The Changing Fintech Landscape: A Snapshot of M&A Themes and Trends

Financial Technology—or Fintech—is redefining the manner and pace in which financial products and services are delivered. The COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, accelerated demand for digital products and services and put in sharp relief the extent to which Fintech presents challenges and opportunities for virtually every kind of financial institution.

As the Fintech industry rapidly matures, our forecast for the remainder of 2021 and 2022 sees a wave of consolidation on the horizon. Rapid changes in consumer behavior are leaving traditional banks—particularly smaller regional and community banks—racing to improve their mobile banking platforms and apps. Similar trends are emerging in the insurance sector, where we have seen a proliferation of apps and platforms that allow individuals to apply and shop for policies online, and in consumer investment platforms, which allow individual consumers to access sophisticated investment products such as options and derivatives.

This panel of Fintech experts in the legal and investment banking industries will give their insights on the key trends, market forces and deal players that are shaping the consolidation of the US Fintech industry. They will give highlights from a new report published by Shearman & Sterling, S&P Global Market Intelligence and Rise, Created by Barclays, discussing the rapid convergence taking place in the sector.

Discussion topics for this session will include:

• A review of the top 10 legal and regulatory issues for Fintech M&A transactions.
• Highlights and trends from key vertical categories including payments, digital lending, consumer trading, insurance and digital-only banks.
• A closer look at the deal players who are driving M&A in the Fintech space.