Fintech has been a new player in the world of financial services. Small fintech startups have been challenging large traditional financial service providers in recent years and many of them seek to expand in to developing countries. The challenge of expanding into developing countries is the lack of infrastructure. The lack of infrastructure has created a new branch of fintech called “regtech” and “infrastructure as a service” (Iaas). Trulioo is a company trying to fill the void by creating individual government identity databases around the world accessible through a single streamlined interface. Another company, Flutterwave, seeks to create payments and banking interfaces to power fintech offerings in Nigeria.
While the lack of infrastructure is the first notable thing developing countries lack, many fintech companies looking to expand into this market also need to take note that many of their users don’t have an existing digital footprint. This renders many of the traditional predictive algorithms and user tracking algorithms useless. Many of these new companies need to utilize new methods to create new user data. Developing countries are hold large untapped potential for fintech companies. The first fintech company to successfully capture a large user base in these markets will hold a huge advantage over other countries.
Reference: https://hbr.org/2017/01/fintech-companies-could-give-billions-of-people-more-banking-options