Banks vs Fintech: A Coronastory

Despite strong technology players like Stripe, Square, PayPal, and Robinhood, traditional banks are still dominant.

As we enter the next decade, however, consumer acceptance of new financial products & services will continue to grow, leaving new demographics open to new products & services. This would have been true regardless, but it seems clear that the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this opportunity.

Brief: Banks are increasingly replaceable. "Embedded finance" makes it easy to deliver financial services in context. Over time, that may result in money gravitating towards influencer-run financial institutions. This could have significant ramifications for how society manages its surplus.

Financial services simply weren’t designed for the modern internet, and this is a pain point for businesses today: nearly half (46%) of companies report that their banking experience has hindered their company growth.

This new way of winning distribution is quite different from the old way. Yes it’s also capital intensive, but you’re not buying real estate. You have low fixed costs, and variable costs that scale with usage (vs. real estate servicing that you pay regardless of use). And where branch-banking might have had winner-take-all dynamic regionally, there... See more