The advance of fintech in banking
The competitive advantages that technology brings to any of today’s economic and commercial activities are forcing the various economic players to adapt their services and structures to the new paradigm. Today, however, this transition has a particular ally: financial and technological companies, known as fintechs, for their acronym in English, financial technology.
For their part, the companies that make up this emerging sector understand this situation and orient their services to meet this demand and need for banking, especially in the case of traditional banking and large banks in Spain. These companies understand the need for an agile and efficient transition of their structures.
The collaboration between the two sectors solves a historical conflict of large banks and financial institutions, which do not have to make a major investment to adapt their services to the new technological trends to which users have become accustomed, especially after the pandemic. In this sense, an effective digital presence represents a differential attribute for the new generations of customers.
Alliance between banks and fintech
The alliance between the different parts of the sector allows banks such as BBVA or Santander to accelerate the pending digital transformation process. At the same time, an alliance of this type also benefits fintechs, as they fit into a business model in which their presence is essential to constantly improve performance and customer loyalty.
Today, the transformation process does not require the financial sector to invest heavily. The fintech strategy, in this sense, is to offer the ability to adapt the institution’s structures and services to an IT services infrastructure in which the digital presence is favored and updated.
From a business perspective, it is indisputable that the future of the financial sector is intimately linked -like the rest of society’s activities- to the presence of banks, credit unions and financial institutions in general within a digital financial ecosystem. In this sense, banks are aware of the need to position themselves -or begin to position themselves- as leaders in digital banking.
Benefits of the alliance between a bank and a fintech company
Although we have already indirectly mentioned some of the benefits associated with the alliance between these players in the banking and financial sector and companies in the financial technology sector, there are multiple benefits that can be specified and that show how prolific this alliance can be.
Among them we can mention the integration of services, improved operational performance, marketing advantages and the constitution of a broader and more accessible database, to the benefits strictly related to the cost of operations and financial inclusion, among many others.
Performance and profitability
By reengineering processes to deliver services efficiently, the alliance between fintechs and financial institutions significantly improves the performance of operations. These operations become faster, more precise and can be adapted to the needs and profile of each client. By representing a reduction in the cost of management, this also generates greater profitability.
Experience and loyalty
The previous point generates a second benefit that has to do with the customer’s user experience. Nowadays, customers are considered, at the same time, as users: they expect and demand a type of service in line with the times and advantages offered by information technology. Therefore, they prefer those entities that can offer them dynamic and enjoyable solutions.
Diversification
A third benefit of this type of alliance is the ability to diversify the loan portfolio and broaden the range of services available. By collecting data on users and their preferences, credit history and other information with prior consent, banks and financial institutions obtain a reliable database from which they can better understand the customer/user and the risk involved in issuing credit and loans.
Security and availability
Companies in the fintech sector have not only the ability to improve the services and operations offered to customers, but also the ability to secure the information and protection of the data collected. In this regard, there are European Union regulations and directives (PDS2 Directive) that regulate the sector’s activities and establish strict security and compliance requirements.
The paradigm shift in the financial sector has been consolidated in the face of technological development. Today, it is essential for banks and fintechs to form an alliance in order to grow and prevail in the market. In this sense, the benefits of such an alliance are multiple and significant.
