despite who is your client, you will have to explain the aspects of your project clearly and concisely. Engaging with these clients are necessary to understand their problems.
Teamwork skills – At different stages of a project, you will have to work with different people. Keeping a good relationship with the fellow workers is important to handle the pressure and tight deadlines of the project.
Now we know what it takes to have a successful career in the growing FinTech sector. Doing an internship with banks or other financial institutes will help you with the lack of financial soundness. To be up to date with the technical skills, a lot of FinTech courses are available today. With great opportunities and success waiting ahead, the effort is indeed worth it.

What Makes A Good Fintech Lab?

Fintech labs or companies which come into existence with the sole vision of providing easy financial access to people across all strata of life. Fintech startups provide power to the lending ecosystem through various technology thus minimizing the need of intermediaries.

Top Features That a Top Fintech Lab Must Have

Since the fintech companies are all startups, it is highly necessary for them to first understand the traditional banking system and the challenges that it suffers with. Once that is understood these fintech labs need to get some good funding to be able to sustain themselves in this competitive market. With that done their first and foremost goal should be to remove the friction that the common people face while banking through the traditional banking system.
The second most important feature of the fintech companies is that they should create affiliate services. These fintech startups don’t really attack the traditional banking system, instead they try and work around the issues that the banking sector deals with and with the help of technology works towards bringing about a change. Examples of two such fintech startups are – Square and Simple.

Focus on the team is another very important thing that these startups need to keep in mind. With a strong core team which is even resilient, these fintech labs can grow in leaps and bounds and even go ahead and make relevant connections in the industry.

A good fintech lab must also have a team which along with having people a degree in fintech courses, it must also be an amalgamation of people from various sectors and disciplines of study. Mixing the talent pool is the key! This would help in bringing together some of the best minds from all over thus, in turn, helping in reinvention.

Also, one must not fear to put ideas into action even at the cost of a few trials and errors before something scalable comes up!

A good fintech company would also know its regulator(s) thus confirming to the fact that these companies know what they are in for. These companies would also not make the mistake of focusing exclusively on selling to banks. Instead of competing with them and creating a separate client base is what which is needed to grow in this field.

Banks, in fact, create a lot of bureaucratic and regulatory issues hence working hand in hand with them by the fintech companies tend to become next to impossible.

Lastly, a successful fintech startup would always value data over money! Focusing purely on a digital exchange of data will help in making the company go a long way in the industry. After all, it’s the data be it the data of customers or money made by competition, information such as these always helps businesses stay a step ahead of their rivals.

In fact with the focus on data along with the help of technology, one can create whole new business models around those which the traditional banking system fails to do largely.

10 Easy Ways To Facilitate Innovation In Fintech

Fintech is being touted as being ready for disrupting and has a lot of financial investments riding on its back. Fintech is what it suggests, a bit of finance and technology. The financial transactions sector finds immense uses for its services and the advantageous blessings of blockchains. This growth in the Fintech sector fuels the gap of the demand-supply position for aces and the trained professionals while driving their payouts to very high levels.
Uses of automation are at the forefront. Fintech companies use technology and automation to the hilt to satisfy customer needs in the financial sector which employ state-of-art financial processes and have moved away from older processes through inducing effective automation. Innovation occurs constantly in the sector and several measures are in place to give Fintech the edge for innovation. Startup hubs, incubation facilities, disrupt forecasting and several such incentives make it attractive to ride the wave of fintech innovatively. Traditionally banks and financial services especially payments were stuck with ennui. Paypal was one such disrupt recently reported disrupt.

