Hi everyone,

I'm a fresh newcomer here on Steemit, so why not start with a blog post from the get go. Before I do that, I want to share how exciting it is to join this community, and hopefully engage in interesting discussions about blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

My first blog post is about why I joined the FinTech space and how the future of financial services will change with the upcoming wave of disruption. I was previously involved at a central bank working on supporting post-trade settlement, and subsequently at a large German software company exploring blockchain applications in financial services, which is where my interest for this topic originated.

Hope you guys enjoy it!

Why I joined a FinTech start-up

The financial services industry has been described in the past as a dinosaur and some traditional big banks have been labelled as “too big to fail” post 2008 financial crisis. History has shown us that dinosaurs were very fragile indeed, and that traits such as adaptability, and agility have proven to be the biggest asset for those that survived.

Banking exposed

It’s summer of 2015, and I am starting a long-anticipated internship at the central bank of my home country in the financial transactions support division. One month into the program, my tasks and every day activities became clearer, and I began to understand the lengthy and systematic processes that occur behind settling a trade. From trade verifications, and SWIFT messaging to nostro accounts reconciliation, these are the steps that back-office teams have to go over carefully and fast, in order to reduce risk and shorten the settlement cycle. For fixed-income securities like bonds, the settlement period can last up to three working days, hence the popular abbreviation T+3.

Fast forward to 2017, I am in Germany sending money to my parents via a German bank account to a non-SEPA account. After filling out a lengthy paper form, the bank teller notifies me that sending to a non-EU account will cost 15 EUR and will take approximately 2-3 business days.

In the age when booking a room on Airbnb, getting a ride on Uber, and purchasing items on Amazon is almost instant with flawless customer experience, financial services providers are struggling to provide quality support and facilitate customer requests efficiently.

Conventionality equals status quo

For years, traditional big banks have made it very difficult for other market participants to enter the market. They had many advantages such as size, economic resources, compliance systems able to support constant regulatory changes, and a large client base.

This is not the case anymore, since digitization is disrupting conventional business models, and FinTech companies are driving digital transformation, challenging the status quo. Operating at the juncture of financial services and technology sectors, FinTech industry is in most cases comprised of technology-oriented start-ups with innovative products and disruptive business models.

FinTech start-ups are increasingly customer oriented – it is difficult to imagine a world without the internet or mobile devices. It has become so engraved in our lifestyles, that having to fill out a sheet of paper for an international wire transfer seems painful and time consuming. FinTechs are tapping into this opportunity, offering mobile banking solutions with more lenient KYC and powerful and user-friendly APIs. They are leading the surge of new technology-driven payments processes, new digital applications that facilitate easier, faster and transparent payments.

Making a difference

Having contemplated about these industry dynamics, and my career goals, I decided to actively engage in this new wave of innovation and join a Hong Kong based blockchain start-up called OKLink.

I am now part of a group of talented and motivated individuals who are building a global money transfer network that solves all remittance related issues: licensing, bank account, regulations for mobile wallets, and remittance companies worldwide using blockchain anchored digital assets and multi-signature technology. This year will be the year in which we will massively scale up, and work towards transforming the way global money transactions are settled.

Exciting times ahead with more updates to follow soon...

Jovan is a Business Developer at OKLink, a global blockchain settlement network, helping forward-thinking businesses make cross-border money transfers. We are growing rapidly with a settlement network connected globally with over 150 licensed nodes from more than 40 countries.