European fintech hub B-Hive announced on Friday it has teamed up with Roland Berger, one of the leading global consultancy firms, and Sirris, the collective center for and by the technological industry, to publish B-Lens 2.0, a fintech landscape report that takes a look at the state of financial services and fintechs in Belgium and Europe.
According to B-Hive, the survey is based on research conducted by B-Hive Europe as well as data collected by Roland Berger and Sirris. The trio reported:
“The results showed that most fintechs have focused on the banking and insurance sectors to find potential clients while the fintechs thought their key differentiators included the digitized business models, short time-to-market and convenient processes. For international expansion, France, Belgium, Germany and the UK were the most favorable destinations in Europe.”
Financial services takeaways:
- Mobile banking subscriptions are growing fast followed by an increase in digital transactions and online purchases
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Consumer acceptance saw an increase in the use of digital financial services but is below neighboring Southern European countries and the UK
- Belgium confirms its strong business enablers for digital activity, thanks to higher R&D expenditure and high concentration of ICT specialists and short time required to start a business. However, the cost of starting a new business has been increasing recently
- Although significant efforts have been put to secure internet servers, increased investment into cybersecurity is needed to limit cases of internet banking fraud and to catch up with the average online security in the EU
Fintech takeaways:
- Belgian Fintech sector is stabilizing in 2017 (4 Fintechs created) and the trend is confirmed in 2018 with the average deal size almost doubling but decreasing number of deals. Most common investment by funding round has shifted from Seed to Series A.
- Significant change can be identified in the top 3 Fintech technologies with a shift from Blockchain & Data analytics to Saas, App and Artificial intelligence and a shift from marketplace and crowdfunding business models to commissioning and subscription.
Speaking about the report, Fabian Vandenreydt, Executive Chairman of B-Hive, added:
“Here at B-Hive, we work to put Brussels on the map as a smart gateway to Europe and working together with Roland Berger and Sirris enables us to have a fuller view of key metrics, which will inform how we can further improve the position of Belgium in the market.”