The 2015 FinTech Survey asked 200 people in the FinTech community for their insights and predictions. London was identified as the global leader in FinTech by 63% of respondents, a 12% increase from the previous year. When asked which company would become a financial services provider in the next 5 years, 34% selected Alibaba, while Apple rose to 18% and Amazon dropped to 10%. Regarding areas for FinTech startups to focus on, 20% cited financial inclusion, though this was down 10% from the previous year.

1. The 2015
FinTech Survey

2. We asked almost 200 people from the global FinTech community to give
us their insight and be part of forming this year’s FinTech predictions -
and this is the result …
SOURCING STARTUPS GLOBALLYWHAT WE DID

3. When asked what city is the global leader in FinTech
63% of the respondents replied London - a 12% increase from the previous year
A drop in confidence in San Francisco down to 13% from 18% the previous year
WHAT WE DIDWHAT THEY SAID ON … WHO’S THE GLOBAL LEADER

4. When we asked which of the following companies will become a financial
services provider in the next 5 years
The largest proportion of respondents, or 34% answered Alibaba
The number of participants selecting Apple rose to 18% - up from 13% in 2014
A drop in numbers selecting Amazon down from 32% to 10%
And, a drop in participants selecting Google from 24% last year down to 15% this year
Meanwhile, Facebook remained similar dropping from 15% to 13% between the two
years
… WHO WILL BECOME A FINANCIAL SERVICES PROVIDER

5. We then asked the participants what the next wave of FinTech startups
should focus on
Financial Inclusion remained the most popular response from the previous year, albeit
with declining by 10% - from 30% down to 20%
Rest of the 80% responses were fairly equally split between; Wealth Management,
Back Office Improvements, Payments, Blockchain, and Insurance
… WHAT FINTECH STARTUPS SHOULD FOCUS ON

6. Next, we asked our participants what they believed to be the main reason
financial institutions struggle to innovate
The most popular response remained Inertia, as the previous year however, proportion
of respondents believing so decreased from 37% to 24% between 2014 and 2015.
Coming in second was Maintenance of Legacy Systems, which 21% of participants
believed to be the main reason.
Not knowing how to do it dropped from 21% in 2014 to 14% this year.
Regulations as the main reason remained stable at 17% between the two years.
… WHY TRADITIONAL INSTITUTIONS STRUGGLE TO
INNOVATE

7. Lastly, we asked our participants whether FinTech is facing a valuation
bubble, similar to the dot.com bubble of the late 1990s
A defining 68% responded no
With 32% saying yes
… WHETHER WE ARE IN A BUBBLE
?