In my experience trust – along with the ability to solve a real need – is essential for any kind of innovation to be successful.
Yet, a recent article in The Financial Times argued the point that, when it comes to fintech innovation, trust in new technology and fintech applications can be elusive. It is true that confidence in genuinely new fintech applications can take a while to build. But, when many of these new applications are able to solve real problems, a current lack of consumer trust should not be seen as a reason not to invest or to innovate.
In my view, the best way to build confidence is to create collaborative partnerships between established, reliable brands and startups answering problems in innovative ways.
This is a strategy we actively pursue at PayU. We recently announced our investment in Kreditech, a German fintech company, with a mission to provide financial freedom through technology. The partnership combined PayU’s strong international footprint with Kreditech’s machine-learning based underwriting technology to bring innovative credit services to underbanked markets around the world.
Also, we announced at M2020 in Copenhagen a partnership with Zooz, an advanced technology provider. Payment infrastructures are dealing with a multitude of challenges; they’re either too global, which means they have a limited scope of payments methods such as international cards, or they’re too local. So, together with Zooz , we’ve created the PayU Hub, a powerful and yet simple access layer to all our geographies and territories, with one single API to make it very easy for merchants, partners and developers to reach potential customers while still letting customers pay how they prefer.
These two different partnerships demonstrate how building trust in fintech is really about combining the best of both worlds.
On one side, PayU brought a network of 300,000+ merchants to the table in 18 high-growth markets. On the other side Kreditech’s API-based lending solution made it possible for PayU to offer tailor-made consumer finance products to its merchants. And Zooz’ extremely modern piece of infrastructure with a single API access lets more merchants and customers connect.
The result is the ability for PayU’s merchants to now offer a competitive, convenient credit product to their customers in markets where a lack of access to credit is often just another part of life. And to take advantage of the $1 trillion cross-border opportunity that has been forecasted for 2020.
While it will always take time for confidence in new technology to build, collaborative partnerships that combine established reputations with innovative technology is a great way to ensure you do not have to wait too long.
What do you think is the best way to build trust in new technology and fintech applications? Are collaborative partnerships the way to go and, if so, what examples do you think work well? Whether you agree or disagree with me I would love to hear from you.