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Prudence, Profits, and Growth: A New Formula for Winning in Fintech

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Global Fintech Revenues Grew Robustly in 2023; Valuations and Funding Remain Depressed but Have Stabilized RecentlyThemes Shaping the Industry Include Embedded Finance, Connected Commerce, Open Banking, and Generative AI’s Impact on Productivity

BOSTON, June 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — While the fintech industry has navigated choppy waters in recent years, there is vast potential for future growth. As the sector matures, the rules of the game are changing, with a greater focus on unit economics and profitability over growth at all costs. From 2021 to 2023, global fintech revenues grew by 14% (at a compounded annual growth rate) while both funding and valuations plummeted. Key fintech players have achieved profitability and are scaling rapidly.

This is according to a new report released today by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and QED Investors. The report, Global Fintech 2024: Prudence, Profits, and Growth, draws on insights from interviews with more than 60 global fintech CEOs and investors to outline the key forces shaping the industry and the trends that will drive innovation.

“Profitability and compliance are now the cornerstones of fintech success,” says Deepak Goyal, BCG managing director and senior partner and co-author of the report. “They are essential for attracting continued investment, scaling operations, and building lasting, valuable companies.”

“With an annual global profit pool of $3.2 trillion on a base of $14 trillion of total revenue, the financial services industry is both massive and ripe for innovation,” says QED Investors Managing Partner Nigel Morris. “Fintechs are growing faster than incumbents and, while the $320 billion of fintech revenue represents less than 3% today, the exponential advances in GenAI and continued growth in embedded finance means we’re still in the early innings of fintech’s journey, where the separation of winners and losers is becoming apparent.”

A New Fintech Ecosystem Is Emerging

Coming off the highs of 2021, fintech revenue valuation multiples have fallen from 20x to 4x on average, and funding is down by 70%—and almost 50% in the last year. However, the global fintech market has continued to grow revenues at a robust pace: 14% over the past two years across the board, and 21% when crypto– and China-exposed fintechs are excluded (both at a compounded annual growth rate). Governments, especially in countries such as Brazil and India, are reaping the benefits of investment in integrated digital public infrastructure, spurring dramatic growth in digital payments and innovation on top. Perhaps more notably, the industry has initiated a shift from a “growth at all costs” model to one focused on profitable growth, with margins improving by 9 percentage points on average.

Four Themes Will Shape the Future of Fintech

The report outlines four trends that will drive the industry in the coming years:

Embedded finance will be a $320 billion market by 2030. The small and medium-size business (SMB) segment will account for about half ($150 billion); the consumer segment—already humming with activity and adoption in payments, insurance, and lending—will be worth $120 billion revenue by 2030; and the enterprise segment will reach $50 billion in revenue. Established fintechs will continue to reap the lion’s share of the near-term benefits, while larger, more established banks will increasingly grow share over time.

Connected commerce is poised for liftoff. Connected commerce is emerging as a long-awaited killer app for banks, creating a new revenue stream, increasing customer loyalty, and enabling banks to offer a marketing channel to their SMB and enterprise customers. Using granular customer data, banks surface hyper-tailored ads to their customers; merchants then pay the bank based on either attributable sales or traffic. As core revenue streams continue to come under pressure, and as deposits risk becoming commoditized in a higher-yield environment, connected commerce hints at a future model for banks.

Open banking will have a modest impact on banking, but a greater impact on advertising. Open banking will continue to be relevant, but is unlikely to change the basis of competition in consumer banking. In countries where open banking has had a decade or more to mature, no “killer” use case has emerged on the new service front. Of course, this is not to say that open banking will have no impact. But revenue pools in the connectivity layer will remain modest, with value accruing to the ultimate use-case providers leveraging open banking infrastructure. By contrast, in advertising, access to transaction-level data will enable more timely, targeted, and personal offers.

Generative AI will be a game changer now for productivity, with product innovation to follow. GenAI is already delivering tangible productivity gains in financial services. For GenAI in fintech, given their “digital-first” cost structures are heavily weighted toward areas where the technology is delivering huge gains—coding, customer support, and digital marketing—the impact is likely to be even more pronounced in the near term. The use of GenAI in product innovation will lag behind its uses for productivity, but is expected to follow eventually.

