In a recent ITNewsAfrica article Dave van Niekerk, Executive Chairman of MyBucks, a Frankfurt-listed fintech with operations in Europe, Africa and Australia, said that fintech is able to take businesses anywhere. “Fintech is largely unmatched in its ability to bridge financing gaps and bring underbanked and excluded segments of the world population into the mainstream economy. It is able to do this because the digital revolution has meant that bankers are now able to reach the most remote regions of the world without having to invest in expensive infrastructure.”
In South Africa fintech is also advancing fast. A recent article in the FAIS Ombud’s second quarter newsletter, published in August, mentioned that the “fast paced development of fintech is likely to spark greater regulatory scrutiny in South Africa.”
The article mentioned that fintech is starting to spread through the financial sector, disrupting the traditional way that the industry delivers product and services to the consumer. These innovations are seen as both threat and opportunity.
Jurgen Boyd, Deputy Executive Officer for Collective Investment Schemes at the FSCA and Chairperson of the Regulatory Steering Committee mentioned that one of the future strategies is to focus on fintech developments and to understand the impact it will have on the conduct and inclusion mandate of the FSCA.
Click here to read more about the FSCA’s focus and drive to pay attention to all aspects of fintech.
Definition of fintech: FinTech is a new industry that uses technology to improve activities in finance. The use of smartphones for mobile banking, investing services and cryptocurrency are examples of technologies aiming to make financial services more accessible to the general public.
