How Fintech Could Fumble: Silicon Valley has banks on their heels, but analyst Richard Magrann-Wells suggests that financial institutions may come out ahead in the end. His theory is that customers will continue to prefer banks as long as they can access checking accounts, business loans, mortgages, wealth management advice and other services all under one roof, rather than toggling among various fintech companies for each independent offering. Some commenters took exception to Magrann-Wells' logic: "Anyone who thinks banks and bank branches are more convenient than Internet-based services is living in a dissociative state divorced from reality," opined "Zoomlens." Another reader suggested that many of today's customers aren't actively making a choice between startups and banks; instead, they're forced into the former when banks turn them away, and then decide to stick around. "People get used to borrowing and capitalizing online," writes "FundAmerica." "Investors get used to funding these alternative platforms. Borrowing (and equity) costs go down for good credit risks, so they never need to give their banker a second chance the next time they need funds. Result is that banks get marginalized." Another fintech skeptic is Financial Supermarkets chief development officer Dave Martin, who writes that bankers should take the predictions of self-designated financial gurus and futurists with a
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