NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, December 2, 2016

In 2015 and the first half of 2016, US$345 million, representing 11% of total venture capital funding in Southeast Asia went into FinTech. The region’s growing economies and relatively large underbanked populations make it doubly attractive for new market entrants. We set out to assess Malaysian financial service players’ attitudes towards this emerging segment through an online survey and several interviews of top management from both the incumbents and newcomers. Here’s what we found.

Financial technology (FinTech) is touted as a game changer — the revolution that is turning the financial services industry on its head. All this talk about how FinTech is blurring the lines between the financial services and technology sectors evokes a sense of upheaval and change, with the outlook and final outcome uncharted and uncertain.

For financial institutions (FIs), the question on everyone’s mind is, “Is FinTech a threat or an opportunity of a lifetime?”