Prince Okafor

NIGERIA’s finance companies and the global financial services firms are now jittery over the loss of business to Financial Technology, Fin Tech.

Fin Tech is shifting the paradigm of traditional intermediary roles by making them obsolete.

The fear according to the Europe, Middle East and Africa, EMEA, Fin Tech Leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers, PwC, Steve Davies “Fin Tech is changing the FS industry from the outside.

PwC estimates within the next 3-5 years, cumulative investment in Fin Tech globally could well exceed $150bn, and financial institutions and technology companies are stepping over one another for a chance to get into the game.

“As the lines between traditional finance, technology firms and telecom companies are blurring, many innovative solutions are emerging and there is clearly no straightforward solution to navigate this Fin Tech world”

On his part, the PwC Global Financial Services, Mr. Manoj Kashyap, added that “Fin Tech is shifting the paradigm of traditional intermediary roles by making them obsolete. While FS organisations have acted as intermediaries in the financial system by providing an invaluable service to clients, their functions are being usurped by new technology-driven business models.

“Given how fast technology is developing, incumbents cannot afford to ignore Fin Tech. Nevertheless, our survey has shown that a non-negligible 25 percent of firms do not deal with Fin Tech companies at all.

With the pace of change now occurring at increasingly faster intervals, no financial services business can rest on its laurels.”

PwC Nigeria Partner, Andrew S Nevin, lamented that “Nigeria is just as threatened by Fin tech companies as their global counterparts. We expect Nigeria to leap frog and adopt the rapidly changing technologies as they emerge, driven primarily by consumers’ demands”.

Meanwhile, Fin Tech companies report that the three major issues they face when dealing with Traditional Financial Services firms were deemed as, the differences in management and culture according to 54 percent, 47 percent stated operational processes and 43 percent reveals the issues of regulatory uncertainty.

This analysis is gotten from the responses of 544 Chief Executive Officers, Heads of Innovation, CIOs and top management involved in digital and technological transformation across the FS industry in 46 countries.