Fintech
Financial technology (better known as Fintech) is used to describe new tech that seeks to improve and automate the delivery and use of financial services. At its core, fintech is utilised to help companies, business owners and consumers better manage their financial operations, processes, and lives by utilising specialised software and algorithms that are used on computers and increasingly on smartphones. Fintech, the word, is a combination of "financial technology."
When fintech emerged in the 21st century, the term was initially applied to the technology employed at the back-end systems of established financial institutions. Since then, however, there has been a shift to more consumer-oriented services and therefore a more consumer-oriented definition. Fintech now includes different sectors and industries such as education, retail banking, fundraising & nonprofit and investment management to name a few.
Broadly, the term "financial technology" can apply to any innovation in how people transact business, from the invention of digital money to double-entry book keeping. Since the Internet revolution and the mobile Internet/smartphone revolution, however, financial technology has grown explosively. Fintech, which originally referred to the use of computer technology applied to the back office of banks or trading firms, now describes a broad variety of technological interventions into personal and commercial finance.
Fintech in Practice
The most talked-about (and most funded) fintech startups share the same characteristic: they are designed to be a threat to challenge and eventually usurp entrenched traditional financial services providers by being more nimble, serving an underserved segment of the population, or providing faster and better service. In short, if you have ever wondered why some aspect of your financial life was so unpleasant (such as applying for a mortgage with a traditional lender) or felt like it wasn't quite the right fit, fintech probably has (or seeks to have) a solution for you.