30 Aug 2017
A pragmatic assessment of disruptive potential in financial services.
The Disruptive Innovation in Financial Services project was launched at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2014 in Davos, in a world still consumed with navigating the aftershocks of the global financial crisis. But in the wings, a new challenge for the financial system was growing in the form of FinTech – new entrants that promised to rapidly reshape how financial products were structured, provisioned and consumed. Nearly four years later, we take the opportunity to reflect on the changes to the financial system – taking stock of the impacts that FinTechs have had and considering their evolving relationships with both incumbents and regulators. More importantly, it presents an opportunity to consider what lies beyond the horizon for financial services. The technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution have triggered a seismic shift in the financial system, the implications of which will extend far beyond the FinTechs that pioneered their use in financial services. Value chains that have characterized the industry for decades are being disrupted and reshaped with implications for customers, regulators, incumbents and every other stakeholder in the financial system.