BENGALURU: With the advent of technology, finance sector has seen impeccable growth. Global investment in financial technology more than tripled to more than $12 billion in 2014 from $930 million in 2008. A recent trend in the financial industry is Fintech, a line of business based on using software to provide financial services. Financial technology companies are generally startups founded with the purpose of disrupting incumbent financial systems and corporations that rely less on software. 2015 saw a major rise in food and commutation startups in India. This year is expected to bring in more fintech startups which will give tough competition to banks and financial organizations. Nandan Nilekani, the entrepreneur and bureaucrat describes this growth in fintech startup as a "WhatsApp like movement”.

Adding to the spree, Accenture and a group of 10 leading financial institutions have recently opened the application period for the second class of the FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific, kicking off a competitive search for the top fintech innovators in the region. The 12-week program helps early- and growth-stage financial technology innovators accelerate product development and gain exposure to top-level financial industry executives. Entrepreneurs developing potentially game-changing technologies for financial services – particularly in the areas of alternative currencies, big data and analytics, mobile and wireless payments, risk management and compliance, as well as social media and collaboration technologies – were invited to apply. “Fintech can lead to innovations in financial services that help make customers’ lives easier and banking less costly, which is what makes mentoring startups so exciting for us,” said Jon Allaway, Accenture’s Group Technology Officer for Financial Services, who oversees the FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific.

In addition to established competitors, FinTech companies often face doubts from financial regulators. Data security is another issue regulators are concerned about because of the threat of hacking as well as the need to protect sensitive consumer and corporate financial data. Any data breach, no matter how small, can ruin a FinTech company's reputation. The online financial sector is also an increasing target of distributed denial of service extortion attacks. Marketing is another challenge as most FinTech companies as they are often outspent by larger rivals. This security challenge is also faced by historical bank companies since they do offer Internet connected customer services.

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