The world is advancing rapidly in every aspect of life revolving around FinTech. The need to pursue and adopt advanced technologies to satisfy the need of the financial market is in more demand than ever. Consequently, the need for mobile fintech is steadily growing. Many financial systems started to integrate mobile FinTech solutions to meet their customers’ desires. However, there are some concerns being raised about integrating FinTech apps in day-to-day payment processes. By adopting mobile fintech in our lives, ramifications will emerge which leads to integrity and security challenges. So, we raise the question, is it sensible? Will the future bring us to an era of instantaneous trading, easily and safely by real-time connectivity via the mobile internet?
Firstly, mobile FinTech is accomplishing current financial management requirements which is increasing its demand in the market. As the e-market continues to boom alongside mobile use, the need for Fintech app payment services is ever-expanding [1]. Among the factors contributing to the increase in FinTech app popularity is the provided features that add value to users. As a matter of fact, allowing customers to view their entire transactions, track their financial activities in an easy way and visualize them using digital tools such as charts, will definitely attract customers into using mobile FinTech. Simultaneously, mobile FinTech offers innovative apps that facilitate the user’s financial transactions and gives financial health advice with tools such as the Status Money app. Moreover, introducing a conversational chatbot as one of the features of mobile FinTech will easily assist and support users to carry out their requirements swiftly and effortlessly. For instance, checking the transaction history, account balance and paying bills is one of the essentials that chatbots provide nowadays. [2]
Furthermore, one of the main indicators of success for mobile FinTech is in its UX design. Considering the fact that not many people are interested in finance and might even find it too complex to comprehend, designing attractive FinTech apps is key to attracting customers. For instance, introducing animations such as a wizard that conveys the process more vividly helps users by meeting their needs in clearer and simpler manners. [2]
Meanwhile, what are the requirements that mobile FinTech payments have to achieve? Mobile FinTech embraces finding solutions to emerging problems inconvenient and effortless ways [2]. Nevertheless, FinTech app payment services must fulfill certain requirements. Certainly, mobile FinTech apps must develop and deliver convenient and simple payment services, such as uncomplicated passwords and light payment infrastructure. Additionally, having a complete payment infrastructure to allow the user to pay anytime and anywhere is a crucial requirement for mobile FinTech. Indeed, the availability and mobility of FinTech apps must be on par with traditional payment systems. Equally important, the compatibility of FinTech apps with traditional payment infrastructures and finance domains is essential to proliferate the popularity and prove the efficacy of mobile Fintech services. Finally, the safety and security of the user’s sensitive information should always be taken into consideration. The hurdle is not only on the users’ assets damage but also the payment information exposure during the process. [1] Thus, mobile FinTech must handle these challenges, which leads to leveraging blockchain as a vital solution for security complications [2].
What is the acknowledged value of blockchain? Since mobile FinTech is prone to financial fraud schemes, integrating blockchain, which in turn acts as a firewall that can prevent mobile FinTech from breaching, can be crucial. Knowing that blockchain is a form of security for FinTech apps, its main aspects are the customer digital identity and the payment security process. After all, any financial transaction will be transferred via blockchain which in turn makes it impossible to edit or alter any financial transaction records. [2]
Alternatively, adopting mobile FinTech in our daily financial lives has ramifications that leads to security challenges. First, it is mandatory to conduct two-way authentication, between the service provider and the mobile user, in order to execute the required FinTech app payment service. Naturally, during the authentication process, mobile devices and mobile users should be authenticated. Besides, FinTech app payments and approved payment information data is accessed respectively by only the authorized users and payment subjects. In other words, the password provided by the user to the payment subject, for accessing the payment details, is needed to manage the FinTech app payment service. Furthermore, integrity plays a big role in mobile Fintech payment services. Without integrity, user assets would adversely be affected. It is crucial to prove the payment integrity to the user and the payment subject upon carrying out a payment transaction. [1]
There remains another security challenge: what if users’ patterns or payment details were to be exposed? Here comes the privacy factor. If payment details are breached, then financial information and users’ privacy will be compromised. Thus, this information should be encrypted so the mobile user and all subjects’ payment participants would know the minimum details required to carry out the payment. In short, tokenization or one-time payments are significantly adapted to protect the privacy of the user. At the same time, technical issues may occur which can cause a disturbance in the transaction process. The role of FinTech app service providers is to ensure that the payment is conducted only if the payment process is executed successfully. Indeed, the contributing subjects should be notified that the payment process has been performed successfully. Lastly, the availability of mobile FinTech services should meet both user convenience and subject payment participants’ security requirements. [1]
All in all, the appetite for evolving technology will never cease to exist, and consumer demand to adopt mobile FinTech is evergrowing. Surely, challenges will arise and must be handled carefully to overcome FinTech app utilization implications. In conclusion, the usage of mobile FinTech remains high and is expected to grow, and an investment in this niche is expected to reap benefits.
Shaden Khaled Saleh
Quality Assurance at Investera
[1] Kang, J. (2018, October 30). Mobile payment in Fintech environment: trends, security challenges, and services. Retrieved March 27, 2020 from SpringerOpen: https://hcis-journal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s13673-018-0155-4
[2] Vartanova, N. (2019, December 16). Why Fintech Mobile Apps Are Role Models for Any Industry. Retrieved March 27, 2020 from Finextra: https://www.finextra.com/blogposting/18247/why-fintech-mobile-apps-are-role-models-for -any-industry