A new report from PwC claims that 83 percent of financial services companies believe specific aspects of their businesses are at risk to various fintech startups, with the number of worried management-level professionals reaching 95 percent in the banking sector.
The PwC report is based on a survey of 544 CEOs, heads of innovation, chief information officers, and top management personnel in financial services companies from 46 countries around the world.
While traditional financial services companies believe fintech startups could take hold of 23 percent of their business, the fintech companies see the possibility of taking as much as 33 percent of the business from the legacy financial system.
Consumer Banking and Payments Companies at Risk
According to the PwC report, banking and payments companies feel the largest amount of pressure from the fintech industry. Fund transfer and payment companies believe they could lose as much as 28 percent of their business to fintech startups over the next five years, while bankers see themselves losing 24 percent of their business.
On a related note, the banking and payments sectors also appear to be the most knowledgeable among the respondents when it comes to the potential of blockchain technology. The fund transfer and payments industry held the highest level of confidence in their understanding of the blockchain, with 30 percent of respondents claiming to be very familiar with the technology. Sixty percent of respondents from the banking sector said they were at least moderately familiar with the technology.
PwC Sees Many Benefits to the Blockchain
PwC has already made deals with blockchain startups Blockstream and Bloq , and the professional services network also made bullish claims about the technology in its report such as: “In our view, blockchain technology may result in a radically different competitive future in the [financial services] industry, where […]
