“FinTech” explained

No, this is actually a common misperception. Often to innovate, to provide value-adding services, one only needs to take small steps and focus on a specific inefficiency. Luxembourg is a home to more and more start-ups, as well as to existing SMEs looking for new market opportunities. In my view, Luxembourg provides an ideal commercial, regulatory and infrastructural environment that allows these start-ups to grow, and entrepreneurial ideas to flourish. 

Luxembourg has a well-established, administrative role in the world’s fund industry, whereas its retail banking sector serves a small economy. These features, in my view, determine the current dynamics and plausible weaknesses of the FinTech sector. I am, however, optimistic.

Education is a fundamental requirement to boost sector productivity. Luxembourg offers many interesting and encouraging educational programs related to digitisation and digitalisation, as well as creative Hackathon events, already for kids of primary school-age. On the other side of the educational spectrum, the MSc study programme in Finance and Economics of the University of Luxembourg has just launched its 1-year specialisation track called the “Digital Transformation in Finance”, offering courses that cover topics ranging from advanced data analytics through digital law toward institutional change and digital services to digital assets. Stressing the importance of education and providing qualified graduates for the job market will accelerate the growth of Luxembourg’s FinTech sector. 

One of the main features of Open Banking is that it delivers a roadmap for banks on how to collaborate with digital financial service providers, while keeping important regulatory requirements in view. It provides a great opportunity for banks to embrace and potentially create (by adopting and spreading ideas) novel front-end services, which are tailored to individual customer needs.

Providing up-to date, relevant information on financial status - often integrating different banking accounts, to supporting financial decision–making related to credit, to executing transactions in an easier and faster manner – these are all examples of services that digital financial service providers offer, and through which traditional banking services can be enhanced.

In most of the cases, sustainability in the context of Finance, especially in the context of Luxembourg and the Financial sector implies that we want to use technology, and digital services to assess and to evaluate, whether and to what extent investment decisions meet certain ESG goals and regulatory requirements.

Nevertheless, I truly believe that sustainability in the context of Finance has another, very important meaning. We as individuals should be able to make financial decisions by avoiding huge losses, to manage our household debt such that we are not generating long-term, negative implications to our credit-worthiness. In other words, we should be able to keep and maintain our well-being with the financial resources and assets that are available to us. Therefore, sustainable finance in my view also implies that households and individuals can remain sustainable in their everyday lives.

This is often a matter of financial literacy, of educating and informing individuals about the consequences of their financial decisions in our digitalised and connected world – which is as well the task, in my view, of digital financial services. Last, but not least: Sustainable finance implies that banking services should become inclusive, accessible and easy-to-use in our globalised world in the long run.