Over the years, fintech has drawn substantial interest owing to its rapid evolution and impact on diverse aspects of life. The term fintech is often used interchangeably with “internet finance” and “digital finance”, especially in China, where the term “internet finance” is more prevalent (Hua and Huang 2021). Other studies refer to fintech as information and communication technology, mobile money, mobile payments, and mobile banking (Lagna and Ravishankar 2022). Numerous studies have been conducted on fintech’s impact on financial inclusion, particularly in the context of ICT4D (Information and Communication Technologies for Development). Fintech emerged in the mid-2010s and gained attention owing to its rapid growth and diverse impacts on various aspects of life (Lai and Samers 2021).
Direct Indexing Benefits for Institutional Investors
Block now processes payments for merchants at an annualized rate of over $250 billion and has its own banking subsidiary (Square Financial Services) and a thriving small business lending platform. Brazil’s fintech sector has transformed from a disruptive sideshow into the backbone of the country’s financial system. Nubank serves over 110 million customers and is applying for a full banking license. And the Central Bank is building DREX, a digital real that could reshape how Brazilians interact with money entirely. Avant provides personal loan, credit card and mobile bank services for middle-income consumers.
Understanding Tax Alpha: Calculation Methods and Impact
Although money and contracts may have a physical form of representation (e.g., coins, paper bills, and contractual documents), most financial functions do not rely on this physical form. This is different from physical goods such as cars, clothing or nutrition, which can be complemented with information but not replaced by information. In essence, financial products are information goods, which explains why companies in the financial sector have also been pioneers in the use of IT.
In financial inclusion and fintech, production theories suggest that technology positively affects economic growth and development. Institutional theories propose that promoting financial inclusion aligns with neo-liberalism, arguing that financial markets evolve through institutional change and the encouragement of market mechanisms. The emergence of fintech is a catalyst for advancing financial markets for the underprivileged in developing countries that have previously faced numerous obstacles (Bernards 2019b).
- They are essential if your fintech product relies on multi-protocol interactions, real-time pricing, or decentralized smart contract automation.
- Issues related to platformed and racialized expropriation [98], racial discrimination [69], geographical segregation [18, 76, 141], and neo-colonialism structuring [25] are of very much concern.
- Based on our literature review, we outlined four primary domains that call for greater scholarly attention.
- You can get relevant details about the fintech industry and top fintech companies in India 2026.
- Through knowledge management mechanisms, small businesses can use crowdfunding services effectively.
- While digital roles are growing, the core workforce still centers on stability, trust-building, and regulatory alignment, rather than technological agility.
By 2025–2026, investment has stabilized at more sustainable levels, with investors prioritizing profitability over growth. Nubank, founded in São Paulo in 2013, has become the largest digital bank in the world outside China. In late 2025, Nubank won conditional U.S. charter approval, starting an 18-month race to become a fully licensed American bank. As of early 2026, it serves over 110 million customers across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, with a market valuation of approximately $85 billion.
Are BNPL cards credit cards?
This evolution indicates the expanding horizon of fintech research, which increasingly considers the social implications of technology, such as data security and privacy concerns, in the context of financial services. More recent emphasis on these topics indicates a response to the public’s rising concerns over data handling in fintech. The progression of keywords over time demonstrates a shift from a focus on technology and services to an increased awareness of the broader social implications and regulatory environment of fintech. 3 highlights the most frequently occurring keywords in the selected literature, offering an overview of the central concepts of the research. 3 with keyword density reveals the prevalence of ’mobile money’, ’financial inclusion’, and ’fintech’ as key topics. Beyond their frequency, these terms are central nodes that connect with specialized areas such as ’digital payments’, poverty’, and ’gender’.
Funding
Redefining credit for the better, this is one of the best fintech apps in the lending niche today. This zero-based budgeting app that promotes proactive money management and debt reduction is giving users just that. Peer-to-peer payments, integrated investing, tax-free “boost” for early deposits, you name it, the app has covered it. A targeted approach that focuses on in-demand skills and roles increases the chances of securing a position in one of the world’s most competitive fintech markets. Payments remain a core function within fintech, and companies are constantly hiring professionals who can support transaction systems and financial infrastructure. Compliance continues to be one of the most difficult areas for fintech companies to hire in.
