Ajith Thadhani, AVP-Global Sales & Business Development, Estel Technologies shares his views about how #FinTech is evolving to be a cornerstone of #financial #innovation. Read the full article here, https://bit.ly/3JKkRCw #DigitalInnovations #DigitalTransformation #PaymentSolutions #Banking #Telecom

1. Innovations in Digital Financial Services by Fintechs
Introduction
Finance is undergoing a tremendous and rapid transformation. Digital technologies are
reshaping the way consumers shop, make payments, borrow, manage wealth and do banking.
A combination of digital-savvy consumers, availability of various digital capabilities and
continuous tech innovation is making financial services in many economies more diverse,
competitive, efficient, and inclusive. This transformation is forcing leaders to revisit the way
they look at business goals.
Digital innovation could drive a range of industrial organization outcomes. On one hand,
digital technologies enable businesses to discover niches and unique ways to approach these
consumer segments with some unparalleled & targeted marketing campaigns delivering great
value. On the other hand; cross-industrial developments are forcing financial services to keep
abreast with the consumers' demands.
Fintech plays a vital role in the way the digital financial services domain is constructed or
defined. Fintech companies approach financial services in a modular and microform enabling
them to swiftly turn around services reducing their time to market many folds compared to
larger incumbent and traditional players. The competitive landscape, meanwhile, is becoming
more challenging as digital technology lowers the barriers for new entrants who offer unique
services. With Fintechs attracting millions of new customers in fresh markets, incumbents are
forced into boardroom discussions on product strategy and market share retention.
Over the past decade, we have seen unprecedented growth in the digital financial service
domain, both in services offered and in the number of service providers. Fintechs have
encroached into incumbents’ domain in segments ranging from Payments, Lending,
eCommerce, connected Commerce, Cryptocurrencies & or even specialized services such as
Trade Finance & SMB Financing.

2. Innovations in Digital Financial Services by Fintechs
Source; https://www.statista.com/outlook/dmo/fintech/worldwide#transaction-value
With an overwhelming emphasis on connected commerce, user experience, cloud computing,
and a colossal amount of digital data available for analytics, the fragmented financial services
industry has seen a demand for integration amongst the players to not only meet but also
exceed customer expectations. This is also leading to consolidation amongst players in this
industry as it adapts to accommodate new players who offer unique propositions at a fraction
of the cost of incumbents.
Trends to watch out for in Digital Finance Services
As the pace of change has accelerated, the FI domain and its landscape have also expanded
beyond just payments via mobile apps. As the industry boundaries have stretched, the mindset
of FI’s has been realigned, services offered are now more personalized to micro-segments and
a key emphasis has been placed on User Experience & security.
Over the past decade, we have seen a massive influx of interest and funding into the Digital
Financial Service (DFS) landscape. The digital financial services ecosystem is well poised to
deliver some unique and personalized, seamless digital experiences leading to further
penetration & success of Digital Fintech Services.

3. Innovations in Digital Financial Services by Fintechs
Exploiting Data!
With unparalleled volumes and variety of data available at the disposal of FI’s and service
providers, they are heavily using Data Analytics & AI to entice customers with unique
propositions at the moment of truth. BNPL is a classic illustration, where the FI’s proactively
induce customers with an offer, running real-time analytics in the background to create
personalized offers.
Increased Demand for Instantaneous Cross Border Remittance
With 70% + smartphone penetration globally; technology companies are exploring avenues to
seize the enormous potential & penetrate into the large global cross-border remittance
business. From Card Schemes players, SWIFT alliance, remittance houses, tech giants
(GAAFA) to traditional remittance companies, all are co-creating remittance products to
improve efficiencies & speed, and rationalize costs; digitalizing of transactions is also helping
regulators more effectively enforce Anti Money Laundering (AML), Know Your Customers
(KYC) and Countering Financing of Terrorism (CFT) rules. We can also see a glimpse of
platform economy traits being adopted by remittance businesses, where Fintechs are creating
mediation platforms to integrate & aggregate various players onto a single-window platform
for more effective transaction processing & faster settlement.
Instantaneous is the New Mantra
Whilst customers expect a seamless user experience, they also expect the completion of the
transaction instantaneously.
This instantaneous service needs a plethora of service integrations with multiple global
platforms and 3rd party service providers. We have observed tremendous investments into
SuperApps by both tech giants, telecoms, and FI’s. SuperApps enable platform owners to
target customer stickiness and loyalty towards their brand, due to the inherent “One Stop for
All” experience as SuperApps have been able to collate an array of services into one platform,
enabling their users to avail products and services instantaneously from one App.
As Digital customers lift their expectations, FI’s too are realigning their business models &
modus operandi to meet these customer expectations. With Over 60B connected devices in
the world by 2030, customers expect FI’s to keep abreast with innovations and lift both the
quality & spread of their services. Fintechs will surely play a mighty role to help the FI’s
become relevant in this digital acceleration journey.