Global investment in financial technology tripled last year to hit $12.2 billion, with the US market dominating, according to a report from Accenture and the Partnership Fund for New York City.
Basing its numbers on investment data from CB Insights that covers VC and PE firms, corporations, hedge funds and government-backed funds, the report says that global spending on fintech soared from just $4.05 billion in 2013.
The US also saw investment triple, up from $3.39 billion in 2013 to $9.89 billion in 2014. This compares to a rise of just 68% between 2012 and 2013. New York saw far more modest growth of 32% to reach $768 million last year.
Payments remains the area attracting most interest, accounting for 29% of all US deals and 54% of the value of deals. Lending is the next most popular segment, while wealth management and trading technology are particularly popular in New York, accounting for 42% of deals in the city.
Accenture predicts that the insurance sector will be a major area ripe for fintech disruption in the future, and cites cloud computing and the blockchain as two big technological trends in the next year.
Robert Gach, MD, Accenture Strategy Capital Markets, says: "An increasing number of banks and insurers are investing in connecting into the fintech ecosystem, whether through accelerator or incubator labs, venture investments or in other ways. We believe this explosive growth in fintech will help drive innovation within some of the world’s largest financial institutions."
The publication of the data comes on fifth annual New York FinTech Innovation Lab Demo Day, in which seven fintech startups demonstrated their products and services to dozens of top bank, venture-capital and technology executives. So far, the Innovation Labs’ 24 alumni companies have raised a total of $176 million in financing after participating in the programme, and one former graduate was acquired last year for $175 million.