As a Fintech business, you’re always looking ahead and searching for new opportunities to grow and expand your markets. Choosing a region or country for expansion can be difficult when considering economic conditions, political stability, infrastructure,
and the business environment.
To learn what are the most appealing regions to start or expand a Fintech business in 2023, let’s have a look at the statistics from the Velmie Market research 2023.
New York, London, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, and Singapore have long been and remain the financial centers of the world. Latin America is a rising star due to the lack of financial services background on the continent, its unique demographics and Fintech-focused
regulation.
In comparison with Velmie’s previous research from 2022, the EU, UK and North America are still considered to be the best regions to start or expand a fintech in 2023, but there’s been a significant increase in interest in doing business in LATAM, with the
number of respondents viewing the region as the best place to start or expand a Fintech business increasing from 7% to almost 21%. This increase has come at the expense of the APAC and MENA regions, whose favorability decreased from 33% and 20% to 16.9% and
9.1% respectively.
North America
The US Fintech industry has the largest share of the global Fintech industry, upwards of a third of revenues and market share. Its growth has been propelled by the massive increase in ecommerce and digital payments as a result of the Covid pandemic and Fintech
companies supporting small and medium-sized businesses that have had to adapt to remote working conditions. The North American Fintech market is distinctive in the size of the businesses operating across the region, including PayPal, Stripe, Transferwise,
Venmo, Klarna and Robinhood, serving a huge customer base with an appetite for innovation and disruptive financial solutions.
United Kingdom
The UK financial sector has always benefited hugely from operating in a time zone that conveniently accommodates businesses that operate across both the Western and Eastern parts of the world. Its Fintech industry has followed in the footsteps of its status
as the financial center of the world, giving birth to 2 500 fintechs. Growth is expected to be fast-paced given the above-average Fintech adoption rates and strategic advantage of having traditional financial institutions that embrace disruption.
European Union
The Euro-zone’s Fintech industry has benefited considerably from the farsighted regulatory changes in 2015 that gave customers ownership of their data and laid the ground for open banking. This gave Fintech disruptors the tools to create innovative financial
solutions built on access to customers banking data at their consent. Though the region has experienced short-term problems because of the challenges it has confronted over the past few years, in the long term it is expected to flourish. The industry is at
different stages of advancement in different countries in the region but in each of the seven largest countries, at least one Fintech company ranks among the top five banking institutions, according to McKinsey. There are several ratings of European countries
leading in Fintech innovation, but most of them include the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Lithuania, and Estonia.
Latin America
In an ever-evolving industry whose growth relies on favourable demographics and a conducive business environment, Latin America has all the elements needed to make it an attractive destination for Fintech investors to set up businesses. First and foremost,
the continent has young and fast-growing populations that are eager to embrace innovative financial services solutions. Then it is a continent where large swathes of the population are underserved by the existing financial system and need banking and payment
systems that don’t rely on physical infrastructure. Governments in Latin American countries like Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Columbia are also creating a business environment that is favorable towards entrepreneurs and makes setting up businesses and doing business
easy.
What defines a region as the best for Fintech business expansion?
Of course, these criteria are very subjective and depend on your business goals, but we would propose to designate those that may affect the average Fintech business:
Today there is still huge potential to satisfy an increasingly sophisticated and demanding customer base worldwide. Just define your strategy, priorities and take into account the growing markets.