FINTECH and the POST-COVID WORLD
Like many businesses, the FINTECH industry, which had experienced phenomenal growth in recent years; has had a varied experience of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, but attentions are now turning to what the future of FINTECH looks like in the United Kingdom as the broader economy shifts from ‘respond’ to ‘recover, and what new opportunities may be created for some.
COVID-19 has obviously created new opportunities for many companies especially in the FINTECH sector; social distancing for example has hastened the use of digital financial services and e-commerce. However coupled to this are the challenges of access to funding, and equally challenging current skill shortage within the UK.
A recent virtual roundtable of FINTECH entrepreneurs hosted by the Great British Entrepreneur Awards discussed a number of topics relating to the impact and future prospects for the sector. The panel firmly believed FINTECH will continue on the path it was following prior to the pandemic, but as a result of the pandemic will see an acceleration of trends, for example the decline in in-person and in-branch banking to online and open banking.
The forum also discussed how businesses had shifted to digital processes ahead of their Making Tax Digital compliance dates, with a rush of businesses getting onto platforms such as Xero or Quickbooks.
Despite all an unprecedented number of challenges of COVID-19 for FINTECHs, there have also been opportunity to accelerate and scale growth quicker. Virtual meetings has enabled greater volume and opportunity when sourcing pre-seed investment, and likewise the “Zoom” call has become the norm and has hastened the move to a global marketplace as companies are no longer limited by location.
Recruitment within the Fintech sector has always been a challenge, our article “Recruitment Without Barriers” touched on how a mobile, remote workforce enables a business to attract talent from all over the world. With hybrid and even entirely remote working being the method of choice for many businesses as we leave the pandemic behind, this presents an opportunity for the Fintech industry to close the skills gap, hiring the best talent regardless of where they are in the world.
Tracy Fletcher, Managing Director of Campbell & Fletcher Recruitment, “COVID has been a real challenge for all companies, with one of the biggest challenges has been with workforce planning. Until Covid, we have been almost able to forecast hiring trends but this has changed over the past 18 months. Now we are seeing is the need for an agile workforce with the flexibility to increase and decrease when needed, coupled with a massive decrease in the time-to-hire.”
It is believed that the UK’s FINTECH businesses growth compared to similar SME sectors will add as much as £3 billion to the economy in Gross Valued Added; there is no doubt that Covid-19 has accelerated the adoption of technology, and the wider acceptance of more disruptive FINTECH products. The next challenge it must overcome is the regulatory challenges and the potential impact of Brexit, with the expected movement of some financial services businesses to mainland Europe.
