What Does Fintech Mean?
The term “fintech,” sometimes capitalized “Fintech” or “FinTech,” is a general comprehensive term for financial technologies, many of which are rapidly changing the financial industry. As a portmanteau of the words “finance” and “technology,” fintech is often used by technology journalists and others to describe technologies as diverse as cryptocurrency tools, financial transaction platforms and industry-specific middleware programs.
Techopedia Explains Fintech
One example of fintech is the blockchain ledger technology tied to cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. As an alternative to traditional accounting, blockchain provides a ledger that is set in stone and cannot be falsified in particular ways that have traditionally driven embezzlement and corruption.
Many other kinds of fintech are widely used in today's finance world. Some are geared toward helping companies achieve compliance with standards like Basel and Sarbanes-Oxley, while others accommodate the routine digital work involved in common banking and financial tasks. New online banking models could be described as fintech, as could the evolution of platforms to handle cyber security for finance data. All of these are examples of a new class of technology that is aimed at enhancing our collective commerce systems.