To thrive in this new environment, players will need to focus on the following:

Prudence. Seeing risk and compliance as competitive advantageProfit. Aiming to improve profitability by 25 percentage pointsGrowth. Setting the conditions for sustainable growth across the ecosystemFor fintechs: Beginning the journey to IPO (or strategic sale) and beyondFor incumbents: Retail banks need to become digital engagement platformsFor governments: Support the creation of comprehensive and integrated digital public infrastructure

Download the publication here:
https://www.bcg.com/publications/2024/global-fintech-prudence-profits-and-growth

Media Contacts:

Boston Consulting Group
Eric Gregoire
+1 617 850 3783
gregoire.eric@bcg.com

QED Investors
Ashley Marshall
+1 518 577-9984
ashley@qedinvestors.com

About QED Investors
QED Investors is a global leading venture capital firm based in Alexandria, Va. Founded by Nigel Morris and Frank Rotman in 2007, QED Investors is focused on investing in disruptive financial services companies worldwide. QED Investors is dedicated to building great businesses and uses a unique, hands-on approach that leverages its partners’ decades of entrepreneurial and operational experience, helping companies achieve breakthrough growth. Notable investments include AvidXchange, Betterfly, Bitso, Caribou, ClearScore, Creditas, Credit Karma, Current, Flywire, Kavak, Klarna, Konfio, Loft, Mission Lane, Nubank, QuintoAndar, Remitly, SoFi, Wagestream and Wayflyer.

About Boston Consulting Group
Boston Consulting Group partners with leaders in business and society to tackle their most important challenges and capture their greatest opportunities. BCG was the pioneer in business strategy when it was founded in 1963. Today, we work closely with clients to embrace a transformational approach aimed at benefiting all stakeholders—empowering organizations to grow, build sustainable competitive advantage, and drive positive societal impact.

Our diverse, global teams bring deep industry and functional expertise and a range of perspectives that question the status quo and spark change. BCG delivers solutions through leading-edge management consulting, technology and design, and corporate and digital ventures. We work in a uniquely collaborative model across the firm and throughout all levels of the client organization, fueled by the goal of helping our clients thrive and enabling them to make the world a better place.

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SOURCE Boston Consulting Group (BCG)

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Suunto Launches Race 3S: Next-Generation Performance Watch in a Compact Titanium Case

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Suunto’s next-generation performance watch brings up to 38 hours of dual-band GPS battery, a 2,000-nit AMOLED display, and free worldwide offline maps in a 56 g build, debuting alongside Suunto’s new AI Coach.

VANTAA, Finland, Oct. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Suunto launches Suunto Race 3S, a new-generation flagship performance watch. Built for smarter training, with features designed especially for trail running, Race 3S brings together up to 38 hours of dual-band GPS battery, a 2,000-nit AMOLED display, and a full set of intelligent trail tools at just 56 g. It is a watch built to go further and move lighter, so a long day in the mountains stays simple.

First launched in 2023, the Race series established Suunto’s position as the choice for athletes who train with intention and perform when it counts. Suunto Race 3S carries that standard into a compact 46 mm case sized to sit well on smaller wrists, and holds on to long-lasting battery life, a flagship display, and the complete trail toolkit alongside it.

“People have more performance data at their fingertips than ever, but turning all that information into something useful can be a challenge,” said Daniel Das Bhowmik, VP Product at Suunto. “We built Race 3S to carry long-lasting battery life in a case compact and light enough to forget, and we’re launching it alongside Suunto AI Coach to make things simple again: turning questions and personal data into clear, actionable answers.”

Battery for the Long Haul

No runner should plan a race around a battery bar. Suunto Race 3S gives them room to plan the race instead: up to 38 hours in dual-band GPS mode (up to 32 hours with the always-on display on), compared with up to 30 hours on Race S, with full positioning accuracy switched on the entire time. Additional battery modes reach further still, including a smartwatch mode with up to 12 days of battery life for everyday wear.

For runners used to planning a session around what the watch has left, that is up to eight more hours of pacing, navigation, and heart rate on the wrist than Race S. Training runs finish the way they were planned, races carry data all the way to the line, and the charger stays at home.

A Compact Build With Flagship Performance

The best watch on a long climb is the one a runner stops noticing. At 56 g with the silicone strap, 38 g for the watch head alone, Suunto’s Race 3S sits close to the wrist at roughly the weight of two energy gels, with a compact fit that works well for smaller wrists, too. A titanium bezel and sapphire crystal lens handle rock, scrub, and repeated impact.

