Much has been said that Fintechs threaten the business of traditional banking, but increasingly they seem to be complementary businesses.  While they certainly compete, they also collaborate.

Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) is increasingly becoming an important co-player to traditional banking which has slowly given certain access to Fintechs. The opening of these new opportunities has helped improve financial services and bolstered financial inclusion. These new endeavours are also creating a very active M&A market in the Banking sector that is being carefully analysed by the antitrust authorities.

Relevant questions are: what are the most relevant regulatory trends in the region to, on the one hand, encourage this collaboration or disruption and, on the other, preserve the strength of the traditional financial system? How should the regulation evolve? As dealings with cryptocurrencies and Fintechs proliferate, governments are still sorting out the appropriate regulatory response.