Here at FintekNews, we have big plans to bring financial technology more into the mainstream with a greatly expanded media & marketing platform (and btw, if you're interested in investing with us on that, please ping us). In the meantime, we GET that financial technology (particularly that targeting the retail sector) can still be pretty daunting to many folks. Recently while getting a manicure, I overhead another guest simply trying to convince her mother that ACH bank transfers were safe. The mother preferred sending a check. It was quite eye-opening, but that is one reason we launched FintekNews - to simplify fintech, which can be very complex and often very difficult to understand.
That said, a writer at the Financial Times has written a piece citing statistics pointing to a significant lack of consumer trust when it comes to fintech. This only tells us that we are still in the first inning of the fintech revolution, in all its manifestations - digital currencies, robo-managers, insurtechs, P2P platforms, etc. Much work is yet to be done in the industry to gain mainstream acceptance, exposure, and yes - trust.
(Cindy Taylor/Publisher)
What is fintech? “Fintech is seen to be a means of encouraging economic activity, improving industry efficiency and providing better services to consumers.” “Fintech is a vibrant ecosystem in which all the participants have a vital role to play.” “Fintech is gaining traction"...(it) all becomes a little less (in)credible when one discovers the definition of fintech actually used by EY in its report: any one of 17 vaguely digital services involving money transfer, payment, financial planning, savings, investments, borrowing or insurance.
Little wonder, then, that EY found adoption of fintech has doubled in two years to “one in three” people....
Consultants might do better to ask what fintech isn’t. Venture capitalists Blumberg Capital just have. And one answer they got is: “trusted”... Only 4 per cent of borrowers have ever used peer-to-peer lenders, while 43 per cent of UK fintech users worry about being defrauded..."
Full Story at Financialtimes