Few investors with even a passing interest in financial services can have failed to spot the rise of the fintech sector. A generation of savvy, technology-driven start-ups has been steadily removing market share from incumbent operators weighed down by legacy IT systems or plain inertia when it comes to handling customers online.
With the majority of the market’s main players unquoted, there are limited ways for shareholders to find exposure to this collection of fast-growing companies, with the potential to generate very high returns. One potential route, however, is Augmentum, a recently listed investment trust that specialises in taking positions in all things fintech, with the potential to buy publicly quoted companies but in practice an investor only in unlisted businesses, in Britain and increasingly