The topic of this edition is super important to our team: how FinTech innovations are changing the world in both positive and negative ways.

If you make mobile payments via PayPal, use online banking, or support worthwhile causes or projects on Indiegogo or GoFundMe, then you are a user of FinTech. Currently, one out of three people across 20 major world economies claim to be using at least two FinTech services. In India and China, Asia’s top FinTech funding hubs, more than half of consumers use FinTech services like money transfers, financial planning, borrowing, and insurance.

The main innovative edge of FinTech lies in providing financial services to people who don’t normally have access to conventional banking services. In the world today, approximately 1.7 billion adults lack a bank account. But with an emphasis on flexibility, speed, inclusiveness, and transparency, FinTech allows consumers to open bank accounts, take out loans, transfer money, or buy life insurance on a smartphone, bypassing the hefty fees and regulatory restrictions of traditional banks. Little wonder, then, that 82% of financial institutions expect to increase FinTech partnerships in the next three to five years, according to a PwC report.

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