Rasa Ščiukinaitė, the CEO of British Chamber of Commerce in Lithuania - Workland member and partner, shares her perspective on how Fintech, as one of the fastest-growing areas, will upgrade our experience in doing business.
The British Chamber of Commerce in Lithuania (BCCL) realises the importance of Fintech in the daily lives of businesses and consumers. BCCL hopes, alongside a large Fintech community that includes start-ups and successful companies, that in-depth discussion and mutual cooperation will lead to the full adoption of new systems for doing business.
There are promising processes in society to accept new technological changes. However, there is still a long way to go to integrate Fintech into consumers' lives, political society and the banking sector.
According to the Digital Economy and Society Index, Lithuania is still ahead of most European countries when implementing digital changes. However, when it comes to small and medium-sized enterprises, and I am talking about at least a basic level of digital integration in daily operations, we are below other European countries. Therefore, we need to address this problem and find solutions and implementation procedures to achieve better results.
This is where the Fintech community and the Chamber of Commerce come in to create opportunities to exchange ideas and stimulate change at all levels of society. Today it is clear that Fintech is the future of any financial system. Studies by the European Central Bank, the Dutch Central Bank and the German Federal Bank (Deutsche Bundesbank) have shown us that, given a choice, almost half of the consumers in the eurozone would prefer to pay with cashless means of payment. Today, our task is to facilitate the transaction process for the consumer and find reliable cooperation with government institutions and existing banking systems. It is essential to achieve a healthy coexistence at all levels to move into the future.
Digital technology is applicable to many sections of the financial area. Innovation in the fixed income market has been largely absent since the early 1990s. We are working with outdated methods in the technology-rich 21st century. This is particularly true of operational and syndication processes. Better use of digitisation would make these markets more efficient.
Of course, technology alone cannot solve financial fragmentation in Europe, which remains high, but it is a way to push in the right direction. Therefore, small and medium-sized enterprises, together with the British Chamber of Commerce in Lithuania, want to be prepared and be part of technology's changes. I firmly believe that our society has only just begun to explore the possibilities opened up by digitalisation. The operating models of businesses and public institutions will be fundamentally modernised. Fintech can further disrupt capital markets and the way investors behave forever.
You never change things by working with the existing reality. To change something, you need to change the reality. Making a difference today means laying the foundations for a better business environment tomorrow.
Rasa Ščiukinaitė,
Executive Director of the BCCL
