The global fintech market is showing strong, sustainable growth following a period of post-pandemic moderation, and is now beginning to reach traditionally underserved groups, according to a new report from the World Economic Forum.

The WEF’s The Future of Global Fintech: From Rapid Expansion to Sustainable Growth report found that while customer growth for fintechs has dropped from 55% to 37% growth, overall financial performance in the sector remains encouraging, with revenue growth at 40% and profit growth at 39%.

With the fintech market stabilising, the research found that concerns about the funding environment have eased significantly, with only 12% of firms citing this as a challenge, compared to 40% in the WEF’s previous sector report.

Meanwhile, macroeconomic conditions are still the main barrier to growth, however, only 18% of respondents saw them as a real hindrance, down from 56% in 2024.

The study, based on a global survey of 240 fintech firms and published alongside the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, found that regulatory environments have improved, too, with 62% of businesses agreeing that the regulations in their regions are appropriate, and 35% benefiting from regulatory clarity.

However, firms continue to point to areas for improvement, including the coordination of financial authorities, more efficiency in licensing and registration processes, and expanding access to capital.

As with every other sector, the report found that fintechs are quickly building out their AI capacities, with 80% either having implemented or in the process of rolling out AI solutions in some form, with more than a quarter (26%) already integrating AI into five applications.

While 37% are using the tech to help manage customer services, about 35% of firms reported using AI-enabled market services, while 39% employed AI for add-on services. 

Perhaps more important than deploying AI, the WEF also discovered that across the world, fintechs are now playing a bigger role in providing financial access to traditionally underserved market segments. 

Micro, small and medium enterprises (57%), low-income individuals (47%) and women (41%) make up an increasing portion of fintech customer bases, particularly in emerging markets and developing economies where these segments are contributing meaningfully to fintechs’ bottom lines.

Although fintechs might be overtaking conventional lenders in reaching underserved customers, partnerships between fintechs and traditional financial institutions play a critical role in fintech strategies.

The report found an overwhelming 84% of fintechs collaborate with their more established peers, primarily through API integrations (52%), which the WEF said was reflective of the sector’s growing integration into the broader global financial ecosystem.

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Looking ahead over the next five years, the report found that most firms agreed on priorities like more AI adoption (74%), regional interoperability (53%), ramping up Open Banking efforts (49%) and taking advantage of data and cloud solutions (46%), suggesting that the future of fintech will hinge on greater connectivity, smarter systems, and the ability to scale innovation across borders.

“Fintechs’ concerns on macroeconomic conditions and funding environment have eased but still linger on,” said Bryan Zhang, co-founder of the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance. 

“However, coupled with more favourable regulatory conditions, ample opportunities to collaborate with incumbents and increasing adoption of AI in operations and business models, the growth perspective for fintechs remains promising.”