Accenture has released data on investments in the global fintech industry.

The amount of investment dollars channeled into the global fintech sector shot up 75 per cent to $22.3 billion last year, according to figures from Accenture. 

In Asia-Pacific, investments more than quadrupled to $4.3 billion, with the lion’s share occurring in China ($1.97 billion) and India ($1.65 billion).  

In Europe, it more than doubled (120 per cent), while the number of deals rose by 51 per cent and investments in German ventures alone swelled 843 per cent.

Investments in the North American fintech sector (the world's largest) grew more modestly by 44 per cent to $14.8 billion; the US continued to dominate the sector with 667 fintech deals - a 16 per cent increase.

The report also identified a growing number of “big ticket” deals in the global fintech sector “as it begins to mature;” there were 94 fintech deals larger than $50 million in 2015, compared to 52 in 2014 and 15 in 2013.

Meanwhile, collaborative fintech ventures – those primarily targeting financial institutions as clients – are gaining ground over “disruptive” players that enter the market to compete against those institutions, according to the report. Funding for collaborative fintech ventures - which accounted for 38 per cent of all fintech investment in 2010 - rose to 44 per cent of funding in 2015, with the remaining investments made in ventures that compete with financial institutions. The report added that while “disruptors” may compete against banks at first, they often end up aligning with them through investments, acquisitions and alliances - such as BBVA’s recent stake in Atom, a mobile-only bank developed in London that launched last week.

“The proportion of competitive fintech ventures in Europe and Asia is much higher than in North America, which largely reflects the earlier stages of maturity of fintech markets, particularly outside of London,” said Julian Skan, a managing director in Accenture’s financial services group who oversees the FinTech Innovation Lab London. “London’s welcoming regulatory environment has made a preferred market for competitive fintech ventures to test their propositions.”

“The drive for fintech innovation is spreading well beyond traditional tech hubs,” added Richard Lumb, Accenture’s group chief executive of financial services. “New frontiers like robotics, blockchain and the Internet of Things are bound less by geography than by the industry’s ability to adopt and scale clever ideas that improve service and efficiencies.”