Below are some of the key banking terms within Fintech:
AML: Anti-Money Laundering (AML) refers to existing laws or procedures meant to nail and combat illegally obtained income.
API: They represent the functionalities of a certain program. They enable other programmers to use existing codes, enabling faster and more reliable developments.
Cryptocurrency: A digital currency using cryptography for security. It is a part of a decentralized system and is usually associated with a blockchain.
Biometrics: Biometrics is the matching of a person’s unique physical characteristics with his account, usually used to secure and foolproof an authentication.
Bitcoin: The most popular cryptocurrency, generally deemed the first of its kind.
Blockchain: A continually growing list of records (blocks), which are cryptographically secured. Each block has a hash of the previous block, timestamp and transaction data.
Digital Native: A person raised in the age of digital technology.
FinTech: An industry known for championing technology in the Financial sector. They’re also popular for challenging traditional banking and incumbent institutions.
FinServ: An abbreviation that appears largely on Twitter, referring to anything in the Financial Services industry.
InsurTech: Refers to the use of technology innovations designed to squeeze out savings and efficiency from the current insurance industry model.
KYC: Is the process of identifying and verifying the identity of its clients. The term is used to refer to the bank and their AML regulations which governs these activities.
Payment Gateway: A service provider that authorizes credit card payments. They act as an intermediary between a payment portal – either a website or a bank.
PCI Compliance: Payment Card Industry Compliance is a set of security standards designed to protect card information during and after financial transactions.
POS: Refers to point of sale, which is a point at which a sale happens. It encompasses the hardware, software and the support that manage that transaction.
P2P Lending: Peer-to-peer lending which involves lenders loaning money and interacting directly with the borrowers, without the traditional processes and structures.
RegTech: A portmanteau of “regulation” and “technology”, created to address regulatory challenges in the financial services sector through innovative technology.
Robo-Advisors: Robo-advisors are robots, primarily rooted in algorithms, that automate investment advice to the clients, and can also effectively manage portfolios.
Sidechain – A blockchain tied to the original, with its own set of completed transactions, that are finally added to the primary chain as one consolidated result.
Smart contracts: These are automated and often blockchain-based contracts could save time, reduce costs and improve security in several day-to-day transactions.
Unbanked: Refers to those individuals who do not have a account at any bank or financial institution and are almost completely cutoff from the financial ecosystem.
Underbanked: Refers to those individuals who do not have sufficient access to mainstream financial services and thus deprived of services like credit cards or loans.
WealthTech: WealthTech is a segment of financial technology that focuses on enhancing wealth management and investing.
