Digital Currency/Stablecoin/Tokenization Series: Snippets of KPMG’s Fintech 2019 Report

Netherland-based renowned big four auditing firm, KPMG has released its 2019 Fintech100 report to rank the top 100 fintech firms in the world. The list exhibits a drop in Bitcoin-related companies but reinforced innovation in the payments industry.

The Fintech100 is a collaborative effort between H2 Ventures and KPMG and analyses the fintech space globally. The Fintech100 comprises a ‘Top 50’ and an ‘Emerging 50’ and highlights those companies globally that are taking advantage of technology and driving disruption within the financial services industry. 

Quick glance at the highlights:

42 companies from Asia Pacific (including Australia and New Zealand), 

36 companies from the UK and EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa), and 22 companies from the Americas (North and South America). 

In which, Chinese dominance of the top 10 in recent years has tapered in 2019 but there has been a rise in companies from across the Asia Pacific (including China) which represent the top 6, and 7 of the top 10 fintech companies in 2019 with China again securing the most top ten positions (3). In 2019, the emergence of India as a fintech force taking out 2 top 10 positions and with 8 companies on this year’s list altogether.

The top 100 Fintech firms across sectors are as follows:

27 payments and transactions companies,

19 wealth companies,

17 insurance companies, 

15 lending companies, 

13 companies that operate across multiple fintech sectors, and 

9 neo/challenger banks.

KPMG pointed out open banking and the crypto innovation remains strong according to the rankings. Their bullish report in the past, on cryptocurrency recited the crypto-assets’ bullishness with institutionalization, wherein it claimed that institutional investors should enter in the crypto-industry to “realize its potential.” We are now witnessing mounting interests of institutions in to the gamut of cryptos.

Furthermore, the report (FinTech2019) divulges a significant increase in venture capital backing of fintech companies. The companies on the 2019 List have raised over US$70B in venture capital (a 35% increase on last year’s figure) and over US$18B of capital in the past 12 months.