8SEPTEMBER 2022Since mid-2020, financial technology companies ("fintechs") have hardly been out of the news. A lot is said about innovation in Digital Finance, but most surprising is the intensity of the public debate around the side-effects of fintechs, including the latest RobinHood / Gamestop / Wall Street investment saga as well as the flurry of mega IPOs and deals in the sector.Obviously, the increased interest is a direct consequence of the rise in digital finance. Digital payments rose by 72 percent in just a few months following the start of the pandemic and neobanks all over the world have added millions of clients.However, there are pre-existing trends that have driven the high level of investor interest in fintechs and the huge amount of capital they have poured into this sector. Finance and Financial services affect all of us, across all industries, across all demographics and all geographies.But what we have seen so far is only the tip of the iceberg in what could potentially be the digital revolution of this decade.Neobanks have so far merely "copied" the traditional bank model. Generally,they have added a good amount of automation on top of off-the-shelf core banking solutions, as well as a slick UX and a smoother interface for traditional services including share trading, FX, savings and payments functionalities.Yet, it is easy to see that this is not enough of a differentiation to convince retail clients to switch wholly to digital banking. Also, these new platforms are mostly suited for "plain vanilla" retail products such as personal accounts and simple transactional SMEs.On the other hand, many fintechs have focused on a specific financial service or solution: investing, borrowing, delayed payment, international remittances, etc. and although there is a growing number of aggregators, most are still built as stand-alone solutions to compete or replace traditional services and incumbents.OPINIONIN MYBy Simon Tobelem, CEO,ARIE Capital GroupBUILDING A PLATFORM FOR A DIGITAL REVOLUTION IN FINANCIAL SERVICES
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