Similar articles
For fintechs, it means access to data that was previously locked inside the big five banks — Itaú, Bradesco, Banco do Brasil, Santander, and Caixa Econômica. The system covers not just banking data but insurance, pensions, investments, and foreign exchange — a broader scope than Europe’s PSD2 framework. Third-party providers can initiate payments on behalf of users, creating a foundation for innovative services built on top of existing bank infrastructure. Beyond Finance provides consumers with personalized solutions for paying off debt.
A reason to opt for a BNPL card is that BNPL cards will enable you to split your bill into interest-free installments that you can pay over the next few months. If you are someone who likes to make purchases on EMIs, the Buy Now Pay Later model might suit you. It boosts rewards and simplifies staking and liquidity management, especially for users who want enhanced returns with minimal effort. SushiSwap is a multi-chain DEX and AMM protocol offering token swaps, staking, and yield farming across Ethereum, Polygon, and other chains. Budgeting and financial planning have never been easier, thanks to Mint and You Need a Budget (YNAB). The platform lets users buy and sell NFTs like Bored Apps, pioneering the way we think about digital ownership and creativity.
Inspira Financial
For the behavioural questions, use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to tell clear stories about how you’ve solved problems, worked in teams, or dealt with challenges. Think about a time a project changed direction and how you helped your team adapt. After the interview, always send a thank-you note within a day, mentioning something specific you discussed to show you were paying attention. It’s basically where finance and technology have a bit of a mash-up, and it’s changing how we all handle our money, from paying for your morning coffee to sorting out your investments. It’s a pretty big and fast-moving area, so getting a handle on it is your first step to landing a good internship. When you stare at the shortage of money for such reasons as an unpredictable emergency, vacation, or wedding celebration, you can apply for what is known as a personal loan.
Hudson River Trading
Marketplace lending significantly raises entrepreneurship by relaxing credit market frictions, especially in regions with lower access to traditional bank credit [36]. Increased digital offerings in form of customized products and business models have resulted in the rise in global adotion of FinTech by small businesses. The COVID-19 pandemic has also been as major push in the rise in adoption of FinTech services [14]. In our review also we can observe a gradual increase in the publications in the early years and jump in the period of 2020–2022.
Is One Card also a BNPL or Pay Later Card?
FinTech companies operate in semi-regulated or evolving frameworks in most regions, with over 50% relying on regulatory sandboxes, while traditional finance operates under strict, well-established compliance regimes. Over 70% of FinTech platforms offer 24/7 self-service features via mobile apps, with AI-driven support resolving over 80% of common queries instantly. More than 75% of FinTech users cite intuitive design and 24/7 accessibility as major advantages. In comparison, only 30% of traditional finance users feel their needs are met without visiting a branch or calling support. While some banks are investing in digital transformation initiatives, progress is incremental and risk-averse. Cybersecurity concerns, compliance obligations, and cost barriers slow down modernization.
Real-Time Sales Data: The Missing Link
On the MarketAxess platform, clients can trade assets electronically, as well as access resources on existing and emerging markets across regions. Invoice Home developed a fintech tool that offers a solution to the problem of how freelancers, solopreneurs and small businesses bill clients and process payments. Its cloud-based invoicing software is built for simplicity, with templated invoice designs that can be customized, digital payment options and a backup archive that ensures the security of critical records. It covers things like digital payments, loans, investing tools, and even new digital money like Bitcoin. If you like helping people, perhaps looking into ways to make money easier for everyone could be your thing.
Supporting EDI, APIs, CSV, and custom file formats, we enable secure, reliable data flow between our clients, their financial systems, and their trading partners. The Vault platform’s microservices architecture is built from the ground up to take full advantage of cloud-native computing, enabling banks to have an elastic, highly available and flexible core banking system, which scales depending on load. Vault Payments is our cloud-native payments processing platform designed to enable banks to run all payment types for every method, scheme, and region in the world. We begin with general everestex trading platform recommendations for research and then provide suggestions on each of the themes introduced in the previous section. Classification of evidence types (empirical/non-empirical) was dependent upon the use of empirical or conceptual data in the article [30].
Figure 4 reveals a complex network in which interlinkages between ’fintech’ and other financial sectors, such as ’microfinance’ and ’crowdfunding’, are evident. This network shows a collective increase in fintech research and highlights fintech’s role as a bridge between traditional financial systems and innovative financial solutions addressing inclusion. 4 provide an understanding of the primary thematic groups or research strands within this field. For this exploratory analysis, we employed network analysis and co-occurrence mapping to examine the existing body of research on fintech and financial inclusion. We used the VOSviewer software to perform co-occurrence analysis and organize the literature based on subject content.