Where does the Ethical, Social and Governance topic fit in?

We specifically asked journalists about their views on ESG, the angles they want to explore and the areas they’re tired of.

A notable quote we received was, “let's have some meaningful stories, or pipe down and leave it to others”, and this is pretty representative of all of our conversations!

Everyone wants to have a say on social, governance and environmental issues, but without substance, it’s best to focus on other areas.

A journalist from a leading fintech industry site feels it’s time to leave the climate topic alone unless the business is going beyond the bare minimum to have a more positive impact on the environment (and can prove that impact). Green washing is rife and damaging.

If your business does have something substantial to say, you can follow our guide for communicating about ESG successfully, here.

However, social and governance topics are of interest. Specific questions to consider addressing are: how are fintechs going to do more to help the un-banked and non-digitally enabled? Banking and finance is moving towards digital-only, what are fintechs doing to engage those in danger of being left behind?

And in addition, what do fintechs see as best-practice in terms of governance? There is a lot of talk about how fintech wants to disrupt the financial sector and do things better, how are they doing that? How are fintechs adapting governance policies with the advancement and increased use of AI within their systems? How are they reassuring consumers (whether they are B2B or B2C) that their data is safe?

ESG is bigger than climate, and social and governance topics are a space in which fintechs have a lot to say, and can communicate in a meaningful way.

Super apps

Looking at other topics that Fintechs might want to consider for their PR next year, one journalist we spoke to is interested in watching the growth of financial ‘super apps’ - apps providing consumers with a full suite of financial services, from bank accounts, to savings accounts, insurance, multiple currency accounts, cross-border payments, and stocks and shares and crypto trading.

Revolut currently seems to be the leader in this space, but the media is interested to see other players pull forward. For fintech industry reporters, seeing how companies across the sector are brought together to interact as they plug into these platforms is an area of interest.

Regulation

And finally, as always, regulation of the fintech industry will continue to be an area of interest for the industry press.

With the increased use of new technologies, such as AI, blockchain and Machine Learning, there is an expectation that there will be interventions from regulators.

Fintechs have an opportunity to be proactive here, engaging with regulators and sharing what they would like regulation to look like and how consumers can be best protected.