FinTech

Dear readers,
you are visiting a website that has the purpose of helping you to better understand innovative technologies and incoming trends in the financial technologies sector. The information provided has been sourced from debates with FinTech companies, foreign reports, whitepapers, and research.

Listed below, you can find chosen areas of financial technologies. However, in today’s globalized world where multiple sectors are becoming to be more strongly linked together, it is not that important whether you work in the insurance industry, asset management, or whether you are interested in blockchain. Technologies and trends that significantly influence the industry you work in are likely to influence other industries as well.


Key areas of interest


FinTech Roadmap – TOP 20 trends

For the sake of suitable implementation of disrupting technologies, we provide a table that summarises incoming trends, key factors, and challenges that are present in the sector ane we also identify the state of innovations in the Czech Republic compared to the global state.

Incoming trends Key Challenges Czech republic compared to global state
A shift from focusing on the product to focusing on the customer experience Customers require personalized access to a product through multiple channels around the clock, introduction of e-KYC Improving customer without additional costs We are working on providing this information
Process automatization and new products development enabled through AI and ML Lowering labor costs thanks to automatization of processes that had to be done manually, development of new business models using these technologies A company should have a clear strategy for AI and ML adoption, there may be a lack of information for the proper functionality of the AI model or its precision might not be as high as needed We are working on providing this information
Overregulation of markets in the name of customer protection Investments and payment services regulations are enormously extensive. They can reach as long as tens of thousands of pages Even regulators are not able anymore to be versed in regulations, Overregulation leads to extensive terms of use that no one reads It is the same in CR because we inherit the regulations from EU
Shift from legacy infrastructures to new technologies such as cloud, exploring the potential of new technologies such as blockchain Legacy infrastructure leads to bad customer experience, does not support scalability, and is expensive to maintain, transparency, safety, and decentralized nature of blockchain Making a proof of concept work in production, unrealistic requirements, seamless transition from legacy systems to cloud We are working on providing this information
Platformatizations, Open APIs, and ecosystems Mandatory open API of banks due to PSD2 directive, new customer needs, new technologies, and easier offering of partner products Overcoming the fear from open banking, solving the problems causing not successful cooperations between fintech and other companies We are working on providing this information
An increasing number of cyber attacks Even cyber criminals are starting to use advanced technologies, continuous digitalization of finance gives them more opportunities Ensuring cybersecurity without compromising the customer experience We are working on providing this information
Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) Cashless society, around the clock accessibility, financial inclusion, costs reductions on new money supply production, easier transfer payments Cybersecurity, personal privacy of citizens ČNB  is following the development of CBDC
Decentralized finance (DeFi) Providing financial services without the need for a middle man, smart contracts High fees on the Ethereum network, buggy smart contracts, insufficient regulation We don’t have any information about DeFi companies in Czech Republic
Publicly traded companies are starting to use Bitcoin as a reserve asset Hedge against the inflation Bitcoin is still a very volatile and unstable asset We do not have information about any publicly trading companies buying Bitcoin as a reserve asset
Digitalization of customer support Introduction of chatbots and automated systems An ability to find out specific client needs and react accordingly to them will separate the best companies from others. Human interaction will remain important especially for HNW clients We are working on providing this information
ESG investing Increased interest in social and environmental topics Combining social and environmental benefits with high returns of investments We are working on providing this information
BigTechs are entering new markets such as payments and insurance Better user experience, BigTechs have access to large amounts of data about the potential customer and also to wide infrastructure Likely regulation of BigTech that is already happening for example in China We are working on providing this information
Instant payments Customers demand, it is one of the supporting pillars of open banking, plans of central banks Exploring the potential of blockchain, customers often don’t know which payment methods are actually instant They were voluntarily implemented by many of Czech banks. In Czech Republic they have a 15% on the overall payments count. There is 400 000 Kč limit for using them.
Alternative payment methods Supplying customer needs, faster checkout process, accepting payments without additional hardware Wider adoption of these payment methods among merchants and customers In Czech Republic alternative payment methods have a relatively low market share
Challenger banks are becoming profitable The first profitable challenger bank is Starling, Revolut is on their costs Maintaining profitability while acquiring new clients We are working on providing this information
Invoices crowdlending Improved liquidity, attractive returns, higher risk diversification Risk of the invoice being paid We are working on providing this information
New regulation of P2P platforms Easier scalability on the European level, different regulations among different countries, achieving investor trust in these platforms Acquiring the license is mandatory for international players, additional requirements for customer protections ČR has to inherit this regulation
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