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A Path to Digital Success, ETCISO
When a payment gateway handles thousands of digital transactions every hour, there is no margin for error. A brief disruption can mean frustrated customers walking away, chargebacks piling up, and reputational damage that takes months to repair.
For the fintech powering these transactions, the difference between accelerating growth and facing setbacks often comes down to one factor: trust. Today, businesses view seamless payments, airtight cybersecurity, and transparent processes not as competitive advantages, but as the minimum expectation in a digital-first economy.
Cybersecurity and transparency as the foundation
Cybersecurity is the starting point. In fiscal year 2024-25, according to Ministry of Finance data, India experienced a more than fourfold increase in high-value cyber fraud cases, with reported incidents rising from 6,699 to 29,082, resulting in losses of approximately $20 million. This spike underscores that increased digital transaction volumes are accompanied by heightened fraud risks, making trust and security an urgent priority.
Recent industry research shows that over 80 percent of financial firms now view cybersecurity as a strategic imperative, with nearly 90 percent making moderate to large investments in cyber resilience. This signals a clear shift in mindset. This shift is especially critical in an AI-led world. As financial institutions increasingly deploy AI across payments, fraud detection, trading, and risk management, the integrity of data, models, and systems becomes inseparable from cybersecurity. Protecting AI pipelines, training data, and automated decision systems is now a core part of maintaining trust.In capital markets, the stakes are even higher. Platforms supporting trading, clearing, settlement, securities lending, and collateral management operate at the core of financial stability. A digital security lapse in these environments can affect counterparties, liquidity, and price discovery, turning localized failures into systemic risk.
Trust is also signaled by visible compliance; fintech’s that align with established frameworks and local rules send a clear message on accountability, not just to customers but also to enterprise partners and regulators. In India, for example, the digital lending framework and its guidance on default loss guarantees formalize standards on disclosures, data handling and customer protection. Global investors are equally attentive to these signals, often prioritizing governance, audit readiness, and regulatory alignment when evaluating fintech opportunities. Firms that can demonstrate robust compliance gain not only customer trust but also investor confidence.
Hidden fees and opaque terms are the fastest way to lose confidence. Visa’s global remittance study highlights both sides of the coin. Users view app-based digital payments as more secure, yet they report high or hidden fees as a persistent pain point. Clear pricing and plain-language explanations reduce perceived risk and reinforce fairness.
This is why fintechs must go beyond basic safeguards by adopting end-to-end encryption, deploying zero-trust architecture, and giving users direct control over how their data is collected, stored, and shared. Leading firms are also adopting advanced resilience strategies, such as immutable storage that allow systems to be restored swiftly using clean, point-in-time copies of critical data.
At its core, security must be treated as fundamental hygiene. It is not the responsibility of a single team or function, but a shared obligation spanning leadership, technology, operations, and ecosystem partners.
Clear communication on data practices not only strengthens compliance but reassures both consumers and enterprise partners.
Human-centric experience and authentic brand behavior
Digital security and clarity must be matched by experiences that feel intuitive and supportive. Enterprises want platforms that employees can adapt easily, customers can navigate without friction, and support teams can rely on when issues arise.
India’s Unified Payments Interface offers an important lesson in trust at scale. Its success shows that when simplicity, transparency, and reliability are built into the core of a digital financial system, adoption follows naturally. For businesses, this translates into lower friction, reduced costs, and broader reach, reinforcing how trust-driven infrastructure can unlock growth.
Technology and ecosystems that strengthen confidence
The technologies powering fintech can deepen trust when deployed thoughtfully. Yet no fintech succeeds in isolation. Strategic ecosystem partnerships, whether with banks, payment networks, or infrastructure providers, enhance credibility and resilience. Secure APIs and transparent data must support these collaborations flows to ensure ecosystem-wide trust.
Collaborative approaches are also emerging, where firms co-develop incident recovery playbooks with ecosystem partners. These playbooks ensure preparation for cyber events, regulatory reviews, or market disruptions, and provide a tested roadmap to restore operations quickly.
The rapid adoption of UPI by global players further demonstrates the importance of ecosystem trust. By plugging into UPI, these platforms gained instant credibility and scalability, allowing enterprises and merchants to transact with confidence in a secure, regulated environment. The macro trend line is clear. According to PwC, the value of digital payment transactions in India is expected to grow from ₹265 trillion in FY 2023–24 to ₹593 trillion by FY 2028–29, more than doubling within five years. Fintechs that design for trust will be best placed to benefit from that shift.
The trust flywheel
True loyalty is tested under pressure. Whether the issue is an outage, a regulatory review or a cyber incident, the ingredients are consistent. Prepare and rehearse an incident response plan. Proactive crisis management and clear communication preserve confidence during disruptions.
Trust is not a single milestone. It is a compounding cycle. Secure systems enable transparency. Transparency empowers users. Empowered users reward consistency. Consistence creates resilience. Resilience, proven in small and large moments, reinforces trust and turns first-time users into long-term advocates.
A defining moment for fintechs
Consumer comfort with non-traditional providers is rising fast. While large banks still lead, consumer comfort opening accounts with fintechs has climbed higher than ever, narrowing the gap significantly. The opportunity is real, but so is the scrutiny.
In this environment, the message is clear. Security is not optional, not episodic, and not owned by one function. It is a shared responsibility and a baseline expectation for participation in the digital financial ecosystem.
Fintechs that embed cybersecurity, explicit compliance, clear pricing and human-centered support into their DNA will not just acquire customers. They will keep them. In the digital financial era, those who design trust will set the standard for growth and resilience.
The author is Kishore Seshagiri, Chief Digital Officer, Broadridge India.
Disclaimer: The views expressed are solely of the author and ETCISO does not necessarily subscribe to it. ETCISO shall not be responsible for any damage caused to any person/organization directly or indirectly.