Inside, the new-generation Apollo 510 processor drives faster response across maps and menus, and an upgraded optical heart rate module with six LEDs and four photodetectors behind 2.5D curved sensor glass holds accuracy through arm swing, sweat, and cold. Pair a Suunto heart rate belt to enable ZoneSense and it reads true intensity straight from the body’s response.

Suunto AI Coach Debuts With Race 3S

Race 3S marks the debut of Suunto AI Coach, an AI-powered conversational coaching experience in the Suunto app. It turns your Suunto data into insight, guidance and action, helping you understand your data, know where you stand and decide what to do next.

Ask Suunto AI Coach anything about your training, and it answers clearly and in context, with guidance and visuals such as charts, tables and maps, plus next steps whenever you want them. When you want to act, it creates structured workouts, training plans and routes; workouts and routes can then be saved in the Suunto app and synced to your watch. Customers who purchase and pair Suunto Race 3S can get three months of Suunto AI Coach free by activating their watch through the Suunto app by 31 December 2026.

Precision in Every Terrain, Free Maps Worldwide

When the trail disappears under canopy or into a canyon, the line on the wrist stays put. Positioning offers better overall performance, notable through forests, canyon walls, and switchbacks. Free worldwide offline maps now add contour lines and place names for an instant read on where you stand. They download straight to the watch and run entirely on board, subscription-free, so the terrain travels with the runner wherever the trail goes.

A Race Strategy Set Before the Gun

The hardest racing decisions arrive when a runner is least equipped to make them. Suunto Race 3S makes them early instead. Climb Guidance shows what the trail does next, climb or descent, updated in real time, so effort can be placed in advance: know a descent is coming, and save the legs for the climb after it.

Race Planner will build a personalized pacing plan from the route, the weather, and a runner’s race goal, with real-time guidance to hold pace on race day.*

A Display You Can Read in Full Sun

Mid-race data only counts if it can be read mid-stride. The 1.32-inch LTPS Hybrid AMOLED reaches 2,000 nits, more than three times the brightness of Race S, at 466 × 466 resolution. In midday glare above the treeline or on a 4 a.m. start in the dark, pace, distance, and the next turn stay readable at a glance.

Everything You Run With, on One Wrist

64 GB of onboard storage holds maps, routes, training data, and offline music.** It offers over 100 sport modes, including running, cycling, swimming, gym work, and multisport. Race 3S is available in three colorways: Orchid, Feather, and Black.

*Race Planner is planned for launch via a future Suunto app and firmware update. Features, availability, and timing are subject to change. Please refer to the latest official information from Suunto.

**Available via an over-the-air software update following product launch. Availability timing is subject to official announcement.

Read more about Suunto AI Coach at https://us.suunto.com/pages/suunto-ai-coach

Availability:
EMEA: October 15th
CHINA: October 15th
NAM: October 29th
APAC: October 29th

Race 3S will be sold through Suunto’s direct-to-consumer channels and authorized outdoor and running retail partners across North America, Europe, and key Asia-Pacific markets.

Pricing: EUR 499 / USD 599

Colors: Purple, Grey, Black

Images for media use: https://media.suunto.com/pub/collection/7d1b229aace5399e4c0c117efcaf1bdf?locale=en

About Suunto

Suunto is a Finnish brand, established in 1936. It was founded by Finnish inventor Tuomas Vohlonen, who pioneered a new standard for navigational precision. That same year, his innovation – a field compass – was stronger, steadier, and more accurate than any other handheld navigational tool of its time. It was the first of many Suunto products built to withstand the harsh conditions of our native Finland.

In the near century since, Tuomas’s spirit of innovation has continued to chart Suunto’s course. From some of history’s first dive computers and high-altitude wrist altimeters to today’s GPS watches, Suunto remains a trusted companion for outdoor adventurers across the globe.

Supporting explorers, athletes, and weekend warriors alike remains our core mission – providing the tools to dive deeper, climb higher, and push the limits of human potential.

www.suunto.com

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SOURCE Suunto

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/R E P E A T — Media Advisory – Minister Hodgson to hold media callback following his visit to the United Kingdom/

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OTTAWA, ON, Oct. 20, 2026 /CNW/ — The Honourable Tim Hodgson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, will hold a callback with Canadian media to discuss the outcomes of his visit to London, U.K., for London Metals Exchange (LME) Week on October 19 and 20, 2026.

Date: Wednesday, October 21, 2026

Time: 1 p.m. EDT

All accredited media are asked to pre-register for the callback by emailing media@nrcan-rncan.gc.ca. Details on how to participate will be provided upon registration.

