Cutting Through the Fog: Finding a Future with Fintech

Abstract

The case examines the scope, history, and scale of the fintech industry, while also defining what fintech may be…and what it is not. The protagonist, management consultant Carolina Costa, is tasked to advise a client bank executive regarding alternative paths into fintech that he could choose. The material includes an overview of the fintech market, including analysis of entrants from start-up incubators, banks, and technology companies. The case figures and exhibits provide data to allow students to analyze the current market saturation and consumer needs in regard to fintech products. This case was designed for a second-year MBA elective course on financial institutions and markets but can also be taught in a first-year module on banking and financial institutions/financial landscape or as an opener to a core financial management course on strategic options, investment strategy, and value creation. Excerpt UVA-F-1767 Rev. Jul. 7, 2017 Cutting through the Fog: Finding a Future with Fintech Then comes a strange moment, the sort of thing that happens often at Microsoft, which seemingly within moments turns disaster into salvation. Talk has turned to broader trends in banking. Where's it going, what's in it for us? Banks are dinosaurs, says Gates. We can “bypass” them. The Raptor is unhappy with an alliance involving a big bank-card company. “Too slow.” Instead he proposes a deal with a small—and more easily controllable—check-clearing outfit. “Why don't we buy them?” Gates asks, thinking bigger. It occurs to him that people banking from home will cut checks using Microsoft's software. Microsoft can then push all those transactions through its new affiliate, taking a fee on every one. Abruptly, Gates sheds his disappointment with Money. He's caught up in a vision of Microsoft at the center of the “transformation of the world financial system.” It's a “pot of gold,” he declares, pounding the conference table with his fists, triumphant and hungry and wired. “Get me into that and goddamn, we'll make so much money!” Carolina Costa was a consultant at Florida Optimum Group (FOG), which, funnily enough, aimed to “help our clients cut through the fog.” She was working on engagement, advising a large global bank. The weather had turned and after leaving the client's office at 7:00 p.m., Costa was able to enjoy a walk to both clear her head and synthesize her thoughts. To many, fintech was still a buzzword with foggy definitions and an unclear path forward. Luckily, Costa had caught the itch to learn more about fintech during the second year of her MBA at a major business school. She had been asked to lead a team to advise Alex Linger-Turpin, a senior managing director, on the strategic path that the bank should take in the wake of fintech growth. . . .