FinTechs enhance direct contact with banking clients

The development of commercial banking with the intervention of FinTech systems makes life easier for the user and, at the same time, they achieve greater financial inclusion.

This competitive advantage has made banks increasingly inclined to seek mutual collaboration to reinvent themselves in the market.

Currently, social networks, markets such as Amazon or even applications such as Rappi among others, have promoted in the consumer a high expectation of immediacy in the service and attention that they expect to be replicated in their bank.

In the case of FinTech companies, they have stood out in the digital market for their speed and agility to reinvent themselves in the market and expectations of new consumers.

Founded in 2015, Antit is a mobile development company specialized in Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and Time-To-Make (TTM) products with a portfolio strongly focused on the FinTech industry.

"As digital products are consolidated, banks must define their value proposition to encompass both digital innovation and traditional values, this to meet the needs of their customers by eliminating intermediaries in each of their operations", according to the Global Study of Consumers in Distribution and Marketing 2017 of the company Accenture.

In this way, the need to develop an attractive and meaningful experience for the user takes greater force, this is where FinTechs have been pioneers with the creation of simple and elegant platforms that give the client the feeling of saving time when carrying out all their procedures from one place in an easy, fast and safe way.

Commercial banking services must measure their success by the degree of empathy they achieve with their clients, anticipating their actions, needs and emotions.

Likewise, with regard to the payments sector, FinTechs have stood out as strategic allies for banking entities to replace their infrastructure with new and innovative solutions, achieving greater customer acquisition, retention and loyalty.

Currently, more than 2 billion adults are excluded from the formal financial system, as revealed by the World Bank's Universal Financial Access 2020 report, this sector has been key in the growth of the FinTech system creating products that adapt to this population.

"Financial access is the first step toward broader financial inclusion, where individuals and businesses can safely use a variety of appropriate financial services, including savings, payments, credit, and insurance," the report noted.

Costa Rica in the FinTech world

The emerging FinTech market in Costa Rica can be divided into four areas of action according to the study of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB): payment solutions, alternative financing platforms, technology companies for financial institutions and business finance management and alternative score ( Scoring).

According to the World Bank's 2020 study “Payment aspects of financial inclusion in the fintech era”, FinTech companies offer the most benefits for transaction account and payment product design .

Instant payments meet the end-user demand for greater speed and control, something banks must take advantage of the FinTech experience.

Users have a high expectation regarding the characteristics of the service, specifically speed and availability in real time.

FinTech Applications

Applications in the Costa Rican market such as Pei created by Antit, an expert company in FinTech development, process payments 24/7 instantly and transfer money to friends and family.

It even allows dividing a payment for an outing among friends through a simple application from the APP, combining the characteristics of a direct debit with the benefit that it is still up to the payer to initiate that process.

In addition, this functionality allows the user the ability to better control their finances and with its inclusion of QR codes it facilitates the almost immediate availability of funds by offering an alternative to cash payments.

FinTechs offer solutions to traditional banking leveraging on connectivity, mobile technologies, data analysis and the implementation of artificial intelligence.

“An avant-garde electronic payment system offers Costa Rica untapped potential for fintech companies to be a powerful catalyst for financial inclusion,” said the Economic Study of Costa Rica 2020 of the Organization for Cooperation and Economic Development (OECD).

Similarly, the OECD emphasizes the need to grant fintech companies full access to the electronic payment system, while ensuring safety and consumer protection, promoting the development of this sector.

On the other hand, FinTechs facilitate greater commercial efficiency for financial entities with the incorporation of instant messaging chatbots combined with machine learning that allow them reactions similar to human ones.

Likewise, thanks to Data Analytics, they can offer each client the products and services that best suit their probable needs based on the analysis of the information that the bank has about clients.

Finally, application programming interfaces (APIs), which make it easier for third parties to develop smartphone applications that add value to the services offered by the financial institution.

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