François Groepe: Fintech - reflections on the phenomenon and its future potential

Remarks by Mr Francois Groepe, Deputy Governor of the South African Reserve Bank, at the Finovate Conference, Cape Town, 27 November 2018.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

There is no doubt that we are facing a period of rapid technological advancement and innovative disruption, not least in the area of financial services, with financial technology (fintech) likely to disrupt and redefine both payments and banking value chains.

Given these rapid advancements of fintech, I would like to focus my remarks on two areas.

The first is an appraisal, from a central banking perspective, on the fintech phenomenon, given that we as the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) have been closely observing what has been happening in this space.