Finance has been a notoriously slow-moving industry in modern times. As most industries have been quick to pick up new technologies to increase efficiency as well as improve the level of service and product they offer, finance has appeared to remain in the dark ages, drowning in processes and paperwork.
But over the last couple of years, several specific areas of finance and the businesses within those areas have noticed the opportunity for disruption. This has led to some serious innovation taking place in the space, that we as consumers can take advantage of.
In this article, we cover four of these areas and how we can use them to hack better finances for ourselves.
IMAGE: PEXELS
Instant Banking
Banks seem to be stuck in one of two camps right now. With some still requiring physical signatures and meetings to do something as simple as opening account and others offering almost all their services in an instant at a touch of the button.
Mobile-first banks like Starling and Monzo have paved the way for what is becoming fast accepted as the norm in digital banking. By offering consumers a super-fast way to access, send and receive money, these disrupters have made a huge amount of noise in a short period.
These banks have also made it easy to quickly monitor your transaction, making it simpler to monitor and manage your money. We are now seeing more traditional banks adopt this approach to banking.
Easy Trading
Like banking, trading on the stock market has always been difficult to access for the average earner. Minimum investments and access via brokers has meant getting involved in trading could be near impossible without the right funds and connections.
But some businesses are disrupting this approach with great success. Apps like Moneybox make it easier than ever to invest. Their smart tool links to your bank account and rounds up every time you spend, investing the extra cash in your chosen businesses or funds.
Even more traditional investment businesses like Hargreaves Lansdown are making it easier to invest by lowering their minimum investments and offering an easy to use app to place deals on your chosen investments.
Instant Finance
Getting hold of cash when we need it has always been a slow process. Getting a bank loan or taking out a credit card is ordinarily a time heavy process, with plenty of red tape like credit checks that can throw a spanner in the works.
Payday and short-term loan providers like Instant Lolly have now made it easier and quicker than ever to secure finance when you truly need it. You can usually borrow money even if you have a poor or limited credit score and the cash can be in your bank within just 15 minutes.
Security
Although we are yet to see the technology widely accepted across the finance space, new and unseen levels of security are being made possible via the adoption of blockchain technology.
Where data on any type of finances would typically be kept in one secure location, blockchain keeps identical records of that data across multiple secure locations. Practically, this means for anyone to access or attack that data they would need to access all the locations and change them at the same time.
This has led to technologies like cryptocurrencies becoming possible and we may see the technology being adopted by more traditional currencies soon.
Finance is seeing a rise in disruptors entering the market and making it easier for the consumer to access, move, monitor and invest their money. We have seen businesses in the banking and investment space disrupt to a point where traditional businesses are now trying to keep up. We are likely to see this similar trend in other areas like financial data security.
If you are interested in even more business-related articles and information from us here at Bit Rebels, then we have a lot to choose from.
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