Fintech trends in 2022 with tax systems, GBG Americas, TeamApt and more

This month at Fintech Times our focus turns to reflection as we look back at developments over the past 12 months. 2022 has certainly been a challenging year for anyone with global economic activity experiencing a severe slowdown, with inflation higher than in decades.

Throughout this week, our community of fintech CEOs and leaders have shared their thoughts on this year’s big fintech trends. Today, our selection of industry leaders touches on emerging technologies, including Tax Systems, GBG Americas, Plan A Technologies, TeamApt, Gresham Technologies and Icon Solutions.

Tax systems

Throughout this year, we have increasingly seen large financial institutions invest in technology and automation, says Bruce Martinmanaging director i tax systems, the fee software supplier to accounting firms and companies.

“This was a huge leap forward for the sector, which has typically been reluctant and cautious to adopt new technology because of the large amounts of sensitive data it holds,” says Martin.

“By 2022, these companies have embraced big data analytics and artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify trends, remain compliant and ensure they comply with the necessary regulations.

“This has enabled these companies to have more informed conversations about where improvements need to be made. Data science has therefore become an important role in the tax and finance sector, and I expect to see it grow in importance even more over the next 12 the months.”

GBG Americas

To Christina Luttrell, GEO for GBG Americas (Acuant and IDology), the provider of identity verification, compliance and fraud prevention, the importance of adaptable and inclusive technology is one of the most important lessons in 2022.

She says: “Fraud remained frustratingly pervasive in 2022. In this era of sharply increasing fraud and rapidly changing regulations, fintech will need to be more agile. This means they need technology that makes it easy to manage fraud, compliance, and allows them to do business with all demographics.

“Companies that adopt multi-layered identity verification technology will be able to identify and prevent new and persistent fraud threats. Relying on more than one verification data point and having the seamless ability to escalate and add friction only when necessary – to suspicious transactions – will keep the business growing with reliable customers.

“Multi-layer identity verification technology will also contribute to financial inclusion, which has become increasingly important. Incorporating different sources of know-your-customer (KYC) data will allow fintech companies to do business with the vast majority of the world’s population – including the un- and underbanked, thin the files (those with little or no credit history), and those who are new to a country.

“And as anti-money laundering (AML) regulations continue to evolve and take into account more fintech applications and even move into cryptocurrencies, all fintechs must ensure they have workflows in place that can quickly adapt and comply with their entire business.

Plan A technologies

Slave Kulik is CEO/co-founder of the company for software development and digital transformation Plan A technologies. He provides insight into how technology has developed in 2022.

“One of the funnest parts of doing so much software development work for the financial world is that we get a front-row seat to the latest trends and concerns in the industry. Things we’ve worked on for clients include:

• More sophisticated digital wallets that work more seamlessly across devices
• Integrating powerful loyalty functionality with transactions to incentivize specific behaviors
• Adding predictive analytics to platforms to help both customers and businesses get a better sense of not only what is currently happening, but what is likely to happen
• Many companies ask us for help to make international transactions across borders easier – the internationalization of moving funds has been a super trend for a long time, but there is still a lot of friction, so companies are working on some good solutions
• Adding AI/machine learning to just about everything seems like another trend that won’t be slowing down anytime soon
• Functionality to allow easier peer-to-peer transactions continues
• The buy-now-pay-later trend continues to attract companies
• Cryptocurrencies are still being explored and integrated into platforms, but we saw many crypto projects being postponed or sidelined this year.”

Team Apt

Fintech Team Apt delivers business and banking solutions to small and medium-sized businesses. Its CEO and co-founder Tosin Eniolorunda talks about the growing dependence on digitization tools.

“This year we have seen many founders and investors across emerging markets jumping on the SME digitization trend. This is because SMEs make up a large part of the economic activity in these markets and the highly manual and informal nature of these businesses provides significant digitization opportunities, from payments to business management tools.This realization has led to the emergence of many players across the SME digitization value chain, with significant VC investment flowing into this space.

“At TeamApt, we believe there is a significant business opportunity in this area as Africa rides the wave of digitization and consumers and businesses on the continent both come ‘online’. We are constantly positioning the business to take advantage of this trend, particularly through Moniepoint, our one-stop digital financial services platform for SMEs. With Moniepoint, SMEs in Africa have access to digital payment solutions, credit and business management tools, all on a single, easy-to-use platform.”

Gresham Technologies

Industry changes and evolving regulation have forced a review of existing technology and processes that are now considered legacy, it suggests Ian Manocha, managing director i Gresham Technologieswhich supplies software and automation solutions for financial services.

“2022 has seen greater emphasis on the post-trade lifecycle with middle and office. Typically, investments have always had a front-office bias to increase trading opportunities, but new and proposed industry changes affecting settlement, payments and regulation have forced a review of existing technology and processes which are now considered legacy From real-time trade recording to reporting and reconciliation, all these verticals with firms are in line for an automation overhaul.

“The inevitable decision to move towards cloud computing and managed services in a key trend that has been accelerated to meet these challenges with improved operational efficiency and cost as the main drivers.

“Amidst turbulent financial market conditions this year, fintechs have stepped up to support stretched teams in financial institutions globally. There has been a clear shift towards more and more firms adopting managed service models to free up employees for higher value work.

“Standardisation has also been a key trend in both payments and regulatory reporting. In terms of payments, SWIFT and the Eurosystem’s TARGET2, both migrating to ISO 20022, are significant projects for businesses and cross-border payments with the coexistence period delayed but due to start in March 2023.”

Icon solutions

Tom Kelleher is the commercial director of Icon solutionsa provider of services and technology solutions that facilitate banking transformation.

“Icon Solutions is a technology provider and consulting firm serving Tier 1 banks, so my observations mainly refer to the banking sector and payments in particular.

“2022 has certainly been a unique year. Covid slowed the pace the banks had created in digital transformation, but this has given time to stop and really think about the changes needed. Consequently, piecemeal transformation has been replaced with ambitious programs that offer more to not only retain existing customers but also increase market share.

“Tier 1 banks are competing for market share, digital banks are attracting a younger demographic and the ever-increasing number of (maturing) fintechs is putting pressure on margins. That’s why banks have innovated at a rate I’ve certainly not seen before to maintain their competitive edge, and technology is at the heart of that process.

“In addition to these pressures, Tier 1 banks continue to face regulatory changes. In the UK, the new payments architecture will really start to take off during 2023, with up to 42 participants in faster payment services due to start testing in the 4th quarter. If you don’t want to be left with technical debt, unnecessary complexity and increased costs, this is not a quick fix or update to existing assets of large, established banks.”