World Economic Forum (WEF) issue research report on Fintech sector - “The Future of Financial Services” on 30 June 2015.

The World Economic Forum (WEF), the Swiss-based corporate think-tank which runs the Davos summit of world leaders each January, issued a research report titled “the Future of Financial Services” on 30 June 2015.

The WEF report says major disruptions are in store for many once highly profitable financial services businesses and that the world's top banks and insurers are being forced to review their business models amid rapid inroads by nimble "fintech" start-ups, which are reshaping what consumers and businesses expect out of financial services.   The research study, based on 15 months of interviews and workshops with executives from financial institutions and fintech start-ups, joins a flood of recent reports showing technology is eroding the bulwarks of the financial services industry just as it did in areas such as travel and entertainment a decade ago. 

Accenture in association with Partnership Fund for New York City released a new research study titled “Fintech New York: Partnerships, Platforms and Open Innovation”

On 25 June 2015 Accenture in association with Partnership Fund for New York City released a new research study titled “Fintech New York: Partnerships, Platforms and Open Innovation”.

The research report stated that investments in fintech continued at a remarkable pace last year, nearly tripling in the United States in 2014.  The value of fintech investments in the United States soared to $9.89 billion in 2014, up from $3.39 billion in 2013.  This 191% increase dwarfs the increase in 2013, when fintech deal values in the United States climbed 68 percent. In New York, fintech deal values grew by 32% in 2014, to a new high of $768 million. 

The report notes that hot areas for fintech investment in 2014 included payments, lending, trading technologies and wealth management. Payments accounted for the largest number of fintech deals in the United States in 2014, 29%. In New York, however, the total number of fintech deals in payment companies has trended downward, from 33% of all fintech deals in 2012 to 21% in 2014. Lending was the second-biggest investment area for U.S. fintech investments in 2014, accounting for 16% of such investments.