KPMG through their various Pulse of Fintech reports nicely capture, by region and globally, the state of fintech. Sometimes it is easy to get lost in all of the facts and figures – the intention of this post is to summarise some interesting Fintech in 2018 insights. For full details, take a read of Pulse of Fintech 2018. If this is of interest, its also worth reading KPMG’s 2019 fintech predictions.
Fintech in 2018 – Global Facts:
- In 2018, global investment in fintech companies reached $118 billion
- Regtech investment tripled from $1.2 billion in 2017 to $3.7 billion in 2018
- Big tech muscled into the financial services space focusing on Software as a Service business (SaaS) models, expanding their cloud services, AI machine learning capabilities to help financial services companies launch their their own products/services and/or to directly compete with incumbent financial institutions
- Open data and open banking sparked significant interest in regions adopting open banking legislation (PSD2 Regulation in Europe) and those that looked to leverage best practices being developed
- Regulatory changes saw RegTech investment increase as companies look for innovative solutions to regulatory “problems”
- InsurTech sector grew – watch Asia, as incumbent US and European insurers looking to “test” alternative Insurtech solutions in the region
- Corporate VC investments in fintech were $23.1 billion in 2018, compared with the previous high of $11.6 billion in 2016
Fintech in 2018 – Americas Facts:
- In 2018, investment in the Americas fintech companies reached $54.5 billion
- The US accounted for 96% of the fintech deal value across the Americas
- Brazil fintech investment hit $555.9 million in 2018 Q4
- Latin America sees increased investment from corporates, many fintech companies assess the financial inclusion opportunity given the unbanked /underbanked population in the region
Fintech in 2018 – United States Facts:
- In 2018, investment in US fintech companies reached $52.5 billion
- The top fintech deals were on the East Coast mainly New York and Massachusetts
Fintech in 2018 – European Facts:
- In 2018, investment in European fintech companies reached $34.2 billion
- The UK leads fintech in Europe, responsible for half the top 10 deals in the region
- Challenger banks in the region went from strength to strength, growing their products/services and moving into new geographies
Fintech in 2018 – Asia Facts:
- In 2018, investment in Asian fintech companies reached $22.7 billion
- Fintech investment in Singapore hit $346.8 million, a new high!
- Global growth is a key priority for Chinese fintech and technology companies – for example, to fund its global growth ambitions Ant Financial raised $14 billion, the largest VC round ever
