Spain is a country of self-employed. This is confirmed by data from the Ministry of Industry: 1,050,714 people work under the tax category of "natural person". To this figure can be added microcompanies with no employees –taking the number to 1.6 million–, and this total represents over half the SMEs in Spain, which make up 99.9% of the Spanish company fabric.

It's a curious phenomenon. Technology can reach the remotest places on the planet, where even the most basic commodities cannot.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, 12% of adults –64 million people– have an account on their mobile phone, 10% more than in the rest of the world (2%). The financial inclusion of the entire population in many countries is becoming a means of furthering their development. The goals of promoting access to banking services are among those underpinning the initiatives supported by BBVA in the field of fintech, including competitions for emerging companies such as BBVA Open Talent.  

The importance of encouraging the savings culture, adapted to today’s technological society, was what inspired Octavio Novelo to create ZaveApp, an enterprise he launched in Mexico this year and which in 2016 will be operating in the United States and the European Union. Gutiérrez Martínez is one of the 33 innovators in the ebook Hablan los protagonistas.

A review of everyday applications: from an app to empathize with refugees to another to locate all the trees in Spain.

After receiving a full banking license in June 2015, Atom Bank became UK's first mobile-only bank. The bank is due to launch shortly in Great Britain, sometime during the first quarter of 2016. In this Bank NXT podcast, Atom Bank CEO Mark Mullen talks about user experience, the importance of mobile technology in the banking business and, ultimately, about the future of banking.

The outlook is promising for fintech companies in Latin America, and yet there are a series of challenges and conditions that still need to be overcome before innovation, technology and entrepreneurship can realize their full potential and offer more and better services, and create a more inclusive financial environment.