From artificial intelligence (AI) to digital banking, the financial sector has been disrupted. Alternative lenders have been legitimized, traditional banks are jumping on the mobile app bandwagon, and even the insurance industry is being touched by revolutionary technology, which is forcing it to reinvest itself. We live in exciting times. Not just times that try our souls, but times that challenge our wallets too. Look for these five FinTech trends to grow more into their own in the near future.
Five Developing Fintech Trends
1. Banking Chatbots — What if you could have a conversation with your bank without stepping up to a teller? New banking chatbots will allow you to do just that. These AI-based systems allow you to ask about ordinary banking information secure in the knowledge that the information will be accurate and useful. The reason they work so well say the experts, is because their knowledge is limited and honed to just your banking account information. Soon, every bank may employ one.
2. Peer-to-peer Insurance — Peer-to-peer (P2P) insurance is popping up in almost every country around the globe. In the U.S., Lemonade has been “coming soon” since December 2015 despite raising an initial $13 million in seed funding. Germany has Friendsurance, China as TongJuBao, New Zealand provides PeerCover, and France is feeling the Inspeer-ation. It makes you wonder what’s coming next.
3. Real Estate Crowdfunding (RECF) — RECF is growing more popular and getting better with every investment. Across the Country, the crowd is rocking real estate investing. The future has great things in store, so look for more innovative approaches to real estate investing, greater transparency, and some super opportunities for investors and sponsors alike.
4. AI Hedge Funds — You’ve no doubt heard of robo-advisors like Betterment and Wealthfront, which replace your human financial manager with a robot that can think better inside the cube than most Homo Sapiens can outside the box. Barclays is looking forward to a day when artificial intelligence can be used to help people transfer money more efficiently. I think it’s going to get better than that. Already, there are services popping up that use algorithmic technology to invest in hedge funds. Someday, all of Wall Street’s intelligence may be artificial.
5. Digital banks — Digital banking is so popular it has its own conference. Sorry, the 2016 date has passed, but you can still join The Digital Banking Club. The encouraging thing about digital banking isn’t so much that online and mobile banks are an alternative to traditional banking, but it’s that traditional banks themselves are some of the largest backers of this new trend. Soon, the entire financial world will be digital.
It’s difficult to stop a revolution, even a technological one. In fact, technology revolutions tend to run themselves. From the printing press to the World Wide Web, the world has advanced beyond some of history’s most incredible imaginations. It will be interesting to see what the next decade has in store, especially for the world of FinTech.
Are you on the edge of your seat? Because I am.
