PwC published its Global FinTech report, 'Blurred Lines: How FinTech is shaping Financial Services' on 15th March 2016. The report assesses the rise of new technologies in the financial services sector, the potential impact of FinTech on market players and their attitudes regarding the latest technological developments. Additionally, if offers strategic responses to this ever-changing environment.
The report is based on a survey of 544 respondents, across 46 countries, comprising CEOs, Heads of Innovation, CIOs and top management involved in digital and technological transformation across the FS industry: Payments, Asset & Wealth Management, Banking and Insurance. The survey also encompasses other companies such as consultants, national supervisory and international financial institutions.
A copy the PWC report is available at: http://www.pwc.com/fintechreport.
Banking and payments feel most heat from FinTech
The PWC survey shows the banking and payments industries are feeling the most pressure from FinTech companies. Respondents from the fund transfer & payments industry anticipate that in the next five years, they could lose up to 28% of their market share to them, while bankers estimate they are likely to lose 24%. This compares to around 22% in the case of asset management & wealth management and 21% in insurance.
Top threats from FinTech
Two-thirds (67%) of FS companies ranked pressure on profit margins as the top FinTech-related threat, followed by loss of market share (59%). One of the key ways in which FinTechs support the margin pressure point through innovation is step function improvements in operating costs. For instance, the movement to cloud-based platforms not only decreases up-front costs, but also reduces ongoing infrastructure costs.
Blockchain untapped and underestimated by FS
Blockchain, a distributed ledger technology, represents the next evolutionary jump in business process optimisation technology. According to PwC, it could result in a radically different competitive future in the FS industry, where current profit pools are disrupted and redistributed towards the owners of new, highly efficient blockchain platforms. Not only could there be huge cost savings but also large gains in transparency. Yet it ranks low on the agendas of participants.
While the majority (56%) recognise its importance, 57% say they are unsure or unlikely to respond to this trend.
Challenges for FinTech companies and incumbents
PwC’s survey shows the most widespread form of collaboration with FinTech companies is joint partnership (32%), which, says PwC, is indicative FS firms are not ready to go all in and invest fully in FinTech.
Asked what challenges they face in dealing with FinTech companies, 53% of incumbents cited IT security, regulatory uncertainty (49%) and differences in business models (40%).
In the case of FinTech companies, differences in management and culture (54%), operational processes (47%) and regulatory uncertainty (43%) were deemed the top three challenges when dealing with traditional FS firms.
