#332
Lemonless Lemonade

In the same way you can’t make lemonade without lemons, you can’t have fintech without internet connectivity.

The current climate is a catalyst for increased adoption of digital services in a compressed period of time – particularly financial services. Consumers and businesses are increasingly reliant on digital payments, trading tools, payroll, wealth management, insurance, and increasingly connected devices (aka IoT) - which all require an internet connection. In 2019, 75% of consumers used at least 1 fintech app (compared to 18% in 2015) and likely to be much higher in 2020.

Digital infrastructure has yet to evolve to meet the growing demand for global fintech consumers. In developed markets, connectivity is mainly supplied through fiber-optic broadband. In the US, 21m remain without any broadband connection at all, and almost one-third of rural Americans. In the UK, 63% of homes suffer broadband outages or significantly slower internet speeds at least once a month.

In developing markets, access to the internet is predominantly via mobile, also the means of delivery of digital financial services. In Africa, where only 24% of the population has mobile internet, mobile money transactions on the continent account for over 70% of the global transactions.

The World Bank estimates reaching internet penetration globally of 75% (from ~50% today) in all developing countries would add as much as $2t to their collective GDP and create more than 140m jobs around the world.

The same way the global economy long relied on a vast network of infrastructure from roads and ports the new economy will require the digital foundation in the form of electrical grids, mobile connectivity, and internet provision.

We don’t want to be hunting for data in the loo!