Estonia is frequently referred to as ‘e-Estonia’ due to its early adoption of electronic processes for many aspects of public life, from engagement with public services in 1997 to delivering electronic residency in 2014. However, despite its cultural embrace of technology, it still faces a fight to become a fintech hub.
And yet, as a country, it has enormous potential; economic growth is projected by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to reach 3.5% in 2019, before slowing to 2.3% in 2020, which would be in line with predicted weakening external demand. Its financial services sector is active and innovative, with Estonia having ranked first in Europe for alternative finance volume per capita for the past two years in research conducted by the Cambridge Judge Business School’s Centre for Alternative Finance, which includes crowdfunding, peer-to-peer lending and other alternative finance intermediaries.
