“Fintech” [(fIntek] is an abbreviation of “financial technology”. It is used to describe the new technologies that improve and automate the delivery of financial services. Originally, it was used only for the back-end systems of financial institutions. Now, it includes many customer-oriented sectors, such as crowdfunding platforms, mobile payments, blockchain and cryptocurrency management, and stock-trading apps.
“Fintech” was first used by Peter Knight in a business column in the British newspaper The Sunday Times in the 1980s. But it wasn’t widely used until the 2007 financial crash, when new fintech businesses became an alternative to failed financial institutions.
The noun “fintech” can be used on its own (“Fintech is a key sector”) or as the first element in compound nouns (“Fintech investments can be risky”). Similar abbreviations include “agri-tech” (the application of modern technology to agriculture) and “biotech” (technology that uses biological processes for medical treatments).