Fintech industry and culture change: what you need to know

“I have been living in Colombia for five years, I arrived at the country in 2014 to develop electronic commerce that arose from a crowdfunding process in China, at that time as a member of the CCCE there I held a voluntary position of the Vice President of the Guild Training Commission. After some years we transformed the business to a B2B model, offering international trade solutions between Colombia and China”, she told us. 

Currently, Cleiva is working as the commercial manager in Lyra Colombia, a French payment gateway with a presence in more than 15 countries in the world. She is passionate about issues related to technology, digital economy, entrepreneurship, electronic commerce, lecturing and fintech, and digital transformation, the main focus of this interview. 

LatinAmerican Post: What is the Fintech industry?

Cleiva Alves Aguilar: Fintech is the industry that applies technology to financial services through platforms, applications, interfaces, etc. In recent years, startups have been created worldwide that offer innovative financial services for both people and companies, services that range from applying for a loan through an application to obtaining investments through a crowdfunding platform.

LP: What are the advantages of Fintech over traditional financial services companies?

CAA: The greatest advantage of Fintech is the agility to develop innovative solutions that serve the market immediately, due to their business architecture they have the ability to move quickly in the market, their processes are simpler and more flexible, so better user experience is offered.

LP: What are the benefits of the Fintech industry for people and for companies?

CAA: Without a doubt the biggest benefit of the Fintech industry for people is INCLUSION. The Fintech has created financial services that are more democratic and could serve an unbanked population.

For example, today a person who does not have a credit life and certain guarantees required by banks would never get a loan in Colombia, but thanks to these companies they can access a personal credit or for their fulfillment quickly and easily 100% digital. We also contribute to the decrease in the drop by drop.

The benefits for companies are a wider, cheaper and more accessible offer of services that can contribute to their digital transformation processes, for example, receiving online payments, selling online, electronic invoicing, etc.

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LP: How do you see the electronic payment market in Colombia?

CAA: Different from Brazil that we pay from a piece of bread in the bakery with a card to a bottle of water at the traffic light, the Colombian does not have the culture of electronic payments which also hinders the development of e-commerce in the country.

The increase in the supply of electronic payments by the government, shops, and businesses is making the cash transactions decrease more and more, applications that are in the daily lives of people, such as transport and home have corroborated so that they understand that electronic payments are safe and more practical.

LP: How does this culture change impact companies?

CAA: Payment gateways are very important actors in the Fintech industry, thanks to this type of technological solution it is possible to receive online payments for a sale through a social network, pay a bill online, allow the government to collect online, sell through an e-commerce, make charges for payment links that can be sent by instant messaging, mail, etc.

Companies are increasingly understanding that their customers need different channels to make their purchases and make payments, mainly millennials are not willing to line up at an ATM when they can make a payment quickly, conveniently and securely from anywhere they want. This cultural change directly impacts the way companies relate to their customers.