Can Europe ever be at the forefront of fintech innovation?

As the competition becomes tender around who will become the fintech leader in the world, the confusion grows around the role of Europe in the industry.

While the east, particularly China, and some of the south-east Asian countries are putting their money, energy, and talent into creating unique technologies that would make the financial lives of people easier and make transfers between people more simple and efficient, Africa is
producing some of the best companies with the brightest ideas and the solutions to common problems.

The U.S is constantly developing and upping their game when it comes to their fintech services and while currently not the most exciting fintech scene out there, its role in the fintech ecosystem is still somewhat clear.

The fintech revolution

The Fintech revolution is talked about a lot, but just before a couple of months ago the industry really wasn’t as big as some media outlets made it out to be. But the importance of this industry is growing day by day and whoever manages to get ahead and deliver the best services will be the one at advantage in the long run. One region that seems awfully quiet around this topic is Europe.

The industry professionals have long been baffled by the role of the continent in the fintech revolution. While Europe does not seem to be eager to come up with its own cryptocurrency or to create innovation around existing methods, it has the potential to be at the forefront of all
things fintech so why isn’t this the case?

Slow and Steady

While Europe is definitely not behind on tech innovation in general and has a lot of talented professionals in the field, the fintech-boom hasn’t happened just yet. It has become one of the most popular questions across the fintech industry? Why isn’t Europe doing more?

The future could still change and actually the majority of people from the European Tech industry will convince you that the change is still coming and not just because Europe was to move along in this field, but because it might become a necessity.

The most prominent example of this would be the cryptocurrency industry which has grown so much over the last year or two. While in some countries the original need for such a service was due to the lack of more traditional payment methods, Europe never really had trouble with that.

But these days people have grown accustomed to the convenience, security speed and the fee- less approach to payments in general.

Cryptocurrencies have transformed industries like gambling, online shopping, and just p2p transactions. For gambling specifically, there are a lot of challenges that players and the casinos themselves face when dealing with their finances through traditional methods. For countries like Norway where the industry is a clear monopoly, and all the other casinos wanting to enter the market have to face many financial hurdles cryptocurrencies and the anonymity that comes with it has created a completely new way to gamble and has expanded the choice that local players have that the government can’t take away.

Cryptocurrencies have been almost an exclusive feature for a few casinos in the region, most of which have the backing of much larger brands. Others are just now joining the party, the newest addition being Spinia Norway, also referred to as Spinia Norge, alongside the newest games it
added to its portfolio. relies almost exclusively on cryptocurrency and the fintech to make the experience easier and more comfortable for the customers. The security and the speed offered by blockchain-based currency really can not be matched by other similar offers, which is why
even if Europe is not that invested in the fintech revolution, it might still need to step up its game to not fall behind.

Need for innovation

The demands for using innovative payment technologies will rise over the next year, and in order to keep its status as an innovator and a frontrunner, Europe will need to put more effort into this business.

The demand for such services will rise and at some point, the customers will get tired of using the outdated methods and will demand that something is changed in Europe’s approach to fintech. It’s not to say that Europe isn’t doing anything. A lot of innovation is still coming from
there, some countries specifically are creating new trends and successful startups. Nordic states have been particularly good at staying at the top of all fintech innovations, so much so that more often than not the nordic states are considered their own separate entity in the fintech
world and are not considered to be representative of the region, because they really are not.

Europe needs to adopt a similar attitude and the more countries need to start thinking about the importance of developing their own fintech industry, and creating favorable needs to be more widespread across the continent so that Europe can be recognized as a tech innovation hub.

Even if the need for these services isn’t pressing right now, Europe will need to wake up to the necessity of being on part tech-wise with the rest of the world. Europe has all the talent resources and the environment for the industry to thrive and develop, which is why so many industry experts are wondering why more is not being done across the region to move the industry forward. The benefits from these innovative services are mostly geared towards users and improving the unfavorable conditions that we have been using for most of our transactions for decades now. Europe is a leader across many fields and has the potential to add fintech to its long list of thriving industries if only the regions as a whole will put more effort towards it.