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

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Global banking regulators signaled on Monday they were in no rush to adapt their rules to financial technology firms that have begun nibbling away at banks’ markets.

The regulators looked at how fintechs could disrupt banks’ business models by offering payments services, crowdfunding, mobile banks and online trading.

“Despite the hype, the large size of investments and the significant number of financial products and services derived from fintech innovations, volumes are currently still low relative to the size of the global financial services sector,” the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision said in its report on the implications of fintech on banks and regulators.

Analysts have said banks could become irrelevant as fintech firms become the “face” of financial services, a scenario Basel said seems far-fetched.