Fintech continues to be one of the most exciting sectors for growth and innovation. However, when it comes to software development, due to the complexity of building robust and secure applications that are compliant with stringent financial industry regulations yet still provide a seamless, highly functional, and beautiful user experience, it’s crucial that the right tools are used for the job.

How the quarter flies! Since this year, it became a sort of a habit that at the very last week of each Q I put my headphones on, turn off Slack, and dive into hundreds of transcripts of earnings calls. What for? I look for any meaningful references to fintech. Why? Because at Netguru, beyond developing and designing fintech apps and solutions (API, backend, frontend, SEPA, you name it), we are always keen to see the broader picture.

We’re seeing a shift in consumers’ financial habits. The world is moving towards fintech products. The companies and traditional banks that don't capitalise on this trend will get left behind. On top of that, the game is no longer just about creating any fintech product. It’s about creating a product that will make a difference. A product that users will use on a daily basis. What’s the recipe for a product like this? What aspects should be taken into consideration when creating a fintech product? How will the fintech industry change in the next couple of years? Is it going to disrupt itself? Let’s try to find the answers to those questions together during Disruption Forum London Fintech.

Access to capital? Naaah. Corporate tax rates? No biggie. Sponsored by the fintech company Stripe, a global survey of 1,000 bank and financial firm executives found that they are way more concerned with access to skilled software engineers. Some key statistics from the survey:

They say: “Keep your friends close, and your enemies even closer”. And that’s what biggest Swedish banks had no choice but to do after the fintech start-up Tink hacked their systems and launched an app loved by thousands.

Fed up with the low level of banking services in France, two entrepreneurs decided to have a crack at business banking. Since the launch in 2016, the Qonto team has grown from the founding duo to 80 people. They have attracted over 20,000 small businesses to their bank and closed two funding rounds, pocketing about €12m.

When they started, back in 2012, hardly anyone knew what insurtech was about. Neither were many people aware of the young German startup. Fast forward to 2018, Simplesurance, a German fintech company, is backed by both investor and e-commerce giants (Allianz and Rakuten, respectively), and has also partnered with OnePlus, Huawei, and Revolut.

I believe there are various ways to tell the story of Raisin. But let me take a shortcut. Here are some numbers behind the Berlin-based company that aims to build a leading one-stop shop for savings and investments in Europe.

From this piece - we call it Netguru’s Fintech Barometer - you will learn: The single most disruptive thing that may happen in the industry, according to Citigroup’s CEO The warning from JP Morgan and Chase CEO about feeling comfortable with being big How Bank of America and ABN Amro are tackling the fintech challenge (some interesting numbers here) Where MasterCard’s CEO sees an interesting fight between the fintech players and banks How fintech is boosting Tencent and Rakuten The unexpected impact of fintech on… ads on television In a nutshell - you are now reading the 2nd edition of the Netguru Fintech Barometer. The idea is that, each quarter, we scramble through all earning call and conference transcripts to check the pulse of the fintech industry.

If your game app lags, all it takes to get back into action is pressing the refresh button. No harm done, just a little irritation on the user side. The same experience is hardly acceptable for a banking app - if you seem unreliable or insecure, you won’t get a second chance on the market.