Customer growth Data from 2020 onward formed the basis of the Future of Global Fintech initiative’s analysis, capturing the beginning of a period of exceptional growth for the fintech industry. Data from the second edition of the survey revealed that fintechs continued to perform at a high standard, indicating an average fintech customer growth rate of 37% from 2022- 2023. However, this represented a decline from recent years – customer growth was 55% in 2020- 2021 and 52% in 2021-2022, as seen in Figure 4. This deceleration, consistent across verticals and regions, highlighted a post-COVID-19 pandemic normalization following a period of rapid adoption of digital financial products . The market is maturing, with fintechs focusing on deepening their value propositions and strengthening customer relationships rather than relying solely on user acquisition.5 From 2022-2023, fintechs in the US and Canada led in customer growth at 44%, followed by MENA and LAC at 42%, all exceeding the global average. APAC and Europe also demonstrated solid growth rates of 35% and 34% (respectively), while SSA lagged at 21%. Despite the US and Canada and MENA maintaining above-average growth, they experienced substantial year-on-year (YoY) slowdowns of 20% and 23%, which were the greatest drops of all regions. Growth rates in both AEs and EMDEs mirrored the global trend. Fintechs operating in AEs reported a growth rate of 37%, driven by well-established digital infrastructure and a mature customer base,6 while EMDEs stood at 36%, fuelled by rapid digital adoption. Across verticals, digital banking and savings, digital payments and wealthtech led with customer growth rates above 40% (higher than the global average). Digital lending grew by 35%, while insurtech (28%) and digital capital raising (17%) reported the lowest growth rates. Compared to the first edition, most verticals experienced slowdowns exceeding 15%, with insurtech experiencing the sharpest decline (38%), followed by capital raising and digital payments.Rate of customer growth FIGURE 4 2020-2021 2021-2022 2022-2023US and Canada MENA Global average APAC Europe LAC64%65% 42%55% 52% 37%56% 51% 35%57% 53% 34%54% 54% 42%66% 64% 44% 42% 36% 21% SSA The Future of Global Fintech: From Rapid Expansion to Sustainable Growth 10

Future of Global Fintech Second Edition 2025