To bring more clarity to the question of how FinTech will affect the prospects of financial institutions and careers of our members and other stakeholders, CFA Institute has compiled the report FinTech 2018: The Asia Pacific Edition.

This is a continuation of our effort summarized in the report FinTech 2017: China, Asia, and Beyond. The 2018 report is composed of three sections. The first covers the various businesses under the “Fin” umbrella, including banking FinTech, robo advice, insurtech, and regtech. The second section reviews the progress in “Tech” that’s relevant for financial institutions—namely, artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, and blockchain. The last section covers major FinTech developments in key Asia Pacific financial markets, including Australia, Japan, India, Singapore, and Thailand, in addition to China and Hong Kong SAR (which are also covered in last year’s report).

The report is a compendium of articles and expert interviews, which can be read in any order. The common threads across the report are as follows:

• Artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud computing have made it possible for teams and organizations armed with better technology resources to outperform those that are not.
• Blockchain may have profound implications for the way financial institutions operate in the future. The technology is not yet mature and will need to overcome hurdles with respect to developing a sustainable business model and gaining regulatory approval.
• China leads the Asia Pacific region in FinTech development with its focus on the newer technologies. In many other Asia Pacific markets, FinTech is still defined by alternative lending, mobile payments, robo advice, and so forth.