It is becoming increasingly common to come across this term in the media or in business conversations, and in recent years, Fintech has played a major role in international events.

But, What are Fintechs really?

Fintechs are those companies in the financial sector that integrate technologies into their business model to improve processes and services in terms of automation, efficiency and security. automation, efficiency and security.

The term is born from the union of the concepts "finance" y "technologyand "technology", which, in a literal translation, would mean "financial technology".

These companies are characterized by rapid growth, innovative business models, and offer customer-oriented products and services, focusing on making the user experience as simple and intuitive as possible. To achieve this, companies integrate in their solutions the use of technology such as artificial intelligence, big data and mining. artificial intelligence, big data and data mining, robotic process automation (RPA) and blockchain.

Technological changes have allowed companies to offer a wide variety of services to customers at a much lower cost, without cumbersome procedures and even without stepping foot in an office, or to bring them closer to products that they simply could not access before. Among the solutions they offer, we can find:

• Payment gateways: Online payment management platforms essential for conducting transactions in e-commerce stores and services, benefiting both SMEs and customers.
• International transfers: Through the use of technology, money remittances can be made at much lower speeds and costs than traditional competitors.
• Loans: These can be accessed to finance projects much more easily and quickly. It is becoming more and more common to see Crowdfunding platforms y Factoring via these digital platforms, connecting investors and entrepreneurs.
• Open banking: They collect financial information from users to be shared with third parties, thus giving agility and transparency to lending and financing processes.
• Investments: There are numerous Fintechs that focus on bringing the world of investments in an easy and intuitive way to users, being able to invest and visualize the process clearly and quickly.

In recent years, with the massification of the use of smartphones and the confidence that the population has in digital services, the services provided by Fintechs have had an exponential adoption. Thus, the banking industry has been challenged by the rapid emergence of these companies that are coming to revolutionize the way people relate to money.. Over the next few years we will see how traditional banks will have to adapt to change or form alliances with these Fintechs to face their meteoric rise.

Leandro Mora

AGF Team

FYNSA