Bridging the Divide: Board Portals for FinTech

Over the past decade changes in regulations and demographics have created an unprecedented transformation in the finance industry. The demand for easy and accessible financial counseling, banking, and investing has launched the FinTech (Financial Technology) revolution. According to FinTech Weekly, there is a need to seamlessly integrate into “the lives of the tech-savvy and sophisticated customers of today to stay relevant in a world where business and private life become increasingly digitized.” These new FinTech startups, often backed by groups of investors can greatly mitigate their risk by incorporating FinTech board portals into their best practices.

The Rise of FinTech

Accenture reports that global investment in FinTech has increased dramatically from $930 million in 2008 to more than $12 billion in early 2015. However, this rapid expansion is beginning to fall short due to ambitious investor growth goals and the slow turnover in finance. Many financial strategists say Fintech startups, who directly compete with traditional financial institutions, are poised to fail. According to Forbes “FinTech companies often receive pressure from both existing and potential investors.” Unfortunately, this pressure for growth leads to riskier decisions. Forbes continues, “this growth-at-all-costs mentality is incredibly damaging for the industry.”

FinTech Board Portals Solution

Incorporating FinTech board portals to keep investors actively engaged and informed can help streamline the growth curve and mitigate risk. FinTech board portals such as Govenda are cloud-based offering a secure location for all company data and documentation that is easily available to groups of investors wherever they are and on every device. Chris Myers, the Chief Executive Officer of FinTech startup BodeTree, outlines necessary steps for the survival of other FinTech companies. He believes that “finding success in FinTech is to make sure that you have the right investors in your corner.” Keeping those investors informed and up to date is also of utmost importance.

Govenda allows boards of directors and investors alike to access the information they need to provide knowledgeable and expert guidance, especially when working with incumbent financial institutions. Incorporating FinTech board portals to help these companies gain transparency and bridge the divide to drive rapid growth instead of making compromises that “typically lead to short-sighted and irresponsible decisions that result in failure.”

Govenda, an innovative board empowerment platform is different by design and function to aid companies, boards, and investors. FinTech board portals were designed to help improve  board governance and administration, but the same capabilities that make portals so valuable for a board of directors apply equally well to other types of collaborative groups. Govenda explores this topic in greater detail in our white paper, “Board Portals: They’re Not Just For Directors Anymore.”