Follow Natural Resources Canada on LinkedIn

SOURCE Natural Resources Canada

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S4 Capital’s Monks Accelerates Regional Growth Strategy in EMEA and APAC Expanding Nirvik Singh’s Remit to APAC, Names Ash Smith Executive Vice President, Asia Pacific and Fay Denis du Peage Managing Director, Australia and New Zealand

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LONDON, Oct. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Monks, the purely digital, unitary operating brand of S4 Capital plc, today announced an evolution of its regional leadership across EMEA and Asia-Pacific. As global brands demand more agile, connected and AI-enabled marketing models, Monks is expanding its integrated Marketing and Technology Services footprint to help multinational clients operate at speed and scale across both regions.

Positioned as a change agent for modern enterprise brands, Monks unifies three core capabilities—Intelligence, Creation and Orchestration—through its flagship Monks.Flow platform to build brands as living systems. Across Asia Pacific, this evolution allows Monks to deliver end-to-end marketing transformation, helps clients accelerate media performance, eliminate operational silos and orchestrate intelligent marketing that turns real-time data into measurable business impact.

To lead this next chapter, Monks has expanded the leadership remit of Nirvik Singh to lead both EMEA and Asia Pacific, reporting to Bruno Lambertini, CEO of Marketing Services. Working alongside Nirvik, Ash Smith joins Monks as Executive Vice President, Asia Pacific, effective 13 November 2026. Fay Denis du Peage has been appointed Managing Director, Australia and New Zealand, effective immediately.

Nirvik recently stepped down as a Non-Executive Director from the S4 Capital Board to join Monks as CEO of Marketing Services, EMEA. In the new expansion of his role to APAC, he will integrate oversight for Marketing Services across both regions, recognizing the connected growth opportunities and delivering greater value and scale for clients.

Nirvik brings more than 35 years of experience in the industry, most recently as Global Chief Operating Officer and President International at Grey Group. Nirvik has spent decades running multi-region businesses and partnering with enterprise brands including Procter & Gamble, The Coca-Cola Company, Volvo and Haleon to navigate complex market dynamics and deliver commercial impact.

Reporting to Nirvik, Ash Smith will focus on accelerating regional business growth, strengthening client partnerships and scaling Monks’ product and solutions capabilities across Asia Pacific. Ash brings more than 18 years of experience across Australia, Europe, China, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, spanning product development, client solutions, innovation and business leadership. Throughout his career, he has focused on combining human intelligence, data and technology to create value for brands, translating local and regional market insights into innovative solutions and business growth.

Prior to joining Monks, Ash served as Chief Product and Solutions Officer for JAPAC at Tag, a Dentsu company, where he led the talent, products and technology needed to address complex client challenges, including driving Tag’s AI and innovation agenda. Previously, as Managing Director for Southeast Asia, he built strategic client partnerships and developed integrated, scalable solutions by bringing together expertise from across the network, delivering strong business growth.

Over his career, Ash has worked with leading global brands across technology, CPG, luxury and automotive, building long-term partnerships and delivering solutions that drive real-world impact. He has also shared his perspectives at industry forums, most recently NRF and ATS.

“We are excited to welcome Ash to our leadership team in Asia Pacific as we continue to scale our integrated offering and deepen our partnerships with clients across the region. His experience spanning client leadership, product, solutions and innovation will be valuable as we bring together creative, media, production, data and technology to deliver greater agility, efficiency and real-time relevance for brands. As we continue to advance our unitary model and the capabilities enabled by Monks.Flow, Ash will play an important role in translating our regional ambitions into meaningful outcomes for our clients and our business,” said Nirvik Singh, CEO, Monks EMEA and APAC.

Ash joins Monks as the company continues to evolve its integrated Marketing and Technology Services offering, bringing together creativity, media intelligence, production, data, and technology to help brands compete in an increasingly complex and fast-moving market. Through Monks.Flow, its flagship AI ecosystem for marketing orchestration, Monks is connecting insights, creativity, and execution to enable real-time relevance and turn marketing into a growth engine. Ash’s experience in product and solutions leadership, AI innovation and integrated client partnerships will support the continued development and deployment of these capabilities across Asia Pacific.

