Fintech companies outrun big banks in profit and valuation

Pandemic drives digital pay in US and China as analog banking slows to a crawl

U.S. fintech company PayPal saw second-quarter net profit jump 86% on the year to a record $1.53 billion. © Reuters

AKIRA YAMASHITA and KYOHEI SUGA, Nikkei staff writers

August 30, 2020 10:00 JST

TOKYO -- Fintech companies are overtaking global financial institutions in both earnings and market capitalization in the April-June quarter, as the coronavirus accelerates trends toward a cashless society.

"In the midst of the COVID pandemic, we have seen substantial macro changes that we believe will have a lasting and profoundly positive impact on our business," said PayPal Holdings CEO Dan Schulman at the company's earnings call on July 29.