Developing Payments Solutions Is No Longer The Main Focus Of FinTech Innovation, According To A New Report From PwC And Startupbootcamp

A recent explosion in startups focused on the investment management industry now lead the pack, according to the report, “Accelerating change: London FinTech 2015 - 2016”. Launched today (23^rd March 2016) by Startupbootcamp and PwC, Accelerating change outlines the key trends and patterns seen in FinTech over the past 12 months and predicts developments and challenges for 2016 and beyond.

The authors highlight one of the biggest trends as the decline in the prominence of payments as the main focus of innovation, with other areas of FinTech gaining ground. Startups focused on the investment management industry now head the recent explosion of FinTech disruption and innovation.

The report addresses the hype and challenges surrounding blockchain, alongside the pressing need for incumbent corporates to find a way to work effectively with startup companies in order to keep pace with the rate of change and make the most of the opportunities in front of them.

Payments

Innovation in the payments sector has reached a certain level of maturity and one of the biggest trends of 2015 was the decline in relative terms in payments innovation as a whole compared to other trends.

Scale is one of the most obvious barriers for startups looking to enter the payments market - a viable payments business requires a very large volume of transactions, and both payers and payees are drawn to payment solutions that have the biggest scale and reach. For example, there are many startups trying to corner the remote mobile payment solutions market (e.g. customers pre-ordering coffee during their commute) - but a dominant player has yet to emerge; corporates therefore face a difficult challenge in choosing which platform to use.

Asset and wealth management

-        Over half (5 from 9) of the final cohort in Startupbootcamp’s FinTech London accelerator programme were focused on the investment management industry. 20% of applications to the programme were investment management focussed