The fintech industry moved into the modern era from something deeper than just better technology. The Global Financial Crisis of 2008 triggered a crisis of trust. For millions of consumers and businesses, the crisis revealed a need for greater transparency. A new generation of financial services companies–fintechs–stepped into the gap promoting not just efficiency and lower costs, but transparency and accessibility as well.
This approach has delivered real results: The International Monetary Fund finds that digital finance not only increases financial inclusion, but is also associated with higher GDP growth and, in turn, helps create a more equitable global financial system.
The fintech industry has now matured, as shown by successful industry forums like the Singapore Fintech Festival and Hong Kong Fintech Week. The question has changed: It’s no longer whether fintech can disrupt; it’s whether fintech can build enough trust to manage and move the world’s money, and achieve the sector’s full potential?
I believe we’re at a crucial inflection point. Fintech’s potential—business, social and economic—depends entirely on earning people’s trust to bring more of them, and their finances, into the system.
