The online finance industry is growing rapidly – these are the profiteers


The financial industry is digitizing and is causing some changes in the industry. That means a lot of winners as well as a few losers. In addition to customers, the beneficiaries of the development are mainly three types of companies: the increasingly frequent online banks, brokers on the Internet who sell inexpensive financial products and fintech start-ups from both local and the international sector. How exactly do they manage to be successful? The three sectors mentioned are analyzed in more detail below.

The mass of online banks has grown rapidly in recent years.

Online banking and online banking

The mass of online banks has increased rapidly in recent years, with operators reporting high sales and a steady influx of customers. There are good reasons for this: Compared to local bank branches, the online institutes can often convince with favorable conditions – account management, for example, is usually free of charge. When it comes to banking via app, the specialists are usually superior to traditional providers. The result: Almost 47 million Germans now do their banking transactions online, as Spiegel Online reports. Recently, an impressive three million new users have been added, and according to industry experts, the end of growth is far from over. These developments are in stark contrast to those in local banking: Volksbanks and savings banks each had to close around eight percent of their branches last year.

Broker on the net

Not only banks, but also so-called brokers use the rapid changes in the financial sector and offer new types of services for customers. Previously, interested parties had to go to the local bank in order to invest successfully in stocks, ETFs or investment funds, today all they need to do is visit a relevant website. A big advantage of brokers: they are independent and, unlike banks such as Volksbank and Sparkasse, they do not have to sell products from subsidiaries such as Union Investment or Deka. Online trading platforms such as eToro, Capital.com, scalable.capital or Libertex often offer private investors free trades with total annual fees of just a few euros per year and also have app support. The selection of tradable assets among internet brokers is also increasing every year. The digitization of the investment sector opens up attractive opportunities for private investors. Because an ever increasing number of investors want to take asset accumulation into their own hands. Especially in times of low pensions and rising inflation, the industry expects strong growth in the years to come. German providers can also benefit from the development.

Fintech start-ups

The third group of profiteers are fintech start-ups, which convince both in Germany and on international terrain with innovative ideas and bind customers to themselves. The number of well-managed start-ups in the sector is increasing steadily, companies like Stripe are now valued in the billions – according to the opinion of experts, with a market value of 36 billion dollars, the top of the class is already twice as valuable as Deutsche Bank.

Conclusion

Digitization has the financial sector clearly under control. Many sectors benefit from this, especially fintech start-ups, online brokers and online banks. The disruptive changes in the market have not yet reached their peak. The providers mentioned will also be able to grow strongly in the coming years. There are great opportunities for German medium-sized companies and start-ups to enter a rapidly growing and extremely lucrative market. So good news for the economy.