Arguably the hottest sector on the planet, fintech continues to roar while 2022 promises to be a banner year for new business models based on financial technology.
What can we expect in the coming year?
A Year of New-Traditional Collaboration
Ever since fintech application began to impinge on the territory of traditional banking, industry observers have been wondering how old and established banking institutions would react. For example, a young entrepreneur can now skip a bank entirely and raise money via a fintech crowdfunding campaign. That same entrepreneur might also ignore a bank in favor of establishing his or her own fintech merchant account.
But the truth is that big banks have never been worried about fintech eating their lunch – just the opposite. They are embracing it and see it as the future of banking. They’re not going to fight fintech, they are going to collaborate more. Established financial institutions see fintech start-ups as a rich source of new revenue streams and as a way to enhance their own mission.
The major fintech buzzword for 2022 is: “Collaboration.”
Payroll Fintech
To date, fintech has been focused on developing payment infrastructures between consumers and sellers. Now 2022 is expected to be the year when fintech enters the payroll sector in a big way. Employees can now expect to see compensation options like “salary on-demand,” and early direct deposit into their personal fintech set-ups. It’s going to make collecting a wage or salary far more fluid and convenient.
Buy-Now-Pay-Later
It’s not a new concept, but when applied to fintech, buy-now-pay-later is simply huge. New operators like Afterpay and Klarna offer multiple ways for people to buy what they want right now with no money upfront. The system is set up for automated payments to be made at periodic future dates. Consumers love it. Those merchants who are adopting buy-now-pay-later schemes are enjoying explosive growth.
Digital Banking Only
Digital banking has been with us for some time. However, in terms of fintech, we’re talking about virtual banks. These are banking entities that have no brick-n-mortar component. Fintech digital banking is a creature of cloud computing. They are “free-floating” platforms that are likely to make stolid granite bank buildings with marbles floors and gigantic stainless-steel vaults a relic of the past.