Macroeconomic risks have been highlighted as the biggest concern affecting the growth of global fintechs, according to research from the World Economic Forum (WEF).
The second edition of the Future of Global Fintech shows that while the industry has remained robust in what it terms its "transition to a more sustainable growth phase", growth has been more moderate than previous years, especially the surge seen during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Average customer growth during 2022-2023 stood at 37%, down from 55% in 2020-21.
According to the report, this reflects "natural market normalisation" as the industry matures.
There was also reason for encouragement from the revenue and profit growth figures which stood at 40% and 39% respectively.
The report also highlights macroeconomic factors as the primary challenge for fintech growth. Almost one-in-five (18%) have cited macroeconomic factors as unsupportive to growth.
However, this figure is significsantly lower than the 56% of respondents that cited macroeconomic factors as a hindrance in the previous report.
It is a similar case with macroeconomic factors' impact on funding - 12% in the latest report as opposed to 40% in the previous report.
Other findings in the report include a general satisfaction with the regulatory landscape with 62% describing it as "adequate", and wide adoption of AI with 91% eiother implementing or planning to implement the technology in the near future.
The report also states that fintechs have identified AI, regional interoperability, open banking and open finance as the "most important topics for development in the next five years".