Clarifying the blurry lines of FinTech

Abstract

This chapter provides a comprehensive segmentation proposal of 110 financial technology ventures operating in the Greater Stockholm Area and introduces the current state of classification of FinTech. It focuses on the categorization attempt of FinTech companies into several categories and 69 subcategories. The chapter presents a visualization of featured companies by adopting a model from the area of social sciences to FinTech industry needs. The development of FinTech has modified cooperation between regulators and startups. In the same realm as the financial market regulators, finding unknown paths to new challenges has led to the incorporation of two models from psychology—the zone of proximal development and Bronfenbrenner's bioecological model—to modify them to certain FinTech user-centric circles. It was decided to move one step further and incorporate aspects of another model used in psychology, Bronfenbrenner's bioecological model, which studied a development within a particular environment in which users live. Bronfenbrenner's model claimed that borders between different parties are relatively blurry.