Challenges in the fintech industry: The problems and solutions

Fast, secure, and personalized mobile solutions are at the top of the list for today’s digital-first consumer. As a result, we’ve witnessed a rise in financial technology (fintech) companies dominating the industry with solutions such as mobile banking.

However, challenges in providing frictionless mobile services remain – and overcoming them has become increasingly difficult. Here we highlight common fintech problems organizations face today and how the right digital-first technology can be the solution that improves your customer experience.

Fintechs are well known for delivering fast, secure solutions to everyday banking activities. But with global events forcing the world to go mobile, consumers are looking for even faster, more secure alternatives – and businesses are struggling to keep up.

Because of this, fintechs looking to deliver the ultimate conversational banking experience continue to encounter both business and security problems, including:

Although revenue is not a key indicator of fintech success – speed and transaction volume are. And, with the barrier of being highly regulated, fintechs looking to get ahead must have proper authentication practices set in place if they plan to increase conversion rates and reduce operating expenses.

The most challenging part for most fintechs is implementing higher security without impacting the customer experience – a key advantage they have over traditional banks.

The right digital-first technology could be the solution to most of these fintech problems.

We recently shared details about SIM swapping and how our Mobile Identity solution uses it for the greater good of protecting user information.

These fast, silent solutions can streamline most of the customer challenges we outlined above – while keeping costs relatively low and prioritizing fraud prevention. Here’s how:

According to Business Insider, 63% of European consumers abandoned their digital banking app onboarding process in 2020. This 25% increase compared to 2019 is well attributed to consumers moving to digital solutions as a result of the pandemic, but online banking technology still struggling to meet their expectations.

Using silent mobile verification can help you provide an uninterrupted onboarding experience for your customers. Rather than receiving an email or SMS with a 5-digit code, silent mobile verification authenticates your app users in less than 5 seconds – with no further action required.

That’s not to say that SMS isn’t a great failover option – since the worst-case scenario would be for your customer to not complete the transaction at all. But giving app users fewer steps in the onboarding process also means giving them less time to abandon it – increasing the likelihood that they’ll convert into a loyal customer.

A key competitive advantage for fintechs over traditional banks is the customer experience. Fintechs entered the market with the value proposition of enabling customers to perform regular banking transactions in the palm of their hand, instead of visiting a branch or calling a contact center.

However, the more layers of security you add to your customer journey, the more you risk compromising on customer experience. Customers don’t want to leave your app to check an SMS for a confirmation code only to have to come back to your app and type it in. Silent mobile verification does this for them so all they need to do is open your app, sign in, and wait a few seconds (less than 5 to be exact) before they move on to complete their transaction.

Another way to improve your customer experience is to conduct a SIM swap check before sending sensitive messages to a customer. This will help you ensure the account-related information reaches the customer it’s intended for and eliminates potential fraud or identity theft activities.

Regardless of the security solutions you have set in place, it seems hackers are always finding new ways to crack the code. In fact, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation states that Americans lost more than $68 million to SIM swapping attacks in 2021.

Using a combination of mobile security solutions such as silent mobile verification and SIM swap checks can decrease the chances of your authentication process being intercepted by a third party.

For one, silent mobile verification can keep customers’ information protected as the authentication process is completed entirely in the background – and isn’t visible to anyone that might be near your customer while they’re logging into their account.

SIM Swap checks, on the other hand, help verify transactions in cases when funds are transferred to a new account, the transaction amount is higher than usual, or if a new device has been detected. In this case, if it’s been detected that a SIM has been swapped, the transaction will be declined.

Key account information that you can check with the mobile network operator to prevent fraud and account takeover include:

Security solution providers know that fraud prevention is a top priority for fintech organizations – which is why their solutions can seem to break the bank. However, since silent mobile verification and SIM swap checks use existing information and technology, there aren’t many added setup costs or ongoing expenses.

When a user signs into their account, silent mobile verification cross-checks their information with the mobile network operator (MNO). If the MNO confirms the information matches, the user is signed into their account. The entire process takes less than five seconds to complete and doesn’t require any other verification method such as usernames or passwords.

In the long run, setting up fast, silent user authentication minimizes fraud-related financial loss, customer acquisition costs, and manual security intervention costs.

>> Discover more ways fintechs can use digital transformation to become more profitable

Prioritizing fintech app security and user authentication is key in today’s digital environment. As cybercrimes surge, adding layers of security that don’t compromise on customer experience can become a competitive advantage.

Silent mobile verification and SIM swap checks are two solutions that can prevent common fraudulent activities. Built on the foundation of working with 300+ banks and financial institutions, and connected to more than 700 mobile network operators, Mobile Identity is made to help you overcome everyday fintech problems and take advantage of new opportunities.