Kanchan Rauniyar

Technology has been at the forefront in every aspect of our life. Those who fail to reap the benefits from it cannot know its wonders. But it has been never more significant to bring in the use of technology for safety, ease and comfort. Amid the current pandemic situation, it has become the ultimate toolkit to provide a way out to address an obscurity, especially in the financial sector. The demand for digital finance and new technologies is pervasive now.
Fintechvation (financial technology and innovation) is the necessity for users as it enhances the way services are being delivered to customers. This tool helps promote trust, deepen unity among parties and boost financial inclusion and shape up economic growth. In the long-run, it will be highly beneficial for the green behaviour among users through the introduction of paperless transaction.

Prospects
Some major tools such as blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, big data for digital solutions hold huge prospects. These are going to contribute for risk mitigation and management, creating a stable low-cost operating atmosphere for any financial organisation. Since multiple parties come together to facilitate these services, the safety and security level becomes a sensitive matter. But, the technological advancements like such transformations have made the work process safer and more transparent.
Blockchain, a major advancement after the creation of internet, is considered as one of the “general purpose technology” which can significantly contribute towards the digital financial sector. A distributed ledger technology (DLT) without centralised control like blockchain is a contributor to lowering the cost and enhancing the level of transparency. It has also many more benefits like faster execution of transaction and auditability of operations. No doubt, the technologies like blockchain and big data will be the foundation for the way businesses will be done in the modern digitalised business world. Like bitcoin, crypto currency is an early bird which created extreme hype underpinned in this technology.
Blockchain could be a big player allowing transparency and indulging parties in the accord process. No wonder, it is a blooming industry.
Similarly, artificial intelligence has become a reality popping out of pages from fairy tales and fiction books. AI is a big player in smart lending as it assesses the credit history of clients. A proven record in an automobile lending company in the US has shown in its records that costs are down by 27 per cent per annum. It has been growing exponentially for the prevention of frauds such as credit card fraud by analysing their behaviour, buying habits and security issues triggering an alarming situation. Here comes China’s tech giant-- Alibaba’s Ant group who is a step ahead in the game focussing on the fintech-driven green finance innovation.
The fintech genie is definitely out of bottle. Even in Nepal, it is taming in digital financial ecosystem either via internet banking, or mobile banking, wallets, pays and so on. Khalti, a big rival to eSewa, SaaS (Software as a Service) like tableau, and Kishan App are other players.
Though Nepal has just sowed its seed into digital sector for the financial services, the use of advanced innovations like blockchain and AI is far behind the picture. The reality is that Nepal is still lagging behind in the use of fintechvation because of illiteracy and lack of financial education. Nepal is way too behind in the digitalised financial practices as compared to countries like China and India. Our two neighbours have been making great strides in the advancement of financial digitalisation.
Despite a sluggish usage rate of digital technologies and innovations in the financial sector of Nepal, there is still a huge potential for serving the unbanked population through application of fintech approaches like big data and AI. Such technologies are sure to help us reach out to the financially illiterate populace in a very affordable, secure and convenient manner.

Dominant role
Nowadays, people can have access to a lot of services just with a single device of cellphone. M-pesa in Kenya and bKash in Bangladesh have been perfect examples of such usage. Just one decade ago, M-pesa came into existence helping people to pay, deposit, withdraw, access credit and for savings as well. It is no surprise that the fintech fever is here to stay in every sector. From peer to peer lending, through crypto-assets and robo-advisors to regular technology, finovation has covered a wide area. Though fintechvation is fashionable, it is still niche and much remains to be done to make its way forward. Adoption of fintechvation will certainly lead to a massive transformation in the traditional ways of financial practices by organisations. Thus, it will be very beneficial for the financial market and play a dominant role around the world in the near future.

(An MBA, Rauniyar works at Nepal Bank Limited. kanchan.rauniyar11@gmail.com)