What do fintech journalists want to report on in 2023? What do they want to hear about from the industry? What are the hot topics and what have they had enough of?

To help you with your 2023 PR planning, we have spoken to leading fintech journalists to find out what’s on their radar for next year and the conversations they want to be having with you.

Top topics for 2023

A number of topics were floated during our conversations, but there were a specific few that came up during every discussion and that are seen as a priority.

Real-world impact

Since its inception, the fintech sector, particularly B2B players, has been very good at talking in detailed and complex terms about how they are ‘disrupting’ the status quo, or ‘challenging’ traditional institutions. With fintech becoming more mainstream, it’s time to be clearer about how fintech products and services are having a real-world impact for real people.

The journalists we spoke to highlighted that they want to see industry jargon put to the side and for communications to be clearer about how they are actually changing or improving the financial services industry for consumers.

This is important whether you are a B2C or B2B business - journalists want to see the bigger picture and how the technology you deliver to a partner or client is impacting the end consumer.

Blockchain

Blockchain has been attracting a lot of coverage in the fintech press recently, and was a topic mentioned by all the journalists we spoke to.

Traditionally, blockchain has been closely associated with crypto-currency. There is an interest in seeing how blockchain technology flourishes without this association, and how it can be incorporated within the wider fintech industry.

Journalists are looking to understand its potential and who’s being innovative with its use, but importantly, they want to know what it means for consumers. How will it improve their relationship with their finances? How will it make life easier?

Artificial Intelligence

AI has been a hot topic within fintech for some years and is set to continue to be an area of interest.

However, the context of the economic crisis hitting the UK is a new prism through which AI will be examined. Customer service has been an area in which AI has been readily deployed, allowing businesses to reduce their headcount in this area. Journalists are interested to see if there is an increase in this trend as fintechs face cost cutting and will be watching how this impacts consumers.

AI has also been key to improving decision making around lending and fraud and money laundering detection. Again, there is interest in examining the evolution of AI in these areas, with access to finance and the safety of deposits being heightened through economic turmoil.

The role AI can play in easing the cost of living crisis is set to be an interesting conversation to have in 2023.

Partnership and acquisition

We’re at the beginning of a recession, and fintechs will be needing further injections of cash without necessarily seeing the same growth trajectory as the previous 5 - 10 years.

One journalist suggested we may see a consolidation in the industry, with the acquisition of smaller fintechs by the larger players. At the end of 2022 we saw Tide acquire Funding Options, and it’s thought this could be the beginning of some interesting purchases.

Another journalist shared their prediction that fintechs are likely to need the support of other organisations, such as Big Tech, to put up a challenge to the financial incumbents.

Profitability

Conversely, a specialist fintech publication has published an interesting story, suggesting, contrary to many expectations, that we may see a continuation of fintechs turning a profit in 2023. The AltFi article asserted that, “amid crypto chaos, a cost of living crisis, covid unrest in China, sky-high inflation, and a dozen other headwinds, more and more fintechs appear to be becoming profitable as the year has gone on”, while it’s not an industry-wide phenomenon, this year did see OakNorth, Zopa, Starling Bank, Wise, LendInvest, Funding Circle, Allica Bank, CreditShelf, and Zilch announce profitability in one form or another this year.

AltFi concluded that, “for fintech in 2023, it looks likely to be a bumpy road ahead. But there is no doubt that hard work and financial discipline as well as a continued focus on growth is starting to pay off.”