Fintech’s key roles in achieving financial inclusion
ONE OF the most notable shifts seen during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is the growing use of digital payments. Although cash and coins are still used, electronic wallets and digital services were further appreciated for the conveniences they provide.
This shift was highly driven by a bigger one that the pandemic caused to accelerate — digitalization. In particular, financial technology or fintech has played a much bigger role in connecting consumers with banks, merchants, and other financial services providers. From the perspectives of consultancies, as digitalization pushed further forward amid the pandemic, fintech’s growth is imminent.
V Ram, vice-president and chief technology officer at
Tata Consultancy Services, noted that by enabling more companies and financial institutions to consider digital platforms, the pandemic has pushed digital transformation by several orders of magnitude.
“The pandemic has pushed customers and companies over the digital technology tipping point and transformed adoption for many businesses into a priority. In just a few months, the crisis has accomplished years of digital transformation in most banks and companies by five to seven years,” he said during the first of a three-part BusinessWorld Insights online forum series themed “Fintech for a Financially Inclusive and Resilient Economy.”
He added that new opportunities for the finance sector are opening as most companies across the world has put up at least temporary solutions to meet newly scaling demands, much more than what they thought would be possible.
“As it was, the world continues to enjoy a modicum of entertainment, even if it was not in their regular settings like in the cinema. Trade and commerce also held up pretty well from short-term impacts thanks to fintech. Now is the chance for us to accelerate and take things forward. This is where we see fintech reshape the financial ecosystem,” he said.