Three fintech trends to look out for in 2023

Steve Naudé, head of Wise Platform

For 10 years, fintech has played a major role in reviving the financial sector by injecting fresh competition into a saturated market. The innovation made possible by fintechs has driven rapid progress across the entire sector, as financial services organisations of all shapes and sizes strive to better meet the needs of an evolving customer base.  In 2023, fintechs will continue to lead on industry innovation. Here are three key trends to look out for this year: 

Embedded finance and re-bundling

Embedded finance and re-bundling represents one of the biggest opportunities for innovation across the industry. From instant payments to cross-border transactions, embedded finance is highly flexible and can be leveraged by any company to create additional value for customers. 

By offering customers best in class products within their own ecosystem, banks and SMEs lower the risk that their customers will look for better products elsewhere, so they can retain and grow their customer base. Embedded finance also means that banks and businesses can gain additional features while keeping their focus firmly trained on their core product offering. 

For example, Wise Platform is an embedded finance solution allowing partners to integrate the best way to send, receive and manage money into their existing infrastructure. This allows banks and businesses to seamlessly bring fast, cheap, transparent and convenient cross-border payments to customers at a relatively low-cost compared to building, maintaining and improving services internally. 

Combining ease, convenience and cost-effectiveness, embedded finance will be a key area of focus across the sector in the year ahead.

Instant payments

Instant payments continue to be a major focus for all financial services companies. Wise was the first tech company to connect to the Faster Payments system back in 2018, and each year customers' money is moving quicker thanks to continuous innovation. 

Today, over 50% of Wise's transactions land instantly, meaning in under 20 seconds. That means personal and business customers have peace of mind that their money is available quickly and has landed in the correct place. 

Instant payments are about more than saving time; they improve transparency, increase liquidity, and make sending money either domestically or abroad more convenient for customers and businesses worldwide. 

While many banks and fintechs have already invested heavily on moving towards better instant payments, there is much more to do. Sending money abroad via Swift can still take several days, and as more alternative providers emerge and customer demand continues to grow, instant, real-time payments will continue to be a priority in 2023. 

Speaking of transparency

Transparency is another trend that will become increasingly important in 2023 and beyond. Customers are more attuned to hidden fees and inflated prices across the board - but particularly when it comes to cross-border payments. 

This heightened awareness is partially due to providers like Wise and Revolut, which are offering customers a far cheaper alternative to their traditional banks. Pressure is also mounting from domestic governments and international bodies such as the UN. In the US, Senator Elizabeth Warren has called for banks to ditch "junk fees", while the UN’s SDG Goal 10c aims to reduce the average cost of remittances to less than 3% by 2030.

Wise has been a driving force in this space, not only developing a market-leading FX payments product, but pushing top-down industry-wide change that will benefit consumers no matter which provider they choose. Wise Platform is a major part of this effort — by working with banks to integrate our product we automatically introduce a transparent product, benefiting customers while taking banks and business’ revenue goals seriously.  

Customers don't like being misled; especially given the economic situation we carry with us into 2023, players that take transparency seriously are more likely to retain and grow their customer base and stay on top of any impending regulatory guidance. 

Despite the economic hardship the industry has faced over the last year, there’s never been a more exciting time in the world of fintech. The potential for industry-wide change that benefits customers all over the world is enormous — especially as collaboration between industry players grows year-on-year. 

Wise Platform works with over 60 partners around the world — from incumbent banks to credit unions to investment platforms and payroll providers — to bring their customers fast, cheap and transparent international payments from the convenience of their existing app. Introducing this service enhances their value proposition and means that fewer customers will turn to other providers who better serve this niche. 

Whether you're a startup, scaleup, are already operating globally or have dreams of better serving an international customer base, find out how Wise Platform can transform your offer today, and kick off 2023 the wise way.