A Guide to What’s Happening in the Fintech Revolution
Some quick facts on the biggest investors, hottest companies and where the action is taking place.
An employee uses a mobile phone for money transfer inside an M-Pesa store in Nairobi, Kenya.
Photographer: Trevor Snapp/Bloomberg
Few industry combinations are as alluring to investors as finance and technology. For the past decade fintech startups have offered new ways to help people handle money. As startups face more competition from tech giants and deep-pocketed banks, investors are turning their attention to fintech in new markets. Here’s a look at some of the developments and trends that are driving the industry today.
Mobile phones are transforming finance. While most Bloomberg Markets readers have a mobile phone and a bank account—and perhaps a bank app on their phone—millions of people around the world have the phone but no bank. These underbanked markets, led by countries in Asia and Africa, have inspired fintech innovation that’s leapfrogging the technology available in the developed world. The sheer number of potential customers doesn’t ensure success, however. The winners are the companies that have devised business models that can profit in less developed markets, or that expand to serve wealthier customers. Ant Financial Services Group’s Alipay and Tencent Holdings’ WeChat Pay in China, Paytm in India, and Safaricom’s M-Pesa in Kenya are some well-known examples.