Over the last few years, the technological wave of fintech has swept across the world and completely transformed how finance works for people and businesses. By incorporating finance seamlessly into the ever-growing realm of digital access and connectivity, global fintech is well on its way to reaching a value of $698.48 billion by 2030. Naturally, this success story of innovation is not possible without the fintech market leaders who have helmed the growth of global fintech firms with unparalleled enthusiasm.
Global fintech leaders such as Vijay Shekhar Sharma and Sanjiv Bajaj have shepherded the industry towards certain opportunities and innovations that have significantly impacted the customer-centricity, experience, safety, and accessibility of fintech. So, what value has the role of top leaders in finance brought to the table in the evolution and growth of fintech firms? Let us take a closer look.
Gazing through a futuristic lens: Role of leadership in fintech evolution
When it comes to new areas like fintech, progressive and innovative leadership is critical.
Ultimately, famous personalities in the field of finance and fintech are the ones who have been able to envision the future and be innovative and competitive. This is the defining element of any fintech leader’s role today. Remember, digital transformation is the future of business. Thus, it takes a proactive leader with forethought to place their organisations on the correct track.
Additionally, to survive and grow in such a tough climate, finance businesses must adapt swiftly to evolving changes in the landscape. This is where fintech market leaders also play a role in mounting an adequate challenge to emerging fintech by transforming traditional banks into new-age, agile, digitally empowered entities. Not surprisingly, the top business leaders in India and abroad in finance are also the ones who have been able to revamp their businesses on the fintech model and deploy newer technologies to exceed customer expectations and experiences.
All in all, here are 3 ways finance leaders have been able to use their role at the helm of fintech and financial firms to evolve the industry:
- Redefining everyday payments
With digital services growing in leaps and bounds, the best financial advisors saw an opportunity to digitise people’s wallets. That meant completely upending the traditional physical payment ecosystem and making it seamless, cashless, and quick through digital payments. This has been one of the most remarkable successes for fintech market leaders and it has paved the way for the popularisation of fintech apps. One famous example is PayTM by Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the Chairman, MD, and CEO of the company that has been the pioneer of digital payments in India. Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s launch of accessible and simple digital payments during the wave of demonetisation was a leadership lesson in leveraging the market dynamics and industry policies to your company’s advantage. By 2027, the digital payments ecosystem in India is set to be worth $253 billion!
- Banking upon customer centricity
The dramatic rise of fintech firms in the world we live in has been possible with unwavering consumer-centricity. That has meant bringing the bank and financial services to the customer rather than the other way round – that too in a seamless, secure, and personalised manner. Thus, fintech market leaders like Sanjiv Bajaj – the Chairman and Managing Director of Bajaj Finserv and President of CII (2022-23) – have been able to anticipate customer needs and develop innovative, digital-first solutions that solve customer problems proactively while also providing uniquely personalised banking experience.
His decade-long leadership role has enabled Bajaj Finserv to become a household name in the consumer lending, payments, and digital finance ecosystem thanks to a relentless focus on anticipating customer behaviour and supplementing their offerings with innovative technologies. From AI and ML-powered financial services that enable customers and SMEs to get loans within minutes to sophisticated, intuitive chatbots, Bajaj Finserv has transformed the personal and business finance experience into something truly frictionless and customer-centric. As of 2022, over 2.66 crore users enjoy Bajaj Finserv’s digital app platform for a plethora of financial services.
- Delivering financial value to the underserved markets
The rise of fintech under the helm of top leaders in finance has also been due to their quest for scale. As a result, we have seen fintech leaders such as Sanjiv Bajaj and Harshil Mathur (Co-Founder and CEO of Razorpay) actively spreading the roots of their financial services to underserved markets where physical banks and lending options are rare.
Today, there are over 658 million internet users in India. By leveraging this opportunity, one of the most prominent fintech leaders, Harshil Mathur has developed Razorpay, a viable digital platform to solve customer and business finance issues in underserved markets. Platforms like these provide access to consumers and SMEs from sub-Tier 1 regions to the best of full-stack financial services such as business lending, insurance coverage, credit cards, and simplified merchant/digital payments. As a result, more and more people and businesses have been able to enter and contribute to the formal economy, further propelling the growth trajectory and importance of fintech.
Conclusion
From the above-mentioned insights, it is clear that today’s global fintech leaders have excelled in disrupting the status quo to completely change the financial landscape and offer true value to customers.
These leaders in finance have replaced brick-and-mortar with digital entities and brought banking and finance to our fingertips. They have been instrumental in how we make payments and receive funds in the blink of an eye, or how a layman can access loans or insurance claims within hours versus days. This has all been possible through a clear vision and futuristic thinking that famous personalities in the field of finance and financial advisors bring through their leadership skills. By projecting the needs of society and the requirements of the industry decades from today and then executing their vision to perfection, these fintech leaders have set an example of progressive leadership that will be extolled for a long, long time.
