when fintech emerged in the 21st century the term was initially applied to the technology employed at the backend systems of established financial institutions such as banks from 2018 or so to 2022 there was a shift to consumer oriented services fintech now includes different sectors and industries such as education retail banking fundraising and nonprofit and investment management to name a few 
fintech also includes the development and use of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin while that segment of fintech may see the most headlines the big money still lies in the traditional global banking industry and its multitrillion dollar market capitalization paige mclaughlin investopediaunderstanding fintechbroadly the term financial technology can apply to any innovation in how people transact business from the invention of digital money to double entry bookkeeping since the internet revolution financial technology has grown explosively you likely use some element of fintech on a daily basis some examples include transferring money from your debit account to your checking account via your iphone sending money to a friend through venmo or managing investments through an online broker according to ey s 2019 global fintech adoption index two thirds of consumers utilize at least two or more fintech services and those consumers are increasingly aware of fintech as a part of their daily lives 1fintech in practicethe most talked about and most funded fintech startups share the same characteristic they are designed to challenge and eventually take over traditional financial services providers by being more nimble serving an underserved segment of the population or providing faster or better service for example financial company affirm seeks to cut credit card companies out of the online shopping process by offering a way for consumers to secure immediate short term loans for purchases while rates can be high affirm claims to offer a way for consumers with poor or no credit a way to secure credit and build their credit history similarly better mortgage seeks to streamline the home mortgage process with a digital only offering that can reward users with a verified pre approval letter within 24 hours of applying greensky seeks to link home improvement borrowers with banks by helping consumers avoid lenders and save on interest by offering zero interest promotional periods for consumers with poor or no credit tala offers consumers in the developing world microloans by doing a deep data dig on their smartphones for their transaction history and seemingly unrelated things such as what mobile games they play tala seeks to give such consumers better options than local banks unregulated lenders and other microfinance institutions 2in short if you have ever wondered why some aspect of your financial life was so unpleasant such as applying for a mortgage with a traditional lender or felt like it wasn t quite the right fit fintech probably has or seeks to have a solution for you fintech s expanding horizonsin its most basic form fintech unbundles financial services into individual offerings that are often easier to use the combination of streamlined offerings with technology allows fintech companies to be more efficient and cut down on costs associated with each transaction if one word can describe how many fintech innovations have affected traditional trading banking financial advice and products it s disruption a word you have likely heard in commonplace conversations or the media financial products and services that were once the realm of branches salespeople and desktops are now more commonly found on mobile devices for example the mobile only stock trading app robinhood charges no fees for trades 3 and peer to peer p2p lending sites like prosper marketplace lendingclub and ondeck promise to reduce rates by opening up competition for loans to broad market forces business loan providers such as kabbage lendio accion and funding circle among others offer startup and established businesses easy fast platforms to secure working capital oscar an online insurance startup received 165 million in funding in march 2018 4 such significant funding rounds are not unusual and occur globally for fintech startups this shift to a digital first mindset has pushed several traditional institutions to invest heavily in similar products for example investment bank goldman sachs launched consumer lending platform marcus in 2016 in an effort to enter the fintech space 5that said many tech savvy industry watchers warn that keeping apace of fintech inspired innovations requires more than just ramped up tech spending rather competing with lighter on their feet startups requires a significant change in thinking processes decision making and even overall corporate structure fintech and new technologiesnew technologies such as machine learning artificial intelligence ai predictive behavioral analytics and data driven marketing will take the guesswork and habit out of financial decisions learning apps will not only learn the habits of users but also engage users in learning games to make their automatic unconscious spending and saving decisions better fintech is also a keen adapter of automated customer service technology utilizing chatbots and ai interfaces to assist customers with basic tasks and keep down staffing costs fintech is also being leveraged to fight fraud by leveraging information about payment history to flag transactions that are outside the norm fintech landscapesince the mid 2010s fintech has exploded with startups receiving billions in venture funding some of which have become unicorns and incumbent financial firms either snatching up new ventures or building out their own fintech offerings north america still produces most of the fintech startups with asia a relatively close second followed by europe some of the most active areas of fintech innovation include or revolve around the following areas among others fintech usersthere are four broad categories of users for fintech trends toward mobile banking increased information data more accurate analytics and decentralization of access will create opportunities for all four groups to interact in unprecedented ways as for consumers the younger you are the more likely it will be that you are aware of and can accurately describe what fintech is consumer oriented fintech is mostly targeted toward gen z and millennials given the huge size and rising earning potential of these generations 