Why fintech needs to prioritize people, not just platforms

Across Europe, companies are facing a dilemma when it comes to financial services provision.

Fintechs offer specialized services spanning payment cards, international payments and accounts. But as firms integrate more providers, they risk losing a strategic partner who understands their broader needs and can support long-term growth.

New research from Visa Consulting & Analytics (VCA) highlights the scale of the problem, with executives repeatedly lamenting the absence of a relationship manager who provides personalized customer service and understands a company’s specific needs. Instead, businesses face endless integration challenges with new financial services providers, resulting in lost revenue and delayed product launches. Crucially, many organizations cite being caught between providers that are either too big to care about their needs, or too small to deliver at scale.

Something has to change. Equals, a London-based fintech with a global footprint, seeks to resolve this by combining multiple fintech products into a single, easily integrated offering backed by bespoke, human-led customer support.

Support needs are rising

Europe’s embedded finance industry, where businesses incorporate financial products for their customers within their core proposition, is set to grow to more than €100bn by the end of the decade, but rapid adoption has brought its own complexities.

First, offering more financial products creates a greater need for support: 70% of the 150 senior leaders at UK and European banks, fintechs, trading portals, and digital asset exchanges featured in VCA’s research said their internal teams cannot manage the operational and regulatory complexity of embedded finance alone.

Second, the intricate web of partners depended upon by companies to deliver embedded finance struggle to provide adequate support as each partner only has a glimpse into a small part of the company.

The consequences are stark. Many respondents to the Equals-commissioned research say poor service from embedded finance and payments partners has impaired their business. Three in five CFOs have lost revenue due to poor support, and 40% have seen global expansion delayed. Meanwhile, half of all respondents report complaints from end customers due to poor service.

Too big to care, too small to deliver

A consistent pattern emerges in the research, with 63% of CFOs deeming providers too big to care about their needs while 60% say others are simply too small to deliver the product capabilities, operational support, and compliance expertise needed at scale.

On the large side, some financial services companies provide a commoditized service to huge numbers of consumers as well as organizations. That generates equally huge volumes of support requests: survey respondents complain of being put in ticketing queues or directed to AI-driven support tools, with 60% saying increased automation risks reducing support levels.

At the other end of the scale, niche fintechs may offer attractive products, but they can be too small to offer ongoing support or scale. Research responses suggest that even fintech providers that perform well at pitch stage can cause onboarding delays and slow resolution of technical issues. More than half of research respondents said handoffs across lifecycle stages - from a provider’s sales team to its onboarding or support teams, for example - are a source of friction.

Meanwhile, fintechs of all sizes tend to offer highly standardized services that fail to cater to the specific needs of business users. “These findings suggest that many businesses are underserved because their payment environments are too complex for off-the-rack solutions,” says Ed Chandler, Chief Operations Officer at Equals.

Equalizing the equation

Equals aims to solve these challenges. First, it has created a comprehensive embedded finance offering by combining two complementary infrastructure providers - Equals Money and Railsr - into a unified proposition. This means businesses no longer need to partner with multiple external financial services providers, reducing complexity and the number of integrations where things can go wrong.

Second, the company has over 18 years of experience in servicing growth-driven organizations. Equals Money, one of Equals’ predecessor companies, made its name by offering global payments services to businesses seeking to break into international markets.

Since then, it has continued to cater to businesses in verticals that are often underserved by other financial services providers. One such example is financial trading platforms that offer contracts for difference (CFDs) or cryptocurrencies, and frequently require segregated customer accounts and multi-currency transactions. Unlike most traditional providers, Equals takes a risk-based approach and assesses each business individually rather than applying blanket industry bans. Meanwhile, its dedicated relationship and implementation managers provide hands-on, personalized support.

“Exceptional businesses need a unified, flexible platform that can be adapted to meet their needs combined with a genuine partner that understands the complexity of their payment environment,” explains Chandler.

No longer willing to act as systems integrators, businesses increasingly expect comprehensive platforms backed by expert support. It’s fast becoming clear that providers that can deliver both won’t just retain customers: they will define the next generation of embedded financial services.

Find out more about Equals here.