Fintech companies set to explore new data storage locations to meet their sustainability goals

FINTECH Circle, in partnership with Bulk Data Centers, has released a report that found that fintech companies growing concern about their environmental impact is a major factor in determining where to store their data.  

In a survey of senior executives in the fintech and financial services sector, the report – The Data Usage Barometer – explores the broad trends taking place across fintech.

It showed that finance increasingly relies on data and energy-intensive technologies, with Artificial Intelligence, expected to be the technology that will be most vital to future growth, followed by Machine Learning.

Over a third of survey respondents had seen an increase of 50-100% in data usage and storage needs in the past three years and more than a third of the survey respondents predicted growth of at least two times in the next three years, with half of that group expecting an increase of more than five times.

Susanne Chishti, CEO of FINTECH Circle said, “From embedded finance, digital assets including cryptocurrencies, trading platforms, and global payment solutions, fintech is disrupting and reshaping our lives. Central to this growth is where companies process their large volumes of data, and our survey shows that the majority of companies have explored or plan to explore alternatives to their current data storage infrastructure.”

Half of the respondents said they are concerned about their company’s environmental impact and an even higher number agree that lowering their firm's carbon footprint is an ethical concern. 

“Fintech has taken off in recent years and the sector is revolutionising our relationship with financial services. At its core, is the focus of ‘fintech for good’, which is based on the power of the sector to improve society and to be a custodian of sustainable products and services.” said Warren Barrie, Director of Bulk Data Centers. 

“Companies are not just concerned about their shareholder returns but increasingly about their ethical and sustainable impact. This includes the upstream supply chain and where they store their data. We, at Bulk Data Centers, are committed to helping fintech companies by offering long-term sustainable solutions at much lower costs to European counterparts.” 

Some of the additional key findings include:

• Two-thirds of respondents said AI will be vital to their future growth, with ML (a subset of AI that enables the building of AI-driven applications) being the second most selected at 41%.

• Over a third of survey respondents had seen an increase of 50-100% in data usage and storage needs in the past three years. More than a third of survey respondents predicted growth of at least two times in the next three years, with half of that group expecting an increase of more than five times.

• Data sovereignty and compliance (stability and security) are the top concerns over growing data usage and storage, selected by more than half of respondents, with about 40% also citing increased costs.

• Security is the top requirement for data storage and processing, followed by reliability, ability to scale and then cost.