With the holidays just around the bend, the malls are not as crowded this year. A fall in brick-and-mortar retail was already underway, but its struggles mean that a higher degree of online shopping could boost financial technology via the Global X FinTech ETF (FINX).
With a 0.68% expense ratio, the Global X FinTech ETF isn’t cheap, but it isn’t too steep of a price to pay for an all-in-one portfolio that could benefit from one of the most exciting growth markets of this generation. Factor in the 31% year-to-date performance and you’re also paying for performance.
If you’re the buy-and-hold type of investor, you’ll be happy to know that FINX is up 37% for the past year. Additionally, the fund is up 23% within a three-year timeframe.
FINX seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Indxx Global Fintech Thematic Index. The underlying index is designed to provide exposure to exchange-listed companies in developed markets that provide financial technology products and services, including companies involved in mobile payments, peer-to-peer (P2P) and marketplace lending, financial analytics software, and alternative currencies, as defined by the index provider.
FINX gives investors exposure to:
- High Growth Potential: FINX enables investors to access high growth potential through companies that are applying technological innovations to disrupt and improve delivery of financial services.
- Unconstrained Approach: FINX’s composition transcends classic sector, industry, and geographic classifications by tracking an emerging theme.
- ETF Efficiency: In a single trade, FINX delivers access to dozens of companies with high exposure to the FinTech theme.
“Recently, the U.S. set a new record with 140,000 daily COVID-19 cases—the clearest indication yet that the coronavirus pandemic is far from over and is something that we will all have to live with for at least another several months. Understandably, a large portion of the population still has serious concerns about brick-and-mortar businesses’ health and safety practices,” said Zenreach CEO John Kelly. Zenreach is a leader in walk-through marketing at brick-and-mortar businesses and with contactless payment methods. “With the population on edge, it’s imperative that merchants lean in to enhanced safety and sanitation measures. After all, the more businesses that adopt these changes, the more consumers will begin identifying them as standards.”
A very important (yet often overlooked) callout involves contactless solutions. 53% of consumers have used a mobile contactless payment option for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, and an astounding 85% of consumers say that it is important that a retailer offer the choice for contactless payment.
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