When was the last time you visited your bank for money transfer or to apply for a loan? It is hard to recall. isn’t it? The pandemic has changed our lives drastically. It has incredibly accelerated the need for technologies in our lives as maintaining social distance and staying indoors have become a necessity. We all are forced to manage our affairs remotely and online. The Banking and Finance industry is witnessing a huge paradigm shift as FinTech is disrupting and redefining and will continue to do so in the future as well.
FinTech has evolved significantly. Before the pandemic, our use of FinTech was limited to online and mobile banking platforms to check account balance and transfer money. Now, it has become essential for everyone who’s carrying out online transactions like buying financial products, opening new accounts or receiving financial advice.
FinTech revolution: How FinTech rose to the occasion
There was a time when the Finance industry was sceptical regarding the use of advanced technologies due to the perceived safety concerns attached to it. Online banking and digital money transfer were considered as the secondary options and physical banking used to be the primary and most reliable channel of banking.
However, with digitalization, people started using the internet on the mobile phone, adoption of technology in baking increased extensively. Today, 60 % of India’s software revenue comes from the banking sector and the financial services industry. This is a sign that banking institutions and the financial service industry are digitizing extensively.
FinTech is the umbrella term for technologies that are massively disrupting the traditional financial services including mobile payments, money transfers, loans, fundraising and asset management.
Use of Google Pay, Phone Pay is not new anymore. The UPIs is one of the greatest contributions of India to global technologies in the last 10 years and have taken the entire FinTech world by storm. India has nearly 1.4 billion people, and more than 3 billion transactions happen on UPI per month. UPIs has made E-commerce possible and enabled us to do micro-payments. Not only limited to fund transfer, FinTech made it easier for us to take loans as well.
FinTech has huge potential and it is going to disrupt the banking and finance industry to a greater extent. The Indian FinTech market is expected to reach INR 6,207 Billion by 2025. Also, the global FinTech investments are rising and there is a surge of 40% when it comes to the funding in the Indian FinTech start-ups.
As making the customer journey smoother is going to be crucial, major banks are adopting advanced customer engagement platforms and investing in these. In the UAE, the Central Bank is launching a FinTech office to support financial innovation. The ongoing pandemic has limited physical banking and forced customers to demand a more convenient and secure way of banking. Major banks are now partnering with FinTech companies to become customer-centric and agile.
Skills and career in the FinTech powered Banking and Finance industry
The FinTech industry in India is growing rapidly and technology innovation is powering this growth. As per a survey by the Economics Times, the need for FinTech professionals will increase by 42% by the end of 2020. The industry is in need of high skilled professionals who can manage and navigate the FinTech business world which is filled with phenomenal opportunities.
Skills that would be in-demand to build a career in FinTech:
Technical skills:
- Blockchain expertise
- Programming skills- Java, JavaScript, C++, C#, Python and SQL
- Advanced mathematical/quantitative skills
- Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning
- Cybersecurity Expertise
Soft skills:
- Emotional intelligence
- Communication
- Empathy
- Creativity
- Problem solving
- Adaptability
- Flexibility
The FinTech revolution has accelerated technology adoption. To keep up with technology advancement you must acquire the right skills and the much-needed expertise. There are courses available which would help you acquire the right skill set along with getting a certification. The courses are specially designed to build your FinTech expertise. You just need to choose the right course that meets your requirements and get started.
Also read: Re-imagining lives in the new normal powered by DeepTech https://nationalskillsnetwork.in/reimagining-lives-in-the-new-normal-powered-by-deeptech/
FinTech has definitely changed the way we handle our finances and will continue to disrupt and change the Banking and Financial industry. We must prepare ourselves to witness a powerful transformation in the next decade.
Author: Purvi Shah | Senior Director | Talent Sprint | For more information please visit: https://talentsprint.com/
