Blurred lines: How FinTech shaping Financial Services in Luxembourg
FinTech, a game-changing alloy of technology and finance, blends innovation-focused technology companies with traditional financial sector players. The merger of these two different business approaches, the tech and the traditional one, is the bedrock of the future financial sector landscape. The findings of this report are based on the 2016 PwC Global FinTech Report in which the rise of new technologies in the financial industry is assessed globally.
However, the spotlight is on FinTech in the Grand Duchy: Luxembourg, with its modern financial institutions is well positioned to take the reigns of the FinTech revolution.
The 2016 PwC Global FinTech Survey, gathers the view of 544 respondents from 46 countries, principally Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), Heads of Innovation, Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and top management involved in digital and technological transformation, distributed among five regions.
The Luxembourg-focused cut was based on the responses of 36 respondents from the financial industry’s major market players.
Breakdown of survey participants in Luxembourg
PwC FinTech Survey demonstrates that Luxembourg financial institutions are not ignoring the threats that FinTech companies pose to their business models: as a result of competition with FinTechs, as much as 26% of their business might be at risk over the next five years. Increasing pressure on margins, as well as information and security threats are at the top of the incumbents' threats list. Nonetheless, Luxembourg participants also recognise FinTech-related opportunities, especially in the area of improving customer experience and meeting changing customer needs by pairing them with new offerings; traditional players also expect to boost their businesses by gaining access to sophisticated operational capabilities.
That said, not all incumbents in Luxembourg have adjusted their strategies to face these new developments and embrace FinTech solutions. Given the speed of technological change, financial institutions cannot ignore FinTech as they need to define their strategic intent and adapt their executional capabilities.
Achieving this means commencing a FinTech journey that would be marked by the following stages:
FinTech is re-shaping the financial sector at such a pace that those players that stay behind today might not even recognise the sector in five years. With their potential, Luxembourg players, however, have all the capabilities to stay at the heart of the FinTech revolution. The golden rule: start embracing FinTech now.