Is Fintech = Finance + Tech?

Usually, Fintech is described as the marriage between Financial Services and Technology, as the name suggests, right?

The use of technology in financial service dates back to the 19th century. In 1871, the first money transfer using telegraph was done by Western Union.
In the last century, banks, especially investment firms, fund the major developments in computers and the internet.

Considering these, it's safe to say financial services always used some form of technology and were even among its first adopters.

So the question is, what is Fintech then?

Fintech can be divided into two segments:
1. New businesses who are using technology to operate outside of the traditional financial services business model to change how financial services are offered (non-bank tech companies)
2. Firms that use technology to improve the competitive advantage of traditional financial services. (traditional financial players)

For example, at Anyfin, one of the ways we help consumers is to offer them a personalized refinancing option using their financial history and artificial intelligence within seconds. This process is usually manual and takes several days in traditional banks.

(From Duke University's course on FinTech Law and Policy)

Hamed Mohammadpour

Hamed Mohammadpour