3 Crucial Fintech Trends to Watch in 2022
By James (Jiaqi) Wang, 6 Dec 2021
In a blink of an eye, 2022 is coming soon. In the past few months, people in many countries have begun to gradually return to normal lives with their high vaccination rates. However, with the emergence of the Omicron variant, will many countries adopt the lockdown policy again? The lockdown strategy in recent years has caused devastating blows to many industries in many countries, but the fintech sector has flourished against all odds. Here are 3 crucial fintech trends to watch in 2022.
#1 Payment technology and cashless society
Undoubtedly, Covid has played a vital role in the rapid development of cashless payment. Cashless payment is not only safer, but also more convenient for both customers and merchants. In China, WeChat Pay and Alipay have become the most popular cashless payment methods. In other countries, cashless payment has also developed rapidly in recent years. Reports suggest that by 2026, the UK will be almost entirely cashless, while Sweden and other Nordic countries are aiming for total digital transactions by 2023. Stores will become increasingly automated, with customers using contactless payment methods that run via mobile phones. There will also be moves to reduce the number of credit cards and debit cards that are produced. ESG directives will favor those companies that move away from traditional currency and plastic credit cards, due to the environmental impact of cash and card production. Meanwhile BNPL（buy now pay later）giants like Klarna and Afterpay, are also making the credit card far less popular among Millennials and Gen Z customers. The zero interest, installment pay options that are now offered on the vast majority of online stores, means credit card usage has declined dramatically over the past two years.
Source: Fintech Magazine
#2 Autonomous finance is developing rapidly
Financial management technology uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to make financial decisions on behalf of consumers without direct human input. Autonomous finance uses automation to provide personalized, optimized experiences tailored to specific financial processes. Technically, the term revolves around self-driving funds. Autonomous financing apps will guide consumers on where to make investments and manage risks. We can boldly predict that in 2022 autonomous finance will further change the way people invest by relying on cutting-edge fintech technology.
Source: Fintech News
#3 Data-driven customer experience is the key
Data analysis is an important element in fintech, and data-driven customer experience is about how businesses take customer data and use it to provide us with increasingly worthwhile, valuable, or enjoyable experiences. This could mean cutting down friction and hassle in e-commerce, more user-friendly interfaces and front-ends in the software we use, or spending less time on hold and being transferred between different departments when we make a customer service contact.
Our interactions with businesses are becoming increasingly digital – from AI chatbots to Amazon’s cashier-less convenience stores —meaning that often every aspect of our engagement can be measured and analyzed for insights into how processes can be smoothed out or made more enjoyable. This has also led to a drive to create greater levels of personalization in goods and services being offered to us by businesses. The pandemic sparked a wave of investment and innovation in online retail technology, for example, many businesses looked to replace the hands-on, tactile experiences of bricks ‘n’ mortar shopping trips. Finding new methods and strategies for leveraging this customer data into better customer service and new customer experiences will be a focus for many people working in the field of data science during 2022.
Source: Forbes
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