Millennials are Pushing Fintech Disruption

The disrupting force of financial technology is being pushed by the millennial generation.

As the fintech sector has grown, many analysts at top financial firms are noting the disrupting force of these firms.

By offering new, low costs and innovative financial services, these firms are quickly replacing traditional firms, disrupting the standard model of financial services.

This trend is being pushed by millennials, according to a panel of experts at Channel NewsAsia’s Perspectives conference.

At the discussion in Singapore, analysts and experts from across the globe discussed this emerging trend.

“Three quarters of millennials say they would prefer to get financial services and tools from Google or from Apple, and they’re expecting change,” said Alyse Killeen, a venture capitalist.

Killeen initiated a study three years ago to study millennials to find out just what millennials want in terms of financial services.

The study discovered that over 30 percent of millennials want to change a particular financial service of theirs because they did not feel any loyalty to that brand.

“In every value or product that a bank provides, there are 20 to 30 start-ups attacking that very value and offering new products,” she said at the conference. “The field is quite ripe for disruption.”

Others at the conference believed fintech was on its way up, but that it wouldn’t necessarily be as disruptive as some believe. Anju Patwardhan, Group CIO at Standard Chartered, said that banks will be displaced some, but that they would not be made irrelevant.

“I think with the new younger generation of consumers, the channels that they use for banking will change but fundamentally, banking is likely to remain very much similar to what it is today,” said Patwardhan.

Regardless of the future of traditional financial and banking companies, the financial technology sector is set to continue its momentous trajectory with the help of millennials who want something different.