Better together

The world is slowly waking up. A new industry is here: fintech. While banks have traditionally been the guardians of financial transactions, in the last decade and a half, nontraditional players have begun to pose a threat to their business, putting pressure on banks to evolve. From Paypal and Google Wallet to Facebook’s recent announcement that it would start a free payment service, the technologically savvy alternatives to banks that are popping up are starting to eat at the traditional giants’ bottom lines. To mitigate the risk of being overtaken by these young companies, large global banks are starting to make investments in more technological tools to help them compete. And they are serious about it. Global investment in financial technology — “fintech” — companies has tripled from $4.05 billion in 2013 to $12.2 billion in 2014, according to a 2015 report by consulting giant Accenture. While some banks in