TEHRAN – Fintech creates boom in bank, insurance and investment market, the vice president for science and technology Sourena Sattari announced during the 12th International Exchange, Bank and Insurance fair (IRAN FINEX), which runs until Thursday, IRNA reported on Monday.

Financial Technology, nowadays better known under the term 'fintech', describes a business that aims at providing financial services by making use of software and modern technology.

Fintechs provide a new view toward financial market and investment and during the past year the young entrepreneurs establish fintech startups, which develop bank and insurance market in Iran, he said.

The banks are seeking to buy fintech startups, he said, adding in this way, the banking system will be changed in the near future.

He said that the big insurance companies are investing on startups and they have an active role in startup ecosystem.

He highlighted the important role of the Central Bank of Iran in development of fintech in the country.

Today, in most parts of the world, fintech companies directly compete with banks in most areas of the financial sector to sell financial services and solutions to customers. Mostly due to regulatory reasons and their internal structures, banks still struggle to keep up with fintech startups in terms of innovation speed.

Fintechs have realized early that financial services of all kinds – including money transfer, lending, investing, payments, ... – need to seamlessly integrate in the lives of the tech-savvy and sophisticated customers of today to stay relevant in a world where business and private life become increasingly digitalized.

According to statistics published by International World Stats (IWS) until December 31, 2017, there are 56,700,000 Internet users in Iran, which is 69.1% of the population.

SB/MQ/MG