| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the effect of FinTech on the Norwegian banking
industry. We investigate the drivers of FinTech, the current and potential Norwegian FinTech
market, and the international competitiveness of the Norwegian FinTech movement.
We identify nine segments of FinTech within the traditional banking functions Financing,
Asset management, Payments and Authentication, and we find the key drivers behind the
rapid growth of the FinTech market as changing consumer preferences and technology
innovation. Bank customers demand quicker, easier, and cheaper banking than what the
traditional banks have offered, and we conclude that the increasingly tech-savvy population is
ripe for adopting FinTech solutions. The formation of FinTech startups is facilitated by
customized and transparent regulations, access to seed and growth capital, and access to
technological and entrepreneurial talent.
Through a bottom-up market sizing of the current players in the Norwegian FinTech industry,
we find a low FinTech adoption rate in all segments except all-digital banks and
Authentication. However, Norway is positively positioned on the drivers of FinTech
development, and we forecast a significantly increased FinTech adoption within five years.
The incumbent banks are highly aware of the changes caused by technology infusion, and
they are open and proactive in developing solutions in cooperation with FinTech startups. We
believe the banks have recognized that their strengths lie in IT infrastructure, customer data,
capital access and regulatory knowledge, while the FinTechs offer innovation, flexibility and
tailored solutions. This has resulted in FinTech having considerable disrupting effects on how
banking is done, but has allowed the incumbent banks to maintain important positions.
Finally, we have assessed Norwegian FinTech’s competitiveness in the light of world leading
FinTech nations. We conclude that while there are several positive trends in Norway, there
are significant scale advantages in FinTech development, which diminishes the chances of
competing on an international level. Recent attempts at increasing the cross-Nordic
cooperation could have positive effects. We also see that although Norway will have
difficulties competing internationally, this does not exclude the possibility of individual
successes within the FinTech segments. | nb_NO |
