Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Why 2020 Is The Year For Fintech

Why 2020 Is The Year For Fintech

This month marked one of the largest fintech acquisitions of all times, Visa’s purchase of Plaid for $5.3 billion. It is a validation of fintech in a literal sense – Plaid is a key enabler to many of the leading fintech players, and critical in simplifying the onboarding flow and integration of players. It may also be a bellwether for the year: 2020 may be the year for fintech.

Four important and interlocking trends will drive this.


1. Fintech is yielding mega rounds and successful exits

Plaid is not alone. While historical fintech acquisitions have been smaller, early signs indicate incumbents have a growing appetite for larger deals. The last couple years have seen an acceleration of large fintech acquisitions and funding rounds. For example, Paypal completed its largest ever acquisition, Honey for $4 billion.

Incumbents have also been active: Charles Schwab purchased TD Ameritrade for $26 billion. Infrastructure players, “Fiserv Inc., Fidelity National Information Services Inc. and Global Payments Inc. did a series of deals that transformed payment processing in the U.S.”, according to a Bloomberg analysis. There of course have been some recent IPOs as well, notably Bill.com’s at approximately $1.6 billion.

The pipeline of fintechs is growing too. The quarterly funding for fintech has been on the rise over the last few years (excluding the exceptional Ant deals). In 2019, there were over 59 mega rounds, defined as over $100m, globally (and this is only to Q3).

This is set to continue. There are an increasing number of fintech funds, and mainstream funds where fintech is part of the allocation. As a result, we will see an acceleration of ever larger innovators and ultimately (hopefully) large successful exists.


2. Fintech is maturing and providing a more holistic solution for customers

The rebundling of fintech has been part of the narrative for some time. Challenger banks are one of the most direct manifestations of this phenomenon by placing themselves closest to a customer’s money and paycheck, providing intelligent insights for financial health and connectivity to best in class fintech products.

In 2019 Challenger banks had a blockbuster year and raised over $3b (over a billion of which in Q3), including for instance Chime’s most recent $500m round (disclosure the fund I work for is an investor). Today, there are 75 challenger banks around the world. They will fight to acquire users and to scale.

Challenger banks are not the only players to rebundle. A range of fintech players are expanding their product range – for example Robinhood and Acorns who recently added high yield savings. And of course, many incumbents are looking to create digital first offerings and this will accelerate as well.


3. Fintech’s globalization is accelerating

There are now leading fintech innovators scaling around the world. One of the largest digital banks in the world is Nubank, based in Brazil. The most famous mobile-banking player is in Kenya. The largest payment and insurance innovators are in China, Ant and Zhong An respectively.

The rise of global fintech deal activity has accelerated. In Asia for instance, deals spiked last year, and nearly overtook the US according to CB Insights. South East Asia saw a record over 80 deals and over $700 million invested (up from $125m in 2016). Africa saw deal volume double from Q3 2019 yoy.

Importantly, fintech is becoming more global itself. ideas that originate in some locations are being improved and evolved elsewhere by others. A more recent phenomenon is the number of fintech players that are scaling across borders.


4. Fintech is causing incumbents to react

Fintech is going mainstream. According to the Global Fintech Adoption Survey, staggeringly in 2019, 96% of survey respondents were aware of at least one fintech service. 75% had used a money transfer or fintech product. The report rates adoption at 64%, 4x the rating in its first year of publication in 2015. Fintech is no longer fringe, it is mainstream.

This is driving behavior change among incumbents. For instance, as Robinhood scaled, we’ve seen incumbents change their business models and offer fee-free trading, for instance Schwab and TD.


2020 may be the year of fintech

Combining these trends presents a powerful future for fintech. Fintech exits are becoming proven. More capital is being poured in to support the next wave. Fintech’s scale is affecting incumbents industry wide. This is not just happening in the US, but globally. And of course, fintech solutions are becoming more harmonized in customer facing ways, as challenger banks demonstrate.

Plaid’s acquisition in that way, as both a key enabler in fintech, and a powerful example of the value they create, is a bellwether for the industry.
#ANT 
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×