Fintech continues to surprise with little to touch the rise of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in 2017. This will continue in 2018 and I make some predictions based on what we see happening globally and what we see taking place with our members at AlphaCode, a Rand Merchant Investments club for fintech startup entrepreneurs. Bitcoin At the end of 2016 I predicted that 2017 was going to be the year that the world would embrace bitcoin. I thought it would go mainstream but I had no idea how mainstream it would become. We have seen the bitcoin price increase from $1000 at the beginning...
From digital banks to mobile-payment solutions, technology is set to change the South African financial services landscape at a pace that will continue to surprise even the most hard-core non-believer. Digital banks On the banking front, 2017 will be the year of the digital bank, both globally and locally. In South Africa, we will see Discovery Bank and CBA Tyme – both digital banks – start operating and it should be interesting to see how the market responds. SME financing Politicians and economists tell us that the economic future of the world is in the hands of small business owners. But financing in...
Fintech is disrupting the way ordinary Africans manage and use money. And these fintech players are standing up to traditional institutions as a force to be reckoned with. Accenture estimates that over one-third of mainstream financial services’ revenue is at risk due to disruption in the industry from fintech. Many reports show how the rapid development of African fintech, which exploded in the years following the 2008 global meltdown, is threatening established players in the mainstream financial services sector. Africa is fertile ground for new fintech services which are leveraging the power of communities and social media to make financial services...