The Importance of Translation Services in the Fintech Sector

The Fintech sector has experienced exponential growth in recent years, driven by increasing demand for digital financial services, advancements in technology, and changing consumer preferences. The sector is also attracting significant investment from VCs and other investors, as they recognize the potential for Fintech companies to disrupt traditional financial institutions and capture a share of the growing digital financial market. Indeed, the old school banking institutions have also made considerable progress in the digitization of the financial services industry.

This post describes how localization and translation services can help the sector expand in new markets.

What is Fintech?

Fintech, short for Financial Technology, is a term used to describe the use of technology to provide financial services. Fintech companies use innovative technologies to develop and deliver financial products and services that are more efficient, affordable, and accessible than traditional financial institutions.
(from ChatGPT)

You may have heard about Fintech, perhaps in a TV commercial or in a newspaper article. Although the term may seem complicated, over the last few years Fintech technologies have become much more popular, helping to increase the economic literacy of the population and increasing access to banking and digital financial services.

Some of the better-known Fintech services include PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Venmo. Smaller but equally popular companies include Hype and N26. All of these companies offer quick and easy ways to exchange money and send and receive payments using technology, undoubtedly earning the title of Fintech companies.

The concept of Fintech, however, does not only embrace the traditional banking sector, but also extends to services designed for investments and P2P lending. Consider companies like Robinhood, Lending Club, Prosper or Acorns, companies that take advantage of digitization to facilitate investment operations or to connect lenders and private debtors directly. However, companies in the sector do not always offer services that involve an expense or investment on the part of the consumer: even applications such as Mint and Personal Capital, designed exclusively to help users keep track of their finances and plan expenses, they fully belong to the ideology of financial technology. And what about Square, SumUp, Scalapay or Satispay? All realities that, in their own way, use technology to offer better and more advantageous services to their users.

In short, fintech companies have acquired a substantial slice of the market in recent years. Fueled in part by the pandemic crisis, Fintech received a further boost towards collective digitization of financial services.

How can Fintech improve services for consumers?

The first advantage of Fintech is certainly accessibility: unlike traditional financial institutions, Fintech services are usually available 24/7 and can be easily conducted from a smartphone, tablet or computer. While in the past it was necessary to physically go to the bank for certain transactions, it is now possible to carry out many payment transactions directly from your device.

This, of course, leads to an added benefit: speed. In fact, Fintech services make it possible to speed up many payment and investment transactions thanks to the accessibility of the platforms. Furthermore, by using digital technologies to automate almost all manual tasks, these services often prove to be cheaper than traditional alternatives, becoming accessible to larger sections of the population.

Finally, Fintech services usually guarantee security and transparency, using well-tested systems to prevent fraud and providing clear and transparent information to consumers, who in the past would have had to physically go to the bank to request certain information.

The importance of translation services in the Fintech sector

Many companies in the Fintech sector operate exclusively online, as their services are targeted above all at those who are familiar with digital services. This context makes the need for high quality financial translation services extremely important.

Localizing and translating online apps, websites and company documents proves to be essential for expansion into new markets: consider, for example, what would have happened if PayPal had decided to launch its services in Germany without having its platform translated into German. Most likely it would not have had its current success, given that it reaches many millions of users in Germany.

Naturally, the linguistic component is also essential for communicating with customers: in order to provide a high-quality service, it is essential to guarantee excellent customer service. This means not only communicating with customers in their own language in case of problems or questions, but also posting information and notices that are understandable at all times. In the case of banking services, being able to win the trust of customers will be essential, and this can only start from clear and punctual communication.

Localization for Fintech companies is essential to enter new markets, earn customer trust and build lasting relationships both with their users and with new international partners.