A reminder that vendor and media fintech & insurtech hyperbole leads to over-optimistic ( or pessimistic depending on where you're coming from) forecasts. The predicted demise of traditional retail banks and widespread decline of incumbent insurers to the penetration of "Bitcoin", smart contracts and Distributed Ledger to take out "middlemen" and slash transaction costs.
It usually takes longer for these to be adopted and become widespread. And forgets that incumbents themselves become gamekeeper turned poacher.
Most Fintech and Insurtech startups will die whilst a few will become tomorrows Amazon and Uber of the financial and insurance worlds. Not necessarily the startup by itself but the startup's technology acquired and deployed by the incumbent.
And as McKinsey explains, there is only room for one or two companies to steal the lion's share of profits so the race is on to decide which enterprises will be the winners in each industry segment.
Concludes the report: "The reality of the Fintech scene today is that its full impact can’t yet be predicted. As Zhou Enlai said in the 1970s when asked if the French Revolution had been a success - 'it’s still too early to tell'. But this revolution has not been cancelled, the old world is indeed changing, and the financial services industry will still be living in interesting times for some years to come."
https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/30628/did-someone-cancel-the-fintech-revolution/wholesale