Over a period of twelve months, a study was carried out to find out how much the citizens of Britain were willing to adopt the services of Fintech companies. The result showed that quite a number of citizens had some reservations concerning the privacy of their data that will be shared with Fintech companies. The technological growth of Fintech companies has done nothing To assuage this feeling, rather it seems to exacerbate the situation. It seems that the citizens are quite reluctant to adopt a system that is totally digitally based.
Despite the recent announcement by Phillip Hammond, the British citizens do not yet fully understand the operation of a digital-only system. The fact that artificial intelligence will be included in the services offered by these companies does not improve their case in the eyes of the British public.
Of the more than a thousand people surveyed, less than 20% really understood how Fintech companies operate, meaning that way more than half were in the dark as regards the operation of these companies. The trend even worsened when asked about those they trust to keep their personal data safe, about 7% only trusted social media platforms to keep their personal data secure. The distrust is not only directed at FIntech companies.
In doing business, more than half of the sampled population had no issue in making financial transactions using their bank’s app, but less have ventured to use third party Apps like Apple Pay for financial transactions. The reason is not farfetched, a majority of those surveyed trusted their banks more and were of the opinion that such big banks should acquire the Fintech companies.
In the area of services being offered by artificial intelligence, some of the respondents were doubtful that they can trust the financial advice given by artificial intelligence over that given by a human. About a quarter of those surveyed was not comfortable with the adoption of AI by financial services. In general, it seems a lot has to be done by Fintech companies and the government to make the British citizen comfortable with the services offered by Fintech companies.
