Thanksgiving 2021: 4 reasons to be thankful for FinTech

By Joy Dumasia

Thanksgiving Day is an annual national holiday in the United States and Canada celebrating the harvest and other blessings of the past year. Americans generally believe that their Thanksgiving is modelled on a 1621 harvest feast shared by the English colonists (Pilgrims) of Plymouth and the Wampanoag people. On this Thanksgiving holiday, and during this holiday season, as we are fortunate to enjoy another bountiful meal with holiday trimmings, let’s look at FinTech and how it has been influential and deserving of our Thanks. 

FinTech is used to describe new tech that seeks to improve and automate the delivery and use of financial services. ​​​At its core, FinTechs help companies, business owners, and consumers better manage their financial operations, processes, and lives by utilizing specialized software and algorithms used on computers and, increasingly, smartphones. With an increasing number of people spending money online, there is scope for continued growth in the FinTech space, with the most attractive opportunities within digital payments, additional services and central bank digital currencies. 

The following are 4 reasons to be thankful for FinTech:

• Digital Payments 

The COVID-19 pandemic boosted e-commerce and reduced the use of cash; this led to the rapid growth of FinTech and especially Payments firms and companies. The comfort and convenience of digital payments have led consumers to use digital forms of payments and not the traditional methods or even cash; payment providers like Google Pay, etc., have been instrumental in the peak years of Covid-19. Rapid growth in the digital payments segment is expected over the coming decade.

• Financial Advice

Planning for retirement is intimidating, especially when you don’t have a personal financial advisor to consult. Therefore, we should be thankful for Robo-advisory tools that create inexpensive and easy-to-use investing strategies. These platforms offer boosted confidence as well as increased returns. Some FinTechs use the holidays to help bring their customers up to speed about best practices.

• Awakening of Banks

Banks now understand that customer focus increases their viability; FinTech awakens them. Banks realize that it is time for a change; the next step is to invent and develop new tools to improve the customer experience so that the banks will be leading instead of following. It may be interesting to acquire FinTech companies or work with them, but banks should identify customers’ needs regardless of how they do it.

• Financial Inclusion 

FinTech companies and investors are trying to find solutions so more people can become financially included and aware. FinTech has not only made financial services available everywhere, but it has also made them available for anyone. People are shifting away from traditional retail banking, and new digital competition in the finance sector is rising. Finally, people who live in countries without a traditional banking infrastructure can now seek the financial support they need online.

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