Aussie fintechs flourish in KPMG Fintech Landscape

More than 100 Australian fintechs have been added to the KPMG Fintech Landscape 2020 since the last version was released in September 2019. The KPMG Fintech Landscape 2020 provides a snapshot of the innovation taking place across the financial services technology sector. It shows a total of 733 currently active fintechs, up from 629 in September 2019.

The KPMG Fintech Landscape 2020 revealed an increase in the number of fintechs within the lending category supported by new players in consumer and SME lending sub-sectors, as well as an increase in buy-now-pay-later providers (some reclassified from the payments category since 2019). In 2020, the growth in blockchain and cryptocurrency-associated fintechs matched the general support and interest in the technology asset class across the past year.

Daniel Teper, National Fintech Lead, KPMG Australia, noted that despite the impacts of COVID-19 on the economy, increased digitisation across financial services and new customer behaviours created new opportunities for innovation.

“The overall impressive net growth in the number of fintechs illustrates both the robust market dynamics and a strong support for the fintech sector in Australia,” Teper said.

Despite the delays to APRA’s licensing process (which is expected to restart from March 2021), the neobank sector has continued to evolve. Insurtech has also maintained momentum on the back of impressive growth in 2019.

Teper noted that the continued evolution of Australian fintechs has seen a repurposing and recategorisation of some businesses, as they mature their monetisation strategy and business models.

“In addition, we’re seeing rationalisation within some categories, a trend we expect to see more of as the market continues to mature and category winners, and losers, emerge. We are also starting to see increased levels of corporate M&A activity, as traditional players show an interest in fintechs product innovation, technology and market proposition and to help pivot their core businesses,” Teper said.

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