Harnessing the power of embedded finance

Embedded finance (EmFi) – the integration of financial services (FS) into non-financial businesses – is fast becoming a norm internationally, with established players in industries from retail to telecoms. However, despite clearly burgeoning customer demand for ever-greater convenience, adoption of EmFi remains far from universal.

Established businesses across Ireland are generally yet to engage with this huge – but complex – opportunity, despite Ireland’s high suitability for EmFi (due to its prevalent internet banking usage, small market size and limited pool of legacy financial institutions).

The high degree of consolidation across Ireland’s banking sector leaves consumers with few financial services providers – and an obvious opportunity for non-financial organisations to step in.

With that in mind, this paper sets out the rise of the EmFi opportunity internationally and its benefits, identifies the sectors with greatest potential for adoption in Ireland as well as leading solutions providers, and delineates the key decisions businesses must take when embarking on their embedded finance journey.

This paper includes a case study on Alviere, an embedded finance platform which has recently established its European base in Ireland.