Fintech Trends 2022: Financial Inclusion

Inclusivity is the practice or policy of providing equal access to opportunities and resources for everyone, despite their race, gender, disability, or other needs. The same concept is applied to the financial industry and financial startup, where financial inclusion is one of the top fintech trends that many financial institutions can use to provide financial services in their business processes.

Financial inclusion aims to make a range of financial products accessible to the broader public. This is vital since having access to financial services is one of the most crucial steps in recovering a nation’s economy. Sure, it takes a long road to get there, but Indonesia has so much potential according to Ayoconnect’s COO and founder, Chiragh Kirpalani. As one of the most populated countries in the world with 5% YoY real GDP growth, Indonesia’s demographic and macroeconomic trends are expected to drive robust growth.

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Which fintech trends are predicted to grow in 2022?

Here are some fintech trends to watch, that are predicted to grow in fintech industry for the following years:

- Embedded solutions from banks

Many banks have been planning to become service providers to non-bank and non-financial institutions. They want to provide a customer contactless experience involving financial services as a component of a more extensive offering. That’s why embedded finance has been growing over the past year and is well-positioned to grow even further.

- Rebranding fintech as data organizations

One of the Big Four accounting organizations, KPMG, predicted that many fintech companies will rebrand themselves as data companies and suppliers to stand out in the market to garner more attention and investment. They do this by marketing themselves as data providers rather than just fintech companies and positioning themselves as offering payments, lending, insurance, and other related services.

These fintech players don’t even hesitate to make huge investments. In the Asia-Pacific region, fintech investment reached $27.5 billion in 2021 across a record 1,165 deals according to KPMG. This statistic shows that fintech has been increasingly popular in Asia-Pacific.

- More AI Technology

We will start to see an increasing number of hedge funds managed partly by AI as its technology and investment applications continue to advance. This technology democratizes the investment world for those who lack the time or resources to invest, like expert Wall Street hedge traders.

According to Global News Wire, the AI technology in Asia Pacific is projected to grow at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 40.8% from 2022 to 2027. Given this prediction, it’s not surprising that tech behemoths like Bloomberg, Meta, and JaneStreet have all invested substantial sums of money in AI research.

Why will the growth be high, and how does it relate to financial inclusion?

Open finance has emerged as a ground-breaking innovation when the demand for digitalized and connected financial services is growing. Its significant potential not only brings more unbanked into formal financial services but also keeps them in a more convenient, safe, sound, and sustainable system.

Open finance helps financial institutions adopt technologies more quickly as an infrastructure layer. The common goal of all these experiences is to use open finance to address diverse issues that lower-income groups encounter to increase their financial inclusion. Even so, each experience gives a distinct perspective on particular local concerns. The options are virtually unlimited.

Ayoconnect promotes financial inclusions through its solution

As of 2020, Indonesia is the fourth-largest internet population, with 202 million users, or 73% of its population. According to a survey conducted by We Are Social in April 2021, the highest percentage of internet users worldwide—88.1% of Indonesians—took part in fintech trends. They used e-commerce platforms to purchase in the previous few months.

Interestingly, due to illiteracy, poor income, the concentration of economic activity in cities, and the difficulty of small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) accessing funding, this figure doesn't reflect how many digital transactions there were between them.

That's why as Southeast Asia's largest open finance platform, Ayoconnect leverages its embedded finance network to encourage Indonesians to transact using digital banking channels, for example, to pay bills through online platforms. According to Indonesia's national survey in 2021 during pandemic period, recurring bills contribute 24% to our nation's population's monthly expenditure.

The end goal is for Indonesia's financial inclusion to be boosted among all layers of society. With Ayoconnect's API technology, your organization can benefit from fintech trends that will slowly change how we do our financial activities with financial technology. To learn more about Ayoconnect, click here.

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