“The best agencies don’t just make work, they solve problems. When people and technology come together in the right systems, we can move faster, think bigger and unlock growth for brands in ways that weren’t possible before. That means bringing media, creative, production and data to the table as one team, not a set of silos. Our job is to put clients at the centre of everything we do and help them win through new ideas and experiences,” said Ash Smith, incoming EVP, Monks Asia Pacific.

Based in Sydney, Fay Denis du Peage will report to Ash Smith and lead Monks’ growth and market development across Australia and New Zealand. She will focus on strengthening the local offering, deepening client partnerships and bringing together Monks’ capabilities across creative, media, data and technology.

Fay brings experience across media, data, digital and operations from her career at Monks and MightyHive. She steps into the role after serving as Senior Vice President, Media, APAC, where she has helped strengthen Monks’ regional media proposition and drive greater integration across data, technology and media.

“AUNZ is a sophisticated and fast-moving market, and there is a significant opportunity for Monks to bring more of our capabilities together around the challenges our clients are facing, empowering them to become Real-Time Brands. The future of marketing isn’t about one discipline working in isolation—it’s about connecting media, creativity, data and technology with AI to create better outcomes in real time. My focus will be on making that capability even more relevant and accessible to clients, while building on the strength of our local teams and partnerships. I’m excited about what we are about to create together in the market,” said Fay Denis du Peage, Managing Director, Australia and New Zealand, Monks.

“Nirvik and Ash bring complementary leadership experience and a strong understanding of what clients need in an increasingly complex and fast-changing market. With Nirvik’s expanded regional leadership and Ash’s expertise in client solutions, product, and innovation, we are strengthening our ability to drive growth, connect capabilities, and deliver greater value for clients across our markets. Fay’s appointment is an important step in strengthening our presence across AUNZ, with Australia as our largest APAC market. I would also like to thank Kenny Griffiths for his leadership and the valuable contributions he has made to Monks,” said Bruno Lambertini, CEO, Marketing Services, Monks.

Media Inquiry

Evelyn Hsu
VP, Marketing and Communications, APAC
Evelyn.hsu@monks.com

About Monks

Monks is the global, digital-first, data-driven, unitary operating brand of S4 Capital plc. With a legacy of innovation and specialized expertise, Monks combines an extraordinary range of global Marketing and Technology Services to redefine how brands interact with the world. Through Monks.Flow, its flagship AI ecosystem for marketing orchestration, Monks transforms marketing into a growth engine, collapsing timelines and connecting brands to culture in real time. By deploying bespoke intelligent agents across disciplines and delivering culturally relevant, high-impact creative and digital solutions, Monks solves key critical business challenges across the entire brand enterprise to help brands sustain long-term impact.

Monks was named a Contender in The Forrester Wave™: Global Marketing Services and a leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Global Digital Marketing Agencies. It ranks among Cannes Lions’ Top 10 Creative Companies (2022-25) and remains the only partner featured in AdExchanger’s Programmatic Power Players list every year (2020-24). Named Adweek’s first AI Agency of the Year (2023) and The One Show’s inaugural AI Pioneer Organization (2025), Monks was also awarded Business Intelligence Group’s 2026 Excellence in Artificial Intelligence Award in the Human-Machine Interaction Team category. Additionally, Monks.Flow earned AI-based Marketing Solution of the Year at the 2026 AI Breakthrough Awards and a 2026 Global Generative AI Award in the Agentic Marketing Innovation category. Finally, Monks achieved a record-breaking number of FWAs and continues to hold the most of any partner.

About S4 Capital

S4 Capital is a purely digital advertising and marketing services business built for global, multinational, regional and local clients, as well as millennial-driven influencer brands. The business operates through two data- and digital-media-driven practices: Marketing Services and Technology Services, emphasising ‘faster, better and more efficient’ execution in an always-on, consumer-led environment. Its unitary structure positions the Company as a systems integration partner delivering real-time relevance in the post-agency era.

The Company has approximately 6,200 people in 34 countries, with approximately 82% of net revenue across the Americas, 12% across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and 6% across Asia-Pacific. The longer-term objective is a geographic split of 60%:20%:20%. Marketing Services accounted for approximately 91% of net revenue and Technology Services 9%. The target allocation is a practice split of 75%:25%.

Sir Martin Sorrell was CEO of WPP for 33 years, building it from a £1 million ‘shell’ company in 1985 into the world’s largest advertising and marketing services company, with a market capitalisation of over £16 billion on the day he left. Prior to that, Sir Martin was Group Financial Director of Saatchi & Saatchi Company Plc for nine years.

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