What’s the future for fintech?
At the Mint Fintech Summit on 23 June, leaders from the sector discussed the current status and future scope of financial technology in an increasingly connected world
Financial technology, or fintech, has indeed come into its own. It has evolved from start-ups disrupting incumbent banks and financial institutions through their innovations to working in tandem with them and strengthening the financial ecosystem—including payments, loans and investments.
At the second edition of the Mint Fintech Summit, held in Mumbai on 23 June, leaders from the sector discussed the current status and future scope of fintech in an increasingly connected world. Here are the highlights of the event:
Challenges ahead for fintech sector as initial excitement wanes
Consumers from unbanked markets have mostly benefitted from the advent of fintech companies, according to panellists at the Mint Fintech Summit held in Mumbai on 23 June. Participants in a discussion on “How fintech is disrupting the financial sector", talked about the challenges that fintech firms will now face as the industry matures and the initial excitement over the disruption wanes. (read more)
Aadhaar and India Stack are revolutionary ideas: Capital First’s V. Vaidyanathan
V . Vaidyanathan, founder and executive chairman of Capital First Ltd, a financial institution specializing in providing debt financing to small- and medium-sized firms and consumers, says going digital is a sure path to success for companies. He buttressed the point by highlighting the explosive growth in the number of connected devices.
“The number of connected devices grew from 0.5 billion in 2005 to 8 billion in 2015. This number is set to grow to 50 billion in 2020 and a trillion in 2030," Vaidyanathan said in his special address on the theme Digitally Disrupting the Financial World, at the Mint Fintech Summit in Mumbai on 23 June. (read more)
Fintech is now an innovator and enabler: KPMG India’s Neha Punater
There is something new in the fintech space every day. Traditionally, it was thought to be a disruptor but now it is an innovator and enabler," Neha Punater, partner and head (digital strategy, innovation and fintech) at KPMG India, said in her keynote speech at the Mint Fintech Summit in Mumbai. “
It (the disruption) has become so with the help of traditional institutions and we must understand that this can only happen on the basis of trust," she said. (read more)
Andhra Pradesh has created an ecosystem for fintech success: J.A. Chowdary
Banking will exist even if banks don’t because of the progress in fintech that can altogether eliminate conventional banking," said J.A. Chowdary, special chief secretary and information technology adviser to Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, in his speech at the Mint Fintech Summit in Mumbai on 23 June.
Chowdary, who was the guest of honour at the event, made this statement (reiterating something Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates first said in 1994) to underscore the fact that disruption and advancement are of the essence in the finance sector. (read more)
Search for frictionless solutions to spur innovation in fintech
Innovation in fintech will be spurred by customers’ search for “frictionless solutions" as they demand seamless movement between transactions with their banks and other financial institutions, concluded the panellists participating in the discussion on Finnovate: Fintech five years hence at the Mint Fintech Summit held recently in Mumbai. (read more)
Data-driven lending to aid micro, small enterprises: Praveen Hari
Data-driven lending by banks and non-banking financial institutions will help bring formal credit to more individuals and micro, small and medium enterprises, giving the sector an edge over moneylenders, according to research by think tank Indian Software Product Industry Round Table (iSpirt).
“With more digital payments which banks and other institutions can track to determine banking and credit history of a borrower, it will become easier to make loans to small shopkeepers, entrepreneurs and agricultural workers who rely on high interest rate informal loans for their credit needs," said Praveen Hari, a fellow at iSpirt, in his special address at the Mint Fintech Summit in Mumbai. (read more)
Where is fintech headed? Seven start-ups chart their course
Financial technology, or fintech as it is better known, began with nimbler start-ups first disrupting banks with their innovative approaches and later evolved with the latter also building partnerships with the banks to strengthen the entire financial services ecosystem. As part of the Mint Fintech Summit held on 23 June in Mumbai, we invited seven such small and nimble companies—that deal with a range of disruptive technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and blockchain implemention—to give us a glimpse of where fintech is headed. Here are brief profiles (listed alphabetically) of these trailblazers. (read more)
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