The coronavirus pandemic has brought with it multiple changes that have permeated almost all major industries on the planet. One of the sectors where the effects of the pandemic have been felt is the financial world, which is in the midst of a complete transformation.
The latest studies have shown that as the pandemic has progressed, more and more people were delving into the world of financial applications. This was a marked change from the time when people preferred in-person meetings with their brick and mortar establishments.
Market experts have stated the pandemic has revealed the underlying expectations of users who are involved in making big money transfers. Since a majority of the people were stuck at homes because of government-mandated lockdowns, they were delving into mobile applications built by banks as well as non-banks. The non-banking sector has been heavily involved in the fintech area for some time now and their progress has beaten all market expectations.
One of the fintech firms that has benefitted massively from this pandemic was the San Fransisco based Plaid. The firm, which was recently acquired by Visa for a whopping $5.3 billion has been on a roll with many services using its digital architecture to carry out transactions on a large scale. Plaid’s chief executive Zach Perret went on an interview with CNN, where he stated:
“I think the pandemic has made it incredibly clear that digital financial services are here to stay. People are trying digital finance for the first time. It’s going from an attitude where people think, ‘I do my banking in person,’ or, ‘I do financial services in person,’ to an attitude of thinking, ‘I could use these digital services. Breaking that zero-to-one gap, that’s the biggest gap.”
Analysts have also agreed with Perrett’s sentiment, with many predicting a future where big banks will make use of fintech architecture to keep up with customer demands. New technologies like blockchain and smart contracts have opened up an entirely new avenue for speed and efficiency. Although the cryptocurrency market still has a major share of critics, more and more people were warming up to the idea of its foundation, blockchain technology. As major banks try to create their own version of the existing blockchain system, only time will tell if it becomes a complete mainstay.