What is fintech? How does it affect the users?

Fintech is also known as financial technology. It’s a catch-all term for any technology that's used to augment, streamline, digitize or disrupt traditional financial services. 

 

Financial technology has been around for decades, but over the last few years, fintech companies have revolutionized the way people interact with financial services.

Fintech refers to software, algorithms, and applications for both computer and mobile-based tools. In some cases, it includes hardware, too-- like smart, connected piggy banks or virtual reality (VR) tending platforms. The best fintech companies enable the run of tasks like depositing checks, moving money among accounts, paying bills, or applying for financial aid. They also encompass technically intricate concepts like peer-to-peer lending or crypto exchanges.

 

The financial services sector isn’t typically synonymous with nimbleness. But today, adaptability and quick iteration is precisely what consumers and business owners expect and increasingly need.  

Fintech helps expedite processes that once took days, weeks, or even months, like requesting a credit score report or sending in an international money transfer. There has been speculation about how fintech might help expedite traditionally red-tape-bound processes like distributing economic stimulus funds.  

 

Fintech also holds the potential to improve financial inclusion: in some parts of the world, fintech fills needs for the unbanked, where governmental or institutional support is lacking. 

 

Now you are thinking about whether it is safe to use or not. The idea that the fintech companies adhere to some kind of higher moral standard than the big banks is also proving largely illusory. To date, there is no consensus on exactly how safe fintech solutions are across the board. Such assurances will likely be difficult to come by, given the scope and scale of fintech proliferation. 

 

Fintech is officially a major player in the global economy, business landscape, and fabric of modern society at large. The field is widespread and rapidly growing and it appears to stay here for long.