It’s needless to say that the buzzword “fintech” has long become a household name these years. Yet, not everyone bothers to really understand what it really entails, according to a recent fintech report released by Japan’s Line Corp. today.
The survey, which was conducted across Line’s 7 core markets – Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia, Korea, UK, and the US, finds out that only 44% of the people being surveyed are aware of what is available on the market.
That said, around 64% believes that fintech would allow them to better plan their finances, showcasing that the biggest stumbling blocks against wide-scale FinTech adoption mainly lies with the knowledge gap and lack of accessibility.
Mobile-based alternatives for traditional banking services are some of the more favored fintech products. Specifically, 65% of them voted for having a mobile savings account; 57% for foreign remittances; 48% for current accounts; 65% for life insurance among others.
As for regional acceptance of fintech products, the result wasn’t all that surprising. Countries with well established financial systems like the US, UK, and Japan appear to be less receptive to the fintech option when compared with people from countries such as Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia.
These survey results suggest that when people are already receiving general financial services by established institutions, they tend to be more tolerant of less efficient services and stay loyal.
Line Pay, who began exploring the fintech space since 2014, today claims to have 40 million registered users and more than JPY450 billion (around US$4 billion) in global transaction volume annually and has even branched out to offer insurance products.
Editor: Ben Jiang