Despite the enormous popularity of e-commerce, mobile payments, currency exchange and insurance, Poles are still unaware that the solutions they use every day are nothing other than services provided by fintech companies. An estimated 89% of Poles say they have never heard of companies in the fintech sector, while in reality they use their services every day, if only when making contactless payments for purchases. But fintechs are not just about online shopping or contactless payments—they also include the extensive online-loan sector, comparison websites and online currency exchanges. What are the reasons for the low level of education among Poles in this area, and how can this be remedied?
Research conducted by Bank Millenium, “The Millenium Generation in the World of Finance and New Technologies, Compared with Generations X and Z,” shows that the vast majority of Poles aged 16–40 are unaware of the concept of fintech, and only 15.5% of respondents have used this type of solution at least once.
“Although Poland is one of the world’s leading countries in terms of adopting new technologies—especially among younger generations—it can still be observed that we are not fully aware of who these products actually come from. Only a small percentage of people realize this, and even fewer would be able to correctly define the fintech sector. Therefore, considerable emphasis should be placed on educating Poles on this issue. Further development of the financial market is impossible without the active participation of its consumers,” comments expert pozyczkaportal.pl, Tymon Zastrzeżyński.
Poles’ low level of knowledge about new financial technologies is reflected in research on consumers’ trust in companies offering this type of solution. Studies show that only 6% of respondents would be willing to use financial services offered by institutions other than financial institutions.[1] Particularly opposed are older people— as many as 85% of respondents aged 36–65—who are accustomed to traditional banking.
55% of those who stated that they would be willing to use financial services offered by institutions other than financial institutions would most readily use the offerings of global technology companies such as Google, Facebook or Apple. The remaining options are rated only slightly lower—more than 45% of respondents would use financial services from telecommunications providers, while 40% would use services from smaller technology companies not backed by another global company.
So how can this approach be changed and, above all, how can Poles’ awareness be increased and they be shown that the solutions they use every day are nothing other than fintech innovations? Numerous online portals are helping by making it their goal to educate Poles about the conscious and safe use of financial products offered by fintechs. One of them is pozyczkaportal.pl, which publishes the latest news from the world of finance, as well as practical advice on taking out loan obligations rationally and rankings helpful in choosing the right service provider.
“It is estimated that almost 20% of adult Poles already use fintech solutions every day, while by 2020 almost 50% of us will be using them[2]. These are encouraging forecasts, especially since the fintech market offers increasingly better and surprising services that make it much easier to function in the world of finance. The most important thing, however, is a rational and safe approach, which will allow us to fully exploit the potential of the services on offer,” adds Maciej Suwik, expert at Loando.pl.
[1] Research conducted by Satisface at the request of Blue Media
[2] According to the fintek.pl portal