Payment & Fintech

Financial technology (or FinTech), is the technology and innovation that aims to compete with traditional financial methods in the delivery of financial services. It is an emerging industry that uses technology to improve activities in finance such as automating regular banking services, investments, risk management, insurance and trading. The use of smartphones for mobile banking, investing, borrowing services, and cryptocurrency are examples of technologies aiming to make financial services more accessible to the general public. Financial technology companies consist of both start-ups and established financial institutions and technology companies trying to replace or enhance the usage of financial services provided by existing financial companies.

Electronic payment technologies include magnetic stripe cards, smartcards, contactless cards, and mobile payments. The Payment Card Industry (PCI) often also delivers ATM's, Cash Registars, credit cards and the connections between them all. Fintech encompasses new applications, processes, products, or business models in the financial services industry, composed of one or more complementary financial services and provided as an end-to-end process via the Internet. Regulatory changes, compliance requirements, data security and breaches, privacy/sensitivity of user data and business continuity are some of the main risks associated with financial technology. Often used technologies include artificial intelligence (AI), big data analytics, robotic process automation (RPA), and blockchain. But also standards and regulations, such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS), to protect different cards, payment systems and data.

Related Keywords: borrowing services, transaction security, cryptocurrency, authentication, Payment Services Directive (PSD2)