Fintech stocks took a hammering in 2022, can they bounce back in 2023 and beyond?

The Fintech space has taken a hit this year along with the broader Tech space
Stockhead reaches out to Fintech Australia Chairperson Simone Joyce to get her insights
A quick look at the performance of ASX-listed Fintech stocks

After hitting pandemic peaks, the tech sector has been on the back foot for most of 2022.

Both the Nasdaq and the ASX 200 Tech [XIJ] indexes are on the ropes, down 30% this year as interest rates climbed at the fastest pace in decades.

Soaring interest rates tend to hurt growth stocks – and more specifically tech stocks – due to the discounted cash flow models used in their valuations.

As a result, the Fintech space, which is part of the broader Tech space, has also been hit hard.

Fintech companies grew exponentially during the pandemic, driven by e-commerce spending and a shift from physical towards digital payments. But their downfall this year has been as spectacular as their rise.

But despite the setback, most experts believe the sector will bounce back as the technology they created has become a vital part of our daily lives.

“When you think about it, whether it’s making a payment for your groceries, or looking at a comparison product for insurance, or thinking about taking out a loan, each one of us interacts with some sort of financial services on a daily basis,” the Chairperson of Fintech Australia, Simone Joyce, told Stockhead.

“And Fintech is basically the companies that improve those experiences for us.”

Challenges still exist

From an investment perspective, Joyce believes the Fintech sector still faces macro challenges ahead.

“The adverse conditions for investment that we saw this year are likely to continue into 2023,” she said.

Impending regulations could be another headwind, especially for sectors such as the buy-now-pay-later (BNPL).

But overall, Joyce believes that regulations are beneficial for the sector as a whole.

“We’ve had a lot of regulation change that’s actually evolving to help Fintechs establish and grow safely and appropriately, so that’s good.”

According to Joyce, the biggest problem for Australian Fintechs is not regulation, but a lack of funding to support nascent companies in their growth journey.

“Unlike the US or UK, our capital structure isn’t as robust or as large, and that’s the biggest challenge that most Australian Fintechs face.”

“To that extent, Fintech Australia supports our members on their funding journey by making sure that we can make introductions to appropriate investors when the time is right,” Joyce said.

Which Fintech segments are booming?

IPOs have been reduced to a trickle in 2022, but the good news is that most Australian Fintechs were still able to raise capital this year.

According to the latest EY-Fintech Australia census, a majority or 54% of Aussie Fintechs said that their capital raising expectations have been met.

Only around 29% of companies said they didn’t raise as much as they thought they were going to.

The payments segment is booming, and is still the number one Fintech play in Australia amid rapid changes in our payment ecosystem.

There has been many success stories in the payments space this year, including Joyce’s own startup, Paypa Plane.

*Simone Joyce, Chairman of Fintech Australia*

Paypa Plane enables banks to rapidly upgrade their payment services for business customers without changing their existing infrastructure. In February, the Commonwealth Bank acquired a 20% stake in the startup.

Another hot space within Fintech is the evolving Consumer Data Right (CDR) reform, which is attracting a lot of new startups.

Since being enacted in 2019, the CDR reform is slowly maturing and has already been rolled out to banking and energy, with telecommunications to follow as the third sector.

The CDR basically gives consumers the choice about whether to share their data to companies, with full visibility of who it’s being shared with and the purpose for sharing it.

“Wealthtech for example, is a segment that’s growing really fast because it leverages the CDR,” explained Joyce.

Wealthtech is essentially a platform that uses emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) to provide an alternative to traditional wealth management firms.

Robo-advisors, which uses AI to advise users on investment options, are an example of wealthtech product.

BNPLs face major hurdles but…

Meanwhile, the BNPL sector has gone through its worst year since inception, with many stocks plunging to their lowest levels in 2022.

