Whether its shopping for new clothes, buying a meal or coffee at your local café, or taking out a loan on lending platforms like www.xn--forbruksln-95a.com/, financial technology or popularly known as fintech is now universally used.
Fintech has been utilized and applied onto numerous of the latest developments in technology such as payment applications or gateways, lending platforms as well as digital currency.
Merging the newest developments in tech with financial applications and services, fintech has aided and assisted many companies and businesses to provide and deliver financial services that are better and more reliable to consumers and other businesses and companies as well.
What is Fintech?
A portmanteau of the words financial and technology, fintech is utilized to describe an industry incorporating and embracing the use of any form of technology for financial services or management, including applications for mobile payment, peer-to-peer platforms, insurance and investment as well as cryptocurrency to name some.
Fintech, in general, refers to any business or company making use of the internet, computer, mobile or other electronic devices, cloud or software technology to connect and carry out any financial services. Numerous products on fintech are intended to connect the finances of consumers with technology for convenience and ease of use and access, though the word is applied to technologies in the B2B sector as well.
Initially described as technology used in the back-end systems of financial institutions like banks, fintech are now more focused on the consumer. At present, because of the developments in fintech, managing finances, trading in stocks, paying for commodities via this technology is now possible.
As per data from 2016, individuals utilize one to three applications to manage their funds. And as per CNBC, in 2017 alone, investments on fintech shoot up to 18%.
Fintech also cater to the estimated 2 billion individuals without bank accounts globally by providing a smart alternative to take part in financial services that don’t need any brick-and-mortar. Through technology that is user-friendly, fintech then allows consumers to access directly their financial lives.
How is Fintech Used?
So how is fintech used? Here are few examples:
Platforms for Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding platforms permit users to either receive or send money to others. Moreover, these crowdfunding have given businesses as well as individuals to pool finance from a multiplicity of sources in the same platform. Rather than taking out a loan from a bank the traditional way, it is nowadays possible to directly reach out to investors for funding of a project or venture.
Mobile Payments
This generally refers to payment services done over a smartphone or mobile device and works under financial regulation. As an alternative to cash, credit cards or cheque, consumers could now make use of technologies on mobile payments to pay for an extensive array of services as well as commodities.
Budgeting Applications
In 2019, the most widely used fintech technology that consumers use is budgeting apps wherein over the years has exponentially increased in popularity. There was a time when consumers had to make their own outline and template to manage and keep track of their finance. With fintech developing tools and apps for budgeting, with fintech, consumers could now effortlessly as well as efficiently manage and monitor their income, expenses and savings.