90% of Australian SMEs have never heard of Fintech

Survey finds Fintech recognition to be low

New survey finds buzzword 'fintech' rings hollow.

Around 90 percent of Australian SMEs don’t know what fintech is and they don’t seem to care either, a new survey by comparison site Service Seeking has found.

“It seems really that there’s nothing less relevant to SMEs than fintech…an overwhelming majority of these SMEs have never even heard of the industry,” said Jeremy Levitt, CEO of ServiceSeeking, in a statement. 

“Fintech has a long way to go to achieve widespread adoption and the banks seem fairly well entrenched across the spectrum of financial products.”

Their survey also found that 79 percent of SMEs had always looked to the big four when sourcing loans and refinancing.

Leaders of Australia's fintech scene contacted by AltFi shrugged off the report as overly focussed on a single buzzword.

"We don't think it matters whether businesses are aware of the term ‘FinTech’," said Daniel Foggo, CEO of RateSetter Australia.

"What’s important is that they become aware of the increasing number of good value and flexible funding options available to them outside of the banks."

Danielle Szetho, CEO of FinTech Australia, the peak industry group, said the survey fell short on method and was not necessarily representative of Australia at large. 

"We don’t think too much should be read into this survey," she said.

"Firstly, we haven’t got the detail of the survey methodology, so it is difficult to know whether this finding is an actual reflection of society as a whole.

"Secondly, most fintechs don’t promote themselves as “fintech companies” so it’s hardly surprising that this finding has been made."