Here are some areas and ideas for fintech innovation

1. Digital real-time financial transactions:
The banking sector transactions take 3-5 days to do a simple cheque clearing within India. Global payments take longer. Fintech courses can help you exploit technologies for online digital payments that are near instantaneous and secure too! Innovatively managing financial transactions in a variety of sectors like banks, insurance, real estate, and other financial transactions are a wonderful opportunity to exploit. It is now possible to use technology like blockchains and pay in a moment with current balance and managing your account made childishly simple. No further fees for drafts, statements, or transactions online!
2. ML and AI adaptations:
A completely virtual and digital world is plausible with better algorithms in ML, better storage facilities like cloud services, and faster hardware that is compatible across platforms and keeps customer needs in mind. And it is the way to go for the ‘Digital India’ initiative. AI and ML can be an exploitable chance for those services which include customer service chatbots, better-scheduled payments, payment options, products that are block-chain based, exposure to new services like the cloud, and those that leverage data to provide efficient business and financial operations.
3. The Industrial canvas:
The industrial scenario itself is moving online and using cloud storage for data. Fintech has the potential to use these opportunities to leave its mark on multiple sectors and verticals. Online transformations, customer service, logistics, supply chain management, digital payments, cloud concept, blockchain technology adaptation and more will pave the way for industrialization to reap Fintech benefits when handled innovatively.
4. Financial services in lending and borrowing:
Online portals are fast replacing the traditional one-to-one networks of lenders and borrowers. Extending this concept buyers and sellers can be matched in the real-estate segment, compatible persons can chat on matrimonial and dating sites, sites like NoBroker, BankBazar, PolicyBazar and such can get you a house for rent, loan online or insurance policy at the click of the mouse. The concept is elastic and flexible to innovate with and has gained customer trust very rapidly.
5. Wealth Management field:
Opportunities abound in managing wealth. Investment planning and better returns especially later in life make a huge difference and form a corpus of funds that are being exploited as SIPs, equities, stock and share trades, and mutual funds. Lack of investment advice was a deterrent thus far. Today Fintech industries can exploit the services of advisors, secure data and wealth storage facilities, virtual management plans and even education itself. Take the lead offered by online training courses services offered. Fintech can make all these possible and profitable too!
6. Networks of Cryptocurrencies:
Virtual cash that can be traded in for services form the basis of the cryptocurrency network. The idea is still in its infancy and worth legally exploiting because of its simplicity, secure transactions, excellent record-keeping, encrypted keys, and a distributed ledger system free of intermediaries and truly decentralized.
7. Currencies like Bitcoin:
The cryptocurrency of BitCoin ushered in the latest technology of blockchains to offer customer-centric virtual money that was decentralized and immutable because of its distributed ledger. Though illegal and banned to the grey-net areas in India the technology and concept are still exploitable for government subsidy distribution, verification measures, biometric networks etc.
8. Technology innovation of Blockchains:
The distributed ledger, immutable record keeping, encrypted time-stamped transaction and lack of intermediaries have allowed this technology to rile the roost of new technologies. They have also spawned innumerable applications using the technology to make digital payments and virtual financial management a reality. This technology is bound to be adapted by one-and-all and across all verticals of the industrial scenario wherever money may be involved.
9. Measures for risk: Risk management and constant monitoring of prices, trends, and asset values opens the field to technology that can boost customer confidence in financial services while sticking to the standard rules. Regtech itself for data, patents, share prices, stock markets and such applications can digitize and automate activity and thus reduce crimes like compliance factors, frauds, money-laundering, fake transactions, illegal money, and more.
10. Transactional Platforms:
While the Ethereum technology is heavily borrowed from the blockchain and Bitcoin technology it also offers to remove intermediaries and provide a platform involving blockchain technology for financial payments, digital gateways and encrypted record keeping fields. The Ether token is used for transactions and is bound to cause a disrupt in the banking sector. There is also a legal complication in India with cryptocurrencies being not considered legal tender.
Conclusion:
The doors to innovation in the Fintech industry are wide open. Do a course in fintech innovation from a reputed institute like Imarticus to get ahead profitably. Their courses score and their certifications are widely accepted in the industry. They also ensure you get the right mix of theoretical concepts, practical hands-on experience on real-time real-world projects and certification that endorses your practical skills as being measurable and job-ready. Why delay such a logical path?

How Is Fintech Disrupting Traditional Banking?

One of the common buzzwords that seem to have taken over the banking industry off late is Fintech. The word simply refers to using technology in all aspects of financial servicing and its functions. It is mainly seen as the replacement to all paper-driven tasks and processes, which take up a significant chunk of the banking industry.
Fintech was initially used for office functions with software used to control and manage transactions, handle personal accounts, manage databases and more. Today, however, fintech has completely transformed and changed the way banks operate. Fintech has become a vital part of customer-facing processes with every digital transaction, now available on the customer’s fingertips. Be it stock investments, transferring money, shopping, forex or even opening a bank account, FinTech is at the forefront of it all.
Here are a few ways fintech is transforming financial services in a huge manner:

Chatbots

Chatbots are software which have been coded to apply machine learning and natural language processing techniques to learn from interactions with humans. It has become a very popular tool, and banks are using it judiciously for a wide range of customer-facing processes like directing customers to departments or handling simple queries. One of Japan’s biggest banks is releasing a chatbot which aids customers to find any relevant information, directly on their website.

Blockchain

Blockchain is seen as the future of banking and as a primary disruptor in the FinTech industry in general. It uses a digital public record of transactions that is decentralised, unchangeable and anonymous. Instead of depending on a bank to maintain a private database of any records, blockchain fintech technology releases all records to the public. The impact it could have is touted as revolutionary and life-changing.

Personal Finance

Personal finance was seen as an industry that was wholly controlled by most of the major financial institutions. There are companies, however, that are making it more transparent and affordable. There are online platforms and even cell phone apps which aid businesses develop budgets, file taxes and invest and more. FinTech courses also allows people to track their expenditures on a daily basis and scan through their financial status whenever needed.

Payment technology

There are a wide array of payment technologies which allow individuals to transfer their money via the internet. By simply using smartphones and the NFC tech, payments can be completed in a flash. These services eliminate the need for a debit and credit card and even cash!
Thus, the FinTech industry is here to stay with many innovations looking to change the way individuals bank.