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Knowledge@CatólicaLisbon | Fintech: The Future of Banking

The financial sector is changing at a pace never seen before as a result of accelerated technological disruption, a change in consumer behavior and the emergence of new competitors, which are increasingly becoming a serious threat to incumbent banks.

The technology has contributed to an unstoppable digitalization of this sector, especially with the massive adoption of the smartphone that definitively placed the branch at the Client’s hands. The resulting digital transformation is now only taking its first steps, but already with a wide-range impact on all entities in the financial sector.

Consumer behaviour has also changed greatly due to the new technologies, reducing the asymmetry of information between the Customer and the Bank, thus increasing its level of demand and eliminating national borders. All of this is having as a consequence a reduction in customer loyalty and a profound structural change in the competitive environment in all its dimensions.

The branches were thus no longer a barrier to entry and allowed new, more specialized competitors, with a greater focus on consumer experience and at lower costs, to emerge in large numbers, testing new ideas, with perishing, but with some becoming a real threat to all incumbents.

The incumbent Banks are naturally reacting, becoming even more digital to increase the level of service as the expectations of their customers evolve and also to lower their costs. We have witnessed the emergence of partnerships with Fintechs and also the closure of 1400 branches in Portugal in the last 5 years, about 25% of the network. But will their current pace of transformation be sufficient to keep up with the dynamism of Fintechs?

At this Knowledge@CatólicaLisbon conference, we will have a panel of speakers from some of the most relevant Portuguese Fintechs, such as Raize (Collaborative SME Financing), Drivit (Car Driving Monitoring), Bankonnect (Open Banking), Netinvoice (Invoice Financing) and Parcela Já (Point of Sale Credit).

 

ALTA DIGITAL