Investment in financial technology touches $3.5 bn: Accenture

Fintech Investment in Asia-Pacific set to at least quadruple in 2015
Investments in financial technology across Asia Pacific touched nearly $3.5 billion in the first nine months of 2015 from about $880 million in 2014, said Accenture.

Payments (40 percent) and lending (25 percent) had the largest share of deals in financial technology investment.

“We are seeing the convergence of two trends: venture capitalists are clearly signalling financial technology is a growth opportunity and simultaneously financial services companies are waking up to the vast opportunities created by the current wave of financial technology,” said Jon Allaway, senior managing director of Accenture’s Financial Services group in ASEAN.

Financial services institutions are utilizing cloud, mobile wallets and blockchain to redefine their business and operational models. There is an increased investment from banks in financial technology venture capital funding, incubators and startups.

The volume of financial technology deals is set to increase to 122 as of October 1 from 117 in 2014. Value of financial technology deals has increased substantially due to larger investments in and from China.

They include investments from Alibaba Group into Paytm, a mobile payment and commerce platform in India, as well as fundraising by Ping An Insurance Group venture Lufax, which has been developing alternative financing and investment platforms, including peer-to-peer and business-to-customer platforms.

Financial services firms are also now turning to financial technology for streamlining operations, complying with changing regulations and new currencies, said Accenture.

Accenture forecasts that blockchain, a distributed ledger technology that supports the exchange of crypto currency and cryptographically secured financial assets, will be a focus for startups, banks and investors.

Accenture also expects investment in cyber security to increase significantly in the coming year, especially in light of recent large-scale data breaches reported in the media.

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