Finance and investment: Much of the

Finance and investment: Much of the public, investors and regulatory attention today focuses on alternative financing mechanisms, particularly crowdfunding and P2P lending. However, FinTech clearly extends beyond this narrow scope to include financing of technology itself (e.g. via crowdfunding, venture capital, private equity, private placements, public offerings, listings etc.). From an evolutionary perspective, the 1990s tech bubble is a clear example of the intersection of finance and technology, as is NASDAQ, the dematerialization of the securities industry which has followed over the succeeding decades and the advent of program trading, high frequency trading and dark pools. Looking forward, in addition to continuing development of alternative financing mechanisms, FinTech is increasingly involved in areas such as robo-advisory services.