Fintech Grows 3x Faster, 97% of Market Still Untapped

Global Fintech Report | Jun 2, 2025

Image: Cover of Scaled Winners and Emerging Disruptors (June 2025, BCG and QED Investors)

Fintech is Outgrowing Banks at Triple the Speed BUT Has Only Captured 3% of Global Revenue

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and QED Investors, just published a June 2025 report titled, "Fintech’s Next Chapter: Scaled Winners and Emerging Disruptors" (38 page PDF), highlighting that global fintech revenues rose 21% in 2024 compared to 6% for traditional financial institutions. That confirms fintech showed a strong rebound across sectors, accelerating from the prior year, after a couple of years of tightening capital markets and heightened regulatory scrutiny.

Payments, challenger banks, and trading platforms led the way

• Challenger banks like Nubank, Revolut, and Monzo grew deposit revenues by 23%
• Trading and investment fintechs including crypto platforms like Coinbase, grew 21%
• Public fintechs became more profitable too, with average EBITDA margins rising to 16% (25% increase year-over-year)
• Nearly 70% of public fintechs were profitable in 2024, compared to less than half in 2023

While growth is strong, fintechs remain a small fraction of global financial services

See:  2024 Global Fintech Funding Insights for Investors & Founders

In 2024, fintechs generated $378 billion in revenue, while traditional banks and insurers earned $12.7 trillion. Fintechs have captured just 3% of this revenue, so 97% is still in the hands of incumbent financial institutions.

Global scaling fintech revenues 2024

• United States accounted for 50% of scaled fintech revenues, roughly $118 billion
• China at 16%
• Europe 8-10%
• Asia Pacific (excluding China) 8-10%
• Latin America 8-10%
• Middle East and Africa combined ~1% (or $3 billion)

Five verticals where fintechs are winning

There are roughly 100 scaling fintechs earning over $500 million annually of which these 5 verticals dominate revenue generation:

See:  Tailscale Raises $230M to Power Identity-First Networking

1. Payments ($126 billion)

• • PayPal – US-based leader in digital wallets and merchant services
  • Apple Pay – A key player in digital wallets and mobile-based consumer payments

2. Merchant software and card processors ($50 billion)

• • Shopify – Canadian e-commerce platform that integrates payments, widely recognized as a vertical SaaS leader
  • Toast – US-based vertical SaaS for restaurants, offering POS systems with built-in payments

3. Challenger banks ($27 billion)

• • Nubank – Brazilian neobank with rapid growth in Latin America
  • Revolut – UK-based global challenger bank, expanded into multiple markets

4. Crypto trading ($16 billion)

• • Coinbase – US-based crypto exchange listed on NASDAQ
  • Binance – Global crypto trading platform with strong international volume

See:  SEC Clears Crypto Staking. What It Means for Canada

5. Buy now pay later and point of sale lending: $8 billion

• • Affirm – US-based BNPL leader, publicly traded
  • Klarna – Swedish BNPL company with major European and North American presence

These five sectors represent most of the $231 billion in scaled fintech revenue. Payments alone represent 55% of that total. Challenger banks and crypto platforms hold a smaller but growing share.

There's room for growth with over 150 IPO-ready fintechs

There are 150 global fintechs founded before 2016 that have raised over $500 million in equity and remain private. Many are waiting for improved conditions in the capital markets, such as Stripe and other scaling fintechs expecting to IPO

Fintech’s revenue share remains small across all verticals. Insurance accounts for less than 1% of fintech penetration. Deposits stand at just 2%. Lending, despite strong activity in personal loans and buy now pay later, accounts for only 3% of global lending revenues.

AI, Tokenization, and Private Credit Tailwinds

Agentic AI where AI powered systems are capable of logic and taking actions independently is a game changer. AI native fintechs have already gobbled up 49% of fintech equity funding yet only represent 23% of the sector.

See:  Insights from Jamie Dimon’s 2024 Letter to Shareholders

Blockchain-based on-chain finance is also gaining traction. Tokenization of assets like bonds, private credit, and money market funds is growing at a double-digit rate. While tokenized asset volume remain under $1 trillion today, major institutions like Goldman Sachs and the European Investment Bank are piloting large-scale tokenization programs.

Private credit funds are also becoming essential to fintech lending models. With $1.7 trillion in assets under management, these funds are stepping in where traditional bank funding is constrained. The report estimates a $280 billion untapped opportunity for private credit participation in fintech-originated lending. In 2024 and early 2025, several billion-dollar forward flow deals were announced, including SoFi, Klarna, and Pagaya.

Outlook

Fintech is rebounding and growing faster than traditional banks but has only unlocked 3% of global banking and insurance revenue, so the opportunity is still massive.  Fintechs that can deliver sustainable growth, expand into new customer segments, and integrate new technologies like AI and tokenization will be well positioned to capture the next iteration of financial services tech.

The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org

Zown Offers Up to 8% Rent Rewards in Canada

Wise Launches Chequing Account in Canada With Interac

Canada Investment Summit Adds Nearly $500B in Commitments

Navigating Market Volatility: A Realistic Strategy for Real Estate Funds and Mobility

2026 BRICS Summit Advances Cross Border Payment Links

OSFI Rebalances Regulation for Growth and Competition

S&P Global Leads Kaiko’s $110M Round With RBC

10 Common Causes of Industrial Machinery Failure

NCFA Weekly Fintech Intelligence Sep 5-11, 2026

Canada Reviews AI Transparency and Agent Governance