Media has labeled Fintech as “the big bank disruption”, and Fintech’s growth has been substantial in recent years: the global estimated value of Fintech was $3 billion in 2013, $12 billion in 2014, and over $20 billion in 2015. Industry experts believe that 2017 is merely the “tip of the iceberg” of what we can expect for Fintech disruption.
The expected trends in 2017 include a growing focus on artificial intelligence, which will help Fintech companies make better decisions using predictive analytics to understand big data. With the increase of smartphone ownership, there will also be an increasing demand for mobile transactions. By 2021, contactless card transactions are expected to double worldwide, making physical cards obsolete. However, as contactless transactions increase, fraud prevention measures must be put in place. Multi-factor authentication, such as fingerprint or face recognition and iris scans, will become necessary.
While contactless payments are gaining traction, I believe the transition period to adopt this form of payment will be slow. For example, businesses were required to upgrade to EMV-enabled terminals in 2015, but I have seen many businesses yet to do so. Also, I am curious to see how traditional banks will to respond to Fintech disruption.
Reference: https://letstalkpayments.com/hottest-fintech-trends-2017/