Finance is being Redefined.

Finance is no longer an institution. It’s an experience, and it’s everywhere. The fintech revolution is breaking down financial services into their component parts, using APIs as building blocks and assembling product companies and services that compete directly with legacy financial services. And they have one distinct advantage: an almost myopic obsession with the customer experience.

The fintech revolution is happening across every vertical, from loans and banking to payments and insurance. Meanwhile, customers of legacy banks get the same monolithic experience that doesn’t change whether they are superprime or subprime, urban or rural, traditional or gig workers. To meet the future of finance, legacy companies will have to shift their focus and build experiences that puts their customers' needs first.

Consider the rise of buy-now-pay-later services like Affirm. Customers aren’t shopping around for the best rate. They take the loan because Affirm makes it so easy and grabs their attention at the right moment to increase purchase intention. Design and CX are the new finance products.
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In the rapidly changing fintech space, it’s also important to build with the future in mind. By building on top of the fintech infrastructure APIs, firms can get to market quickly and find product-market fit. A platform that allows for the infrastructure services to be swapped in and out as corporate and customer needs change over time means they can also be built to be future-proof.

With the number of new products and services, identity has become a thornier issue as customers have moved from single to multiple financial relationships. Keeping this identity intact across apps and services is important for a great onboarding experience in addition to providing data insights and nudges that offer customers personalized recommendations. An experience that nudges a customer to save 5% of their paycheck versus a saving account that offers .05% APR are the distinctions between the financial product of today versus yesterday.

The fintech revolution has only started and there is an incredible opportunity for firms that put their customers first and own the digital experience. The winners will be the ones to respond quickly in this rapidly changing environment and are capable of building for the future.