Fintech is a leading pan African financial technology solutions provider, with over 27 years’ experience, operations in 5 countries and a client footprint in over 20 countries across Africa.
Fintech has been at the forefront of fostering economic development through improved financial inclusion and overall digitization of financial services. In 1995, two years after its incorporation, Fintech officially started Engaging the Ethiopian market by facilitating information technology training in the banking and public sector and later played a major role in implementing a core banking system in one of the leading banks in Ethiopia.
As digital advancement became more visible in the market, mobile penetration became rampant and with this, came the expansion of digital financial services. The digital transformation forced a shift from traditional approach to a demand for innovative technology by the market. In 2013, Ethiopia approved a regulatory framework on agent banking and mobile banking. Fintech made a major comeback with an aim of improving client value through efficient customer service by helping banks tap into the emerging market segments by offering Mobile and internet banking.
Fintech also played a major role in providing the Ethiopian banking sector with payment solutions to meet regulatory automation needs, such as the Ethiopia Automated Transfer System(EATS) in which they managed to customize one of their key solutions for payments and settlements to meet the National Bank of Ethiopia specifications. Fintech has successfully managed to implement its Cheque Truncation System “ChequePoint” in 72% of the banks in Ethiopia, creating a digital footprint in the market.
Fintech, being an Independent Software Vendor (ISV) and System Integrator (SI), is working closely with multiple service providers (banks, schools and other utility providers) to achieve a seamless digital payment system within the Ethiopian market.
Fintech is also much aware of the emerging challenges on integration and third-party access to enterprise applications through the delivery channels hence has come up with a fully-fledged Information Security department that offers a wide range of services including Vulnerability Assessment (VA), Penetration Testing (PT), Two-factor Authentication, One Time Password (OTP), Web Application firewalls, Data Application firewalls among others.
Being customer-centric, Fintech has invested a lot of resources in support and are currently working with ETCON Plc., a local company, to provide first line support. Fintech has built local capacities by training at least two local consultants who engage with customers daily to address any support related issues or new requirements.
Fintech is eyeing expanding into emerging solutions such as Invisible payment systems which focuses on the potential of cryptocurrencies and their ability to transfer value rather than to just store value like traditional payment solutions did. Through cryptographic protocols, P2P transfers, and mobile money, there may be a significant decrease in the use of the traditional intermediary that comes with a centralized system. The trend is attracting investment and wealth management companies who also see the value of what certain types of emerging payment solutions can bring to them and their clients.
Technology has also made it easy for the Shared Model to become efficient. It is convenient and saves on otherwise costly fees. This model, Software as a Service(SaaS), offers a platform which allows the consumer to use the provider’s applications running on a cloud infrastructure. The applications are accessible from various client devices through a thin client interface such as a web browser (e.g., web-based email). The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, storage, or even individual application capabilities, with the possible exception of limited user-specific application configuration settings. (Source: NIST CC Definition)
