Monday 21 December 2015 4:45 pm

Fintech adoption could double among digitally active consumers in the next year

Consumers' love of technology is growing at such a pace that their adoption of financial technology (fintech) could double in the space of a year.

According to a survey of more than 10,000 digitally active consumers from around the world released today by EY, 16 per cent have used at least two fintech services in the last six months, but, if those who said they intend to use a fintech product in the future follow through on their statement, levels of adoption could double in the next 12 months.

Finance companies sticking rigidly to traditional methods should take note, as Imran Gulamhuseinwala, EY global fintech leader, remarked: "As fintech continues to catch on among consumers, traditional financial services companies will have to reassess their view of which customers are most at risk from the new competition and step up their efforts to serve them effectively."

Products that allow users to process payments had the highest levels of uptake, followed by those that could be used to manage savings and investments.

At the other end of the scale, insurance services and those enabled online peer-to-peer borrowing had the lowest levels of adoption.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the young are among the most prolific fintech users. A quarter of those aged between 25 and 34 said they had used at least two fintech products in the last month.

In the UK, Londoners are also leading the way, with 25 per cent of those in the capital saying they used online services compared to 14 per cent across the country as a whole.

Matt Hatch, EY Americas fintech Leader, added: "This index shows that the innovations and changes of fintech are here to stay. A co-existence and collaboration between the new and old market players will be inevitable. There is much that traditional financial services firms can learn from how fintechs think about the customer proposition and harness technology to deliver a compelling service."