The Future of Global Fintech: Towards Resilient and Inclusive Growth, a joint report between the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, Cambridge Judge Business School and the World Economic Forum was officially launched at a press conference in Davos, during the 2024 Annual Meeting.
This report was based on an empirical survey of 227 fintechs from across the world and was supported by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
To download a copy of the report visit: https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/faculty-research/centres/alternative-finance/publications/the-future-of-global-fintech-towards-resilient-and-inclusive-growth/
Key research findings
1. The global fintech industry is demonstrating strength and resilience
As fintechs emerge from COVID-19, their performance remains strong, with customer growth rates averaging above 50% across industry verticals and global regions. From the survey data, it is evident that consumer demand is the main driver of growth, with over half (51%) of all surveyed fintechs citing it as a major factor supporting their growth. This trend is consistent across all regions.
2. Primary fintech growth challenges: macroeconomic factors and funding environment
On the other hand, macroeconomic factors and the funding environment together stand out
as the primary challenges for fintech growth. These views come at a time when global inflation and interest rates are high. This sentiment is reflected across regions, where surveyed fintechs cite macroeconomic factors (56%) and the funding environment (40%) as two of the top three hindering factors for growth.
3. Fintechs reflect favourably about their regulatory environment
The majority of fintechs reflect favourably about their regulatory environment, with 63% rating it as adequate. A total of 38% of surveyed fintechs also cite the regulatory environment as a major supporting factor for their operations and growth. However, a substantial portion find regulatory compliance challenging and the licensing and registration processes to be problematic.
4. Differing opinions on fundraising environment’s impact on fintech growth
Despite the significant drop in funding over the past years, the surveyed fintechs have differentiated views about the impact of the fundraising environment on their ability to grow. While the report finds more fintechs cite the current fundraising environment as a hindrance to growth, 34% regard their fundraising environment as supporting growth.
5. Fintechs are expanding services and products to underserved segments
Fintechs are expanding the provision of financial services and products to underserved segments, and these segments also make up a sizeable proportion of their consumer base and total transaction values. While most surveyed fintechs that are targeting underserved customer groups and offering tailored products are in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs), fintechs in both advanced economies (AEs) and EMDEs are found to have a sizeable portion of their customer base from these groups.
6. AI and open banking among issues most relevant for future industry development
Looking ahead, artificial intelligence (AI), the digital economy, embedded finance as well as open banking are the issues regarded by fintechs as the most relevant for industry development in the near future. AI was the leader, with 70% of fintechs citing it as the most relevant topic for the development of the fintech industry in the next 5 years.
