Deutsche Bank, Aspermont, Square - FinTech approaches promise a lot of potential

Deutsche Bank - In transformation

Deutsche Bank is considered Germany's flagship bank. During the Lehman crisis, the Company did not need a bailout, unlike Commerzbank. But since then, the climate in the banking landscape has deteriorated significantly due to the zero interest rate policy. Thanks to the Internet, more and more people are doing their banking online. The consequence is the reduction of the branch network at almost all banks. As recently as April, the bank announced the closure of a further 100 branches. One is in the middle of a transformation.

Deutsche Bank has given up global equity trading. In the strong transaction banking business, the bank is trying to expand its position by bringing more and more experts from the FinTech sector on board. Most recently, it was able to win Lena Justen for the development of comprehensive product approaches. The Company is also increasingly investing in FinTechs or acquiring them outright. For M&A issues, the group most recently unleashed Christian Böhm from JPMorgan. At the beginning of last week, it was announced that it wants to boost the payment business again with FinTech, Better Payment.

These personnel decisions and acquisitions show that Deutsche Bank is accelerating the transformation process to keep up with agile small FinTech companies. It is a balancing act, as the bank wants to cut costs on the one hand and needs to invest in the future to stay competitive on the other. If the share can break through the EUR 11.30 mark on a closing price basis, then the way to the high for the year is clear.

Aspermont - FinTech approach expands business

Aspermont is a traditional media company that has mastered the transformation to a digital media service provider. In recent years, the Company has built up various business areas that underpin this transformation. On the one hand, the subscription business has been growing by an average of 23% for years. Second, the Company generates revenue from its B2B lead generation. The business is rounded off by services for customers in the marketing area, an online trade show or the multimedia product, 'Digging for Climate Change'.

Since August 24, Aspermont has been the majority shareholder with 44% of the newly established fintech venture, founded with Spark Plus Pte Ltd and International Pacific Capital. This venture aims to provide a platform for companies to raise capital and make these investment opportunities available to interested investors. The extensive database with company and investor data can be used excellently here and broaden its offering.

In order to grow further, one of the main tasks at present is to push ahead with expansion into countries such as China and South America. There are sufficient liquid funds to initiate further projects. The share is currently consolidating at the important level of 0.023 Australian dollars (AUD). In addition, there is support from the breakout edge at AUD 0.021. As long as the marks hold, a test of AUD 0.033 is conceivable. The analysts at GBC Research expect EBTIDA of AUD 2.88 million for 2022, with significantly increasing margins. AUD 0.09 was issued as a price target.

Square - Growth ahead

Square is a financial services FinTech and specializes in mobile payments. As a result, even smaller companies can accept all kinds of payment methods. In addition, the Company offers a cash app for mobile payments, which allows users to withdraw money via a Visa Cash Card. Through the app, users can also trade bitcoins. For many, Square is a prime example of a successful FinTech startup. The use of digital wallets will increase more and more in the coming years.

The growth is also rapid due to sophisticated marketing campaigns. The latest quarterly figures showed a growth of 87% compared to the same period last year. If you take the revenue from Bitcoin trading into account, the revenue even increased by 143%. The profit was USD 204 million. In total, the Company has more than 70 million active users of the app within a year. The competitor PayPal with its app Venmo comes to 75 million users but is valued three times higher.

Experts see a market volume for digital wallets of USD 700 billion; if the market grows as forecast, some of that will end up with Square. An additional advantage is that the cost of acquiring customers is just USD 20. Competitors have to spend many times that amount. Even though the stock has been trending sideways since mid-January, it seems only a matter of time before it breaks out to the upside. Currently, the share is trading at the small downward trend line, which can be drawn from the beginning of August through the end of August.

The FinTech approach promises big profits in the long run if the idea is embraced by the people. While Deutsche Bank is trying to embrace the FinTech theme and at the same time wants to move away from traditional banking, for Aspermont, it is more of a new line of business. In this, the Company can excellently bring in its existing data and contacts. Square is already a success story. The question is how much potential is still there.