5 tips for fintech localisation

The word “fintech” is a portmanteau of “financial” and “technology” and refers to companies in the financial sector with 100% digital services and products. They may offer virtual credit cards and bank accounts, loans, insurance, finance and investment and crypto-currencies, among others.

Fintech has been growing faster and faster and overall investment in the sector reached $102 billion in 2021, a year-on-year increase of more than 180%. This industry has been showing solid growth in Portugal too. Nonetheless, consumers have not been signing up at a very high rate and localisation services are an essential tool in combatting the problem. This is because, as the fintech industry is based fully online, no potential market can be left out!

If you are undertaking a project in this area and want to get your fintech start-up to the global market, here is some advice:

1. As English and German are used a lot in the financial sector, consider localising your website and its apps and services to these languages

2. Your localisation strategy should set priorities: what other languages are important? Which markets or regions of the world are most permeable to this type of service? What apps or services are used most by customers and which ones need localisation of contents and/or interfaces?

3. It’s not enough just to adapt to other languages and cultures! Localisation of your fintech offer must always involve legal screening and technical translations by translators specialising in law, legal document translations and legislation.

4. Your company’s brand must be consistent throughout the localisation process. Legal, cultural and language differences must be taken into account, but don’t let your company’s identity get diluted between different countries and regions.

5. Form partnerships with translation companies capable of handling the complex legal and technological issues arising in a project of this size. The amount of information that you will have to process and the complexity of the tasks will require specialised professionals, computer-assisted translation and machine learning to ease your workload.