Mobile Payments, Fintech in General Now the Norm for Over Half the World, Says deVere Group
For those who think that financial technology (fintech) issues like mobile payments, mobile banking and the like are still pretty limited in scope, the latest report sent our way from the deVere Group illustrates that that’s anything but the case. In fact, the study noted that 55 percent of respondents were regular users of fintech for a variety of purposes.
The study found that that 55 percent were regularly using “…financial technology to access and manage their money”, which meant that it wasn’t just mobile payments involved, but rather anything from mobile banking to mobile investing. The study covered 883 people from the United Kingdom, as well as the rest of Europe, along with Africa, Asia, Australasia, and Latin America.
The study also found that the biggest growth areas for fintech operations were Africa, Asia, and Latin America, which lent extra credence to points we’ve raised previously. Additionally, the study noted that 67 percent of those polled were using fintech to send money as either money transfers or remittances. An additional 46 percent tracked investments or accounts via fintech apps, and 28 percent turned to these apps specifically to deal with cryptocurrency.
Nigel Green, deVere Group’s CEO, noted “Fintech firms are filling the void left between what traditional financial services companies are offering and what customers are now expecting, especially in terms of customer experience. In broad terms, this means immediate, on-the-go, 24/7 access to, use and management of their money. It means personalized, on-demand services. It means lower costs.”
It would have been nice if the deVere Group study had upped its sample size a bit; turning to 883 people across six different regions basically means they talked to about 150 people per region, and a large portion of them in Europe since the UK still qualifies as part of Europe even if the whole Brexit thing goes through. Still though, what it’s established is that there is indeed at least something of a growing movement; while it’s a bit much to draw conclusions from this small a sample size so widely geographically dispersed.
It’s food for thought, though, and makes you wonder just how deep the rabbit hole of fintech really goes when it’s all said and done.