Skip to content
Analysis & Learning

What is Fintech?

February 6, 2021

Initially, fintech referred to technology that was applied to the back-end systems of banks or other financial institutions – but has since grown to encompass a plethora of other applications that are more consumer-focused. In 2020, it is possible to manage funds, trade stocks, pay for food or manage insurance through this technology (and often on your smartphone).

For the estimated near 2bn people worldwide without bank accounts, fintech provides a nimble option to participate in financial services without the need for bricks-and-mortar. And, to a large extent, that is precisely what fintech has been developed to do – give consumers direct access to their financial lives through easy-to-use technology.

What is clear is that fintech is disrupting the global financial services industry. Think of any old school way of doing things from banking to stockbroking to insurance and there are companies using technology and increasingly artificial intelligence to disrupt these old industries and give us better, simpler, cheaper ways of carrying out tasks that are a vital part of our lives.

These are huge industries with trillions of dollars at stake. It is still early days in this transformation but it is already creating businesses that I believe are going to become behemoths in the future. I look at four examples below which are already in the QV portfolio but where I think the best is still to come.

Further reading

More >
Subscribers Only
Investment Alerts

Another Bitcoin Play Blazing into the Stratosphere

March 28, 2024
Subscribers Only
Investment Alerts

Famous Five – Riding the Bucking Broncos

March 25, 2024
Webinar

The End of Paper Money and Why Now is the Time to Invest

March 22, 2024
Subscribers Only
Investment Alerts

Unravelling the Mysteries of Root Inc., the Insurance Industry Disruptor

March 20, 2024