Why are FINTECH born?

With the introduction of the internet into our lives, the massification of laptops and access to technologies that decades ago were considered practically impossible, the consumer has benefited by having immediate and easy access to news, music, movies and series, food and even the way to communicate with their loved ones. However, the way in which traditional banking operates has not evolved as fast as the rest, this situation has created the opportunity for thousands of non-traditional companies or startups to offer financial services in a more convenient way, taking advantage of the advances in technology. This combination of financial services and technology is called FINTECH.
Executives in the traditional financial industry are aware of this situation but are finding it difficult to join the trend due to the rigid organizational structure and bureaucratic processes in their companies.

By definition, FINTECH is a compound word that unites the words Finance and Technology.
It therefore defines all financial services companies that make use of the latest technological developments to provide products or services.

What are the main functions of FINTECHs?
They mainly focus on four business areas:
1- Payments and transactions
2- Personal finance management
3- Consulting and marketing platforms for investors
4- Financing and credit granting approaches.

This includes services such as digital banking, online credit, currency exchange through the network or exchange and digital payments, in short, all services that have technology and money in common. The arrival of the technology industry to financial services has made millions of startups begin to emerge around this concept, thus offering their users a wide range of opportunities to work with traditional banking. Their objectives are multiple, but among them are to offer new financial services with technological support, showcase fully online banking products and efficiently reduce the costs of many systems that were previously considered "exclusive" to large capital investors, thus democratizing access to a greater number of banking products.

Among the basic areas in which FINTECHs operate are mainly:
1- Mobile banking
2- Big Data and predictive models
3- Crowdfunding
4- Cryptocurrencies
5- Automated process management

What are the advantages of FINTECH?
The first advantage offered by this type of service is the cost, because they do not need a physical infrastructure to operate as are the bank branches or ATMs and can also work with fewer staff due to the number of automated processes with which they have, this business model is more profitable and can offer their products at a much lower price for the end user.
The second advantage would be the ease of user access to the service provided, the fact of only needing a mobile device with internet to access the product makes FINTECH companies can expand much more quickly, effectively and reach people without the need for them to travel to a bank branch.