While the burgeoning number of Fintech player and the exciting new technologies may be reminiscent of the Dot Com Bomb of the late 90's early 2000, will it be different this time?
The technology is certainly different - advances in computing power, decreased costs per Gb of memory and a networked world mean the possibilities are beyond what we could have imagined 10 years ago.
But - not all the fintech startups will survive. Some will be acquired by the larger institutions, some will fail for cashflow reasons and inability to develop scale, but some will thrive. Someone will be the PayPaul of tomorrow - but who will it be?
We've seen start-ups build innovative payment systems, peer-to-peer lending platforms, crypto-currencies, and robo-advice. However, the big institutions are well-capitalised, have large customer bases and are adapting their innovation strategies to strengthen their dominant market positions. The challenge for the regulators is to facilitate such innovation while protecting consumers from their own poor decisions and market misconduct. Some of these were central themes at Sydney's annual Financial Institutions Symposium hosted by Norton Rose Fulbright. David Navetta, a Norton Rose Fulbright US partner on Cybersecurity, shared war stories giving frightening insights into how IT systems have been breached and the damaging consequences. Nick Abrahams, angel investor, start-up director and partner of Norton Rose Fulbright, raised the spectre of the tech bubble of early 2000. However, Sally Loane of the FSC says the current fintech movement is different because of mobile technology.
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