• Jens Podewski, co-founder and CEO at FinXP


• 01.11.2021 05:00 pm
#financial #banking

The fintech revolution has changed the financial services ecosystem for the better. Individuals have improved access to banking and entirely new products exist to make our lives easier. It's a great time to be involved in fintech. 

Changing regulations and the unbundling of banking services mean that the barrier to entry into the market is lower than ever. If you have an innovative idea, an open-minded investor and some technical skills, you're halfway there. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. You can launch your fintech product or service more easily than ever before; but so can everyone else.

Let's face facts: it's a crowded marketplace. Competition is fierce, not only among the agile, lean new players themselves but the big banks who are spinning off their fintech products all the time. So how can an organisation stand out?

While there is a need to create a strong, recognisable brand, it isn't the logo or the colour scheme on the website or app that is going to dictate whether your business will survive. It's how your customers actually engage with your brand that matters most.

The first thing to do is to recognise what it is that makes your brand unique. Having a distinct point of difference from your competitors is what will get you the attention you need. Building a fintech service requires a great deal of components. Many of these are readily available to buy in — Banking-as-a-Service platforms will give you access to most of the back-end technology you need, so don't waste time trying to build this yourself. Instead, focus on building the things that your customer will see and use on a regular basis.  

Consider all of the customer touchpoints, and how you can enhance them or even create new ones. Think about how you can keep your brand at the front of their mind, with loyalty or payment cards. For example, a cryptocurrency exchange could offer cards to customers providing them with easy access to their funds. These cards could be physical or virtual — the key is that the customer sees your logo every time they make a purchase.

There are other ways in which a fintech company can differentiate itself too. A great way of building customer engagement is to offer additional, complementary services — these don't necessarily need to be revenue-generating, but they do need to show the customer that you value them and care about the things that they care about. Educational content, for instance, would work well, as would charitable initiatives

It's fundamental for a new entrant in the financial services market to stand out from the crowd. Fintech doesn't stand still, so you should be looking at ways you can keep on innovating and creating new features and services that your customers will really appreciate and that keep them engaged with your brand.