FinTech Magazine - February 2023 | Page 69

EMBEDDED FINANCE

FINTECH AND THE FUTURE OF EMBEDDED FINANCE

Embedded finance is transforming the consumer and commercial space as open banking and API technology continues to disrupt fintech
WRITTEN BY : JOANNA ENGLAND

Embedded finance , open banking and APIs are often terms used with seamless interchangeability . But each of these elements has become critical to driving disruption in the financial services space .

What is embedded finance ? The term embedded finance refers to the integration of financial services into companies ' normal services . These include all manner of different payment options at the checkout , insurance , ewallets , or any aspect connected to financial transactions .
Put simply , embedded finance enables businesses to ' embed ' financial services into their business models at various points along their customers ' journey by leveraging their own proprietary data on top of external financial information .
However , embedded finance wouldn ’ t exist without open banking , and it wouldn ’ t operate without APIs . Essentially , open banking has acted as a launchpad for embedded finance . Open APIs , meanwhile , are provided by banks to companies that wish to offer embedded financial services . Ultimately , the technology that has enabled banks to offer frictionless payment experiences , is now available for the commercial and consumer sector in the form of embedded finance .
New embedded finance trends for 2023 / 4 As disruption sweeps the financial services industry , embedded finance is no exception to the winds of change . According to Nikhita Hyett , EU MD of BlueSnap , there are two major trends that will be leading transformation in embedded payments and strong customer authentication .

“EMBEDDED PAYMENTS - WHICH ENABLE

BUSINESSES TO PROCESS THEIR OWN PAYMENTS - WILL DRIVE THIS WIDESPREAD ADOPTION

NIKHITA HYETT EU MD , BLUESNAP fintechmagazine . com 69