The financial sector has not been adverse to technology, however the monumental push in the past decade by technology startups to disrupt financial sectors, spurred on by governments slackening regulations, has left established businesses struggling to keep up.
Everything from banking to investment to insurance has been modernised by startups, which have utilised the power of the internet and mobile to improve speeds, reduce costs and improve customer service.
In 2009, fintech startups received $1.1 billion from venture capital investors. In 2020, the investment total reached $44.1 billion, according to Pitchbook.
One of the key benefits of these technologies is opening up banking to more people. Robinhood’s zero fees have opened the stock market to millions of Americans, NuBank is the first bank for millions of Latin Americans and in China hundreds of millions of people have swapped cash for mobile payments.
Along with the added accessibility, it has also given established operators a kick in the backside. In the UK, the ‘Big Four’ banks have all modernised operations, in some cases bringing their entire portfolio of financial services online. In the US, insurance and lending services have been forced to lower fees and accept requests at a faster rate, to keep up with newer platforms running on a far lower overhead.
While the potential of these insurgent apps is limited in the US and Europe, where the majority of the population have bank cards and insurance, in China and Latin America, these fintech startups are the primary supplier of financial services.
In China especially, Alibaba and Tencent have overtaken the major banks as the primary supplier of payments, lending and investment. Due to the lack of financial infrastructure in China pre-mobile, Alibaba and Tencent have forwarded the country by decades in mobile payments adoption and other banking services, which are now seen as critical to the country’s economy.
In this sector profile, we will highlight two key statistics from each of our financial sector profiles.
Mobile Payments App Market
Mobile payments started in the West with the introduction of Apple Pay in 2014, which is the most popular mobile payment service outside of China. Alibaba and Tencent have carved out a market of equal size to the entire West, using QR codes to pay.
Mobile Payments App Revenue
Revenue from mobile payments increased by 26 percent in 2020, reaching $1.39 trillion.
Mobile Payments Adoption by Country
China is far ahead of the rest of the world in total usage and adoption for mobile payments.
Mobile Banking App Market
Anyone that tried to bank online pre-mobile will remember the dreadful user interfaces, bizarre sign-in methods and inability to access key services. Neobanks brought us into the 21st century, and have collected millions of users in the process.
Mobile Banking Revenue by App
Brazilian-based NuBank generated the most revenue out of all neobanks, at $963 million.
Mobile Banking Valuations by App
NuBank is the highest valued neobank, and one of the few to be a public company. Revolut is the highest valued private neobank.
Stock Trading App Market
Robinhood set off a wave of new trading apps aimed at making stocks available to all. In the past two years, most trading platforms in the US have lowered commissions and fees to compete with Robinhood.
Stock Trading App Revenue
Revenue from stock trading and investment apps increased by 73 percent in 2020.
Stock Trading Users by App
Robinhood is the most popular stock trading app in the world, with 22.5 million users.
Cryptocurrency App Market
Bitcoin, Ethereum and dozens of other alt-coins had a very successful 2021, with Bitcoin reaching a peak value of $68,000 in November. Prices have fallen considerably in 2022, in line with a larger tech stock sell off.
Cryptocurrency Revenue by App (H1 2021)
Binance generated the most revenue for the first half of 2021, followed by Square’s Cash App.
Cryptocurrency Users by App
Coinbase had the most users in 2021 with 56 million, followed by Binance with 28 million.
More Finance App Data
- Venmo Revenue and Usage Statistics (2024)
- Chime Revenue and Usage Statistics (2024)
- Revolut Revenue and Usage Statistics (2024)
- Robinhood Revenue and Usage Statistics (2024)
- NuBank Revenue and Usage Statistics (2024)
- Coinbase Revenue and Usage Statistics (2024)
- eToro Revenue and Usage Statistics (2024)
- FTX Revenue and Usage Statistics (2024)
- Monzo Revenue and Usage Statistics (2024)
- PayPal Revenue and Usage Statistics (2024)