Code	Name	Price	% 1-Month Change	% 1-year change	Market cap
CI1	Credit Intelligence	0.195	44%	-95%	$16,282,336
DOU	Douugh Limited	0.021	11%	-71%	$17,797,803
FFG	Fatfish Group	0.019	-10%	-60%	$19,686,468
HUM	Humm Group Limited	0.575	20%	-38%	$290,228,182
IOU	Ioupay Limited	0.047	-16%	-70%	$26,038,567
LBY	Laybuy Group	0.059	7%	-76%	$15,194,281
LFS	Latitude Group	1.3	2%	-35%	$1,350,981,889
NOV	Novatti Group Ltd	0.225	25%	-24%	$74,035,615
OPY	Openpay Group	0.205	5%	-68%	$46,568,054
PYR	Payright Limited	0.055	-21%	-78%	$4,301,782
SPT	Splitit	0.16	28%	-41%	$85,122,169
SZL	Sezzle Inc.	0.555	10%	-81%	$117,515,686
ZIP	ZIP Co Ltd..	0.705	15%	-83%	$504,560,952
SQ2	Block	92.54	1%	-47%	$3,388,472,484

The sector is facing several headwinds all at once.

First, interest rates have gone up rapidly this year and it’s the first time the sector has ever had to deal with a rising interest rate cycle, which is putting a lot of strain on the business model.

High interest rates not only increase funding costs, but they also reduce people’s ability to make purchases and cause higher rates of defaulting customers.

Secondly, the Albanese government has released a discussion paper that’s expected to tighten the regulatory screws on the sector.

Among the options being considered by the Government is a proposal to completely bring all BNPL companies under the Credit Act, similar to that currently expected of credit card companies.

For consumers, these regulations if adopted mean there will be extra credit checks before they can be registered as a BNPL user.

“There’s definitely been a lot of media attention on listed Fintech companies, particularly the BNPL sector,” says Joyce.

“People tend to look at the BNPL sector first because there are more companies listed in that space, so It’s easier to get the information on them.

“Because of that, we’ve seen the BNPL stocks come down more rapidly, but it’s a dynamic sector so we could potentially see them come back more rapidly as well,” Joyce said.

Other experts believe that we will likely see more M&A activity in the BNPL space in 2023, as players consolidate to survive rising rates and intensifying competition.

Non-bank lenders in hot demand

Non-bank lending on the other hand has boomed in recent years, particularly after the conclusion of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry.

More Aussie borrowers are turning away from the big four to do their financing with these alternative lenders, most of which offer digital-only services.

Given they’re not burdened with the brick-and-mortars and the regulatory capital requirements of traditional banks, these lenders are more nimble and can operate at a much lower cost base.

They’ve also been able to successfully target the fringe segments left untouched by the big banks, like the automotive loans market.

Code	Name	Price	1 mth % Change	1 yr % Change	Market Cap
MNY	Money3 Corporation	1.865	-2%	-45%	$395,728,442.94
MME	Moneyme Limited	0.36	-1%	-83%	$101,589,619.43
QFE	Quickfee Limited	0.062	-11%	-64%	$16,731,426.45
PLT	Plenti Group Limited	0.53	26%	-59%	$90,181,510.29
WZR	Wisr Ltd	0.069	11%	-70%	$93,578,126.30
EPY	Earlypay Ltd	0.38	-14%	-5%	$108,723,258.75
AFG	Aust Finance Grp	1.635	-1%	-37%	$447,277,506.36
YBR	Yellow Brick Road	0.08	0%	-34%	$26,110,516.00
RMC	Resimac Grp Ltd	0.97	8%	-47%	$392,188,854.79
PGL	Prospa Group	0.615	-10%	-19%	$101,224,735.24
HMY	Harmoney Corp Ltd	0.555	-10%	-70%	$56,363,350.79
CCV	Cash Converters	0.24	4%	-11%	$150,610,803.60
PPM	Peppermoney	1.47	4%	-31%	$637,514,360.20
FSA	FSA Group Limited	1.07	1%	-1%	$130,900,401.68

All in all, Joyce believes Fintech is a sector on the rise.

“As we move through 2023 and beyond, the general Australian population will be interacting more and more with Fintech,” she said.

“And that’s a really positive thing because it does help the economy move forward. And it helps people to have better and safer experiences with their financials.”