Does your company have a plan to become a fintech?

Following an international trend, Brazilian consumers don’t like their banks very much. Not only are they inaccessible to many (in 2019, the date of the most recent survey, we were 45 million unbanked, most of whom are low-income, surviving on odd jobs), but they also leave their customers very dissatisfied: a Google survey showed that only 42% of Brazilian customers are satisfied with their banks’ services. When fintechs are evaluated, however, the figure rises to 71%.

The reasons for this are many. For most people, the fees for maintaining a simple bank account are high — especially in a scenario where a family can go months without a fixed income. But that’s not all. Service is often poor, accountability is not transparent, and the functionality of banks leaves something to be desired or is not compatible with the expectations of the modern customer.

To take a simple example: How long did it take for Itaú to start offering cashback? And this case is an exception: Bradesco did a major study on how to offer cashback solutions — only to isolate the option for Next, its digital arm. In general, this offer is isolated only in digital banks, startups or in stores or service stations, such as Americanas, Submarino, Postos Ipiranga etc.

This is just one example of how digital innovation in the financial market does not necessarily come from banks. Companies have to go after their solution. That’s why, in my view, every company should eventually have some fintech in its mind.

The first point that leads me to this belief is that financial institutions and banks simply have no way to compete or walk in the step required by the consumer. The opportunity vacuum is huge and must necessarily be covered by entrepreneurs. According to Andreessen Horowitz, 75% of the entire IT budget of financial institutions is dedicated to infrastructure maintenance alone. Not on product solutions, not on innovation. On infrastructure.

In addition, regulations in the financial universe act as lead balls tied to the feet of bankers. With such a scenario, companies have no choice but to go after the solutions themselves. A good global example is that of Uber, which is offering banking services to its drivers in a strategy to contain expenses and build professional loyalty. Besides keeping all the money that circulates between company and driver within the platform, the professional still receives a financial coverage much closer than that of his bank.

When I look at the directions and recent developments in the startups market, I can only think that we are not only in a time of transformation, but also of opportunities and creativity.

For example: entrepreneurs can exploit the need that companies have to develop financial solutions, which can be leveraged by market players. I believe that the case of Via Varejo (now, just Via), which acquired Celer, a startup of payment solutions, is the most explicit of the need — and therefore the opportunity — that exists for innovative and modern ideas and practices in the market.

We can definitely change the face of the market — and the time to make that change is now.