The World Cup is upon us and everyone is buzzing with excitement and placing their bets on who’ll take the golden cup home! For now, we just gotta wait and see. But until we have a winner, let’s sprinkle some fintech into football and see which country would win in the fintech game, starting with Group A.
Our first group include; Qatar, Ecuador, Senegal, and the Netherlands. We talked about Qatar’s landscape before and it does seem impressive. So how are the rest of these countries look at it?
Ecuador
Fintech is a relatively new concept in Ecuador; however, the country is making great strides as time goes by. Still, Ecuador is going for a financially inclusive future by immersing tech and fintech within its sectors. The majority of fintech companies in Ecuador focus on digital payment, loans, or corporate finance management. The country has recently approved a law for the development, regulation and control of technological financial services. The law aims to provide legal credibility to national and foreign fintech companies to increase investments in the country.
Senegal
Now let’s take a look into the home of Sadio Mane, the African Footballer of 2022, Senegal. But it’s also home to Africa’s first Francophone unicorn, Wave – the mobile money provider. The country started its journey into the fintech world not so long ago and it’s still in the very early stages. Wave, which was valued at $1.7 billion, is the exception, not the rule. The country still lacks clear regulations and guidelines when it comes to fintech.
The Netherlands
The Netherlands definitely has the best fintech ecosystem out of the four. The rapid development of fintech companies is due to the openness of the Dutch to a digital economy. The Netherlands has also become sort of a European hotspot for fintech companies such as Azimo and Vitesse PSP, especially since Brexit. Since then, the country has upped its financial regulator budget by 10% just to keep up with the demand.
The digital economy is booming in the Netherlands and the country is considered to be the second-biggest fintech nation in the European Union (EU). Currently, there are several Neobanks that are operating and are well-loved by the people such as; Bunq, Knab, Open Bank, and Vivid Money.
I don't know much about the Netherlands football team, but they seem to have won this round in the fintech scene.
){kind=link}