Starting off the new year, we like to sit down with company leadership and get their take on what will happen in the new year within the Fintech realm. Today, we asked Victor Pacheco for his outlook:

What are the trends you’re seeing in Fintech going into 2018?

“I like what ABA Banking Journal says in regard to product trends.” They stated, ‘Digital lending is the technology that kickstarted the fintech movement and is still the most prominent example in the media. Online lenders have leveraged this data to make underwriting decisions, creating computer programs that can automate loan originations without the need for a customer to ever set foot in branch. These programs can use traditional underwriting criteria—such as debt to income or cash flow analysis—or less traditional metrics such as the number of visitors to a company’s website. It is the digitization of the process where these platforms add the most value—getting quicker and more consistent decisions for customers while taking less bank employee time to process.’

“On that note, I think that 2018 will see our industry rebound from the challenges it faced over the past three years. Fintech Lenders have learned from their mistakes and are getting smarter about their origination, underwriting and collection strategies. We will continue to see a refocusing on core lending fundamentals, and a stronger embracing of balance sheet lending. The era of growth for the sake of growth is over.

“A roaring economy further emboldened by recent fiscal policy reviews promises tremendous growth opportunities in 2018 for lenders that can originate loans with a high degree of performance predictability. We have learned that having a top-down alignment of interest, from our senior lenders all the way through to our customers is the only way to a successful business. Quite simply put, profitability will be the name of the game, but also the only path to establishing a sustainable Fintech Lending industry.”