The Fintech Challenge lies in gaining the trust of Spaniards

A few years ago, few people had a clear understanding of the concept of Fintech, but it's a sector that grew so much that nowadays it resonates with the majority of the business world and gradually with the general population. It's a fairly broad concept, and increasingly so, as technology continues to evolve constantly. If we choose two random Fintech companies and compare them, they probably have very different business models.

When a sector begins to develop, mistakes are made and there is much room for improvement, and sometimes, people take advantage in unethical ways. All of these situations, along with the initial distrust of any new product, result in the population being hesitant to trust Fintech companies to manage their money.

In other countries like the US and the UK, the sector grew and developed, but here it's a bit more challenging. As mentioned by the newspaper Cinco Días from El País: “Open banking is not taking off in Spain. Despite the popularity that Fintech companies have experienced in recent years, this sector ranks at the bottom of the companies that generate the most trust among Spanish users to manage their savings, as reflected in the Open Banking Spain report, prepared by Monitor Deloitte.” This report presents the following data, also graphically prepared by the same source:

These data are not very encouraging for the sector in Spain, as they reflect that at the moment, the necessary factors for Fintech growth are not in place. Spanish customers still consider large traditional banks as their reference points and do not trust our sector. This is not the case in other countries, where the concentrated dominance of large banks has been questioned in many places. It's mainly due to age, a low inclination for change, and lack of information. As seen in the right-hand graph, customers who are informed or are experts in finance trust both large banks and Fintech companies equally, as we are regulated.

The Fintech sector is the future, that's clear. We have a long way to go to earn the trust of customers, but once they trust us and understand all the benefits we can offer, we'll take off as is happening in Latin America or China. Nevertheless, we're making progress gradually: we're already over 400 Fintech companies in Spain offering a wide range of benefits, waiting for people to realize that the change is more than positive.