Banks, Technology, Financial Services, Fintech & Digital (video)

Digital IQ Index® - Financial Services:

Since the introduction of the ATM in 1969, banks have leveraged technology to reduce cost and the friction between financial services and the end consumer.

In 2015, “FinTech” startups took in $19 billion in investment capital, extending the scope of the sector beyond payment platforms to include new lending tools, personalized investment services, and wealth management solutions.

Jaded by the financial crisis, 51 percent of millennials demonstrate a willingness to experiment with non-traditional providers, underscoring a potential threat to the status quo.

Traditional Financial Service providers are following suit with their own investments in the FinTech arena, but have been slow out of the gate.

Only half of Index brands support “Get a Quote” or “Find an Advisor” tools, putting the onus on prospective consumers to initiate next steps.

And while almost all Index brands engage customers on LinkedIn, 16 percent of brands do not maintain an active presence on Facebook.

Bank of America sets the gold standard in L2's inaugural Digital IQ Index®: Financial Services. The “genius” brand proves unique in leveraging SEO and SEM investments to ensure elevated visibility across top-of-the-funnel keywords, and investments ahead of the curve to provide a best-in-class experience on a smaller screen.

In addition, Bank of America integrates past campaigns—including "Better Money Habits" and "Business of Life"—into emerging platforms ignored by most peers, engaging Millennials where they live.

This study attempts to quantify the digital competence of 70 financial service brands operating in the US market. Members can download the full report at L2inc.com. Download the report here. Video above published Nov 17, 2016, by L2inc.com.


Source of infographic: Statista - overview of the current state of the global fintech market (Jan. 7, 2016).

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DISCLAIMER

Internet Broadband Affordability Map, A Global Digital Divide

Internet Broadband Affordabiity Map, A Global Digital Divide - source: Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford
This work is licensed under CC BY-NC 3.0.

The above Oxford Internet Institute (OII) map presents an overview of broadband Internet affordability, as the relationship between average yearly income per capita and the cost of a broadband subscription.

Data: The map uses the “Fixed (wired)-broadband monthly subscription charge, in USD” indicator published by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in the 17th edition of the World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, using 2011 data--the most recent information available for this indicator in the dataset. The ITU defines the indicator as the following: “Fixed (wired)-broadband monthly subscription charge refers to the monthly subscription charge for fixed (wired)-broadband Internet service. Fixed (wired) broadband is considered to be any dedicated connection to the Internet at downstream speeds equal to, or greater than, 256 kbit/s. If several offers are available, preference should be given to the 256 kbit/s connection.”

The data also refers to the monthly cost of the cheapest entry-level subscription in any place. These values have been multiplied by twelve to obtain a yearly cost, and weighted over the gross national income per capita (Atlas method, current USD) data available from the World Bank, referring to the same year (2011). The graph on the lower-left corner illustrates the evolution of the cost of broadband over time.

Findings: This visualization speaks to one of the core themes of the global digital divide: the relative cost of being connected to the Internet. The price of a broadband connection in most parts of Africa is out of reach for people on average incomes. Africans need to pay ten times as much of their salary (if looking at the ratio of income to connectivity costs) for broadband as people in the rest of the world.

A monthly broadband subscription costs about 60 USD both in Australia and Mozambique. However, while the average yearly gross income in Australia is around 50,000 USD, the same figure in Mozambique is less than 500 USD. This means that while an average worker in Australia could pay for a year’s worth of connectivity with one week’s salary, a Mozambican worker would need over one and a half year’s salary. The average cost of an African Internet connection is now half of what it was four years ago, thanks to a series of cables laid around the African continent in 2009. Kenya and Nigeria, for instance, have 2011 broadband costs that are respectively 21% and 8% of what they were in 2008. These changes have undoubtedly contributed to the significant growth in the number of Internet users seen by both countries. The most striking drop in broadband cost has been observed in Burkina Faso, which has gone from over 1,700 USD a month to a most reasonable 55 USD (which still, however, represents 100% of the salary of an average worker).

Eritrea is the country where the Internet is least affordable. A yearly subscription there is the equivalent of almost fifty year’s worth of an average salary: an entire life of work! Over 18 countries still face costs of Internet subscriptions higher than the average income, including 14 Sub-Saharan African countries, the landlocked countries of Afghanistan and Tajikistan, and the islands of Kiribati and Solomon Islands. A broadband Internet connection cost over 500 USD a month in the Central African Republic, Guinea, Malawi, and Swaziland, as well as in Cuba, where, according to the ITU, 1,700 USD was still not enough to buy a subscription.

India and Sri Lanka have the cheapest broadband access prices, where access can be obtained for as little as 6 USD a month. Europe and North America have higher absolute costs, ranging between about 10 and 40 USD a month, but have some of the lowest relative costs in the world: with a couple of hours of work a month being sufficient for an average worker to afford the cost of connectivity.

Without the ability and means to connect, opportunities, information, and communication made possible by the Internet remain "out of reach."(Source: Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford under CC BY-NC 3.0)

Conclusion: if you are trying to establish a viable market for domain names in an area where internet is not affordable--examples: Africa, Cuba, and areas of the developing world--good luck! 

See also:

• Domain Mondo: Domain Name Registrations and the Global Internet Population
• expVC.com: Connecting the Next Billion, Goals for the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 

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