Banks are more worried about Amazon and Facebook than actual fintech startups

Fintech startups are trying to disrupt banking. Turns out, their efforts aren't really what have major banks worried.

Legacy financial institutions are more concerned with the threat of tech giants like Amazon and Facebook than about startups trying to revolutionize investing or payments, according to a new report from the World Economic Forum.

"Fintechs have changed how financial services are structured, provisioned and consumed, but have not successfully established themselves as dominant players," the report said.

In other words, banks think that startups like Betterment and Wealthfront have spurred some innovation, but don't have the resources or scale to truly threaten their businesses.

Amazon and Facebook, on the other hand, do have the scale. Even if these tech giants aren't directly competing with banks most of the time, their sheer presence in consumers' everyday lives, the amount of data they collect about customers, and the reliance banks are forced to have on their business-side products will impact the future of the financial sector.

"The coming collision between financial institutions and large techs leads to tough choices for all firms: become dependent on large techs or risk falling behind," the report stated. "All financial institutions will need to find ways to partner with large techs without losing their core value proposition. All firms risk becoming dependent on large techs, which necessitates the loss of some control over both costs and data."

The clearest example of this is Amazon Web Services. Amazon's data storage product, used by most major businesses, has become a necessity for the financial sector. Major financial firms aren't necessarily happy that they have to rely on a third party for an important component of their business. And they fear that if they don't use this technology, they'll fall behind.

"Amazon Web Services (AWS) is forming the backbone of the financial services ecosystem, with a diverse set of firms – from JP Morgan to start‐ups such as Xignite – adopting AWS for data storage and processing," the report said.

"Incumbents risk falling far behind on technological offerings if they minimize engagement with large techs to protect independence," the report added.

Along with these long-term changes, financial firms are also worried about the talent choosing to work at Amazon instead of at Goldman Sachs.

A fintech startup that employs 200, on the other hand? Not much of a worry compared to Amazon's 350,000.

This doesn't mean that fintech startups are failing. On the contrary, the report emphasizes that if startups can carve out the perfect niche in financial tech, they'll thrive.

But the banks won't be paying too close attention. They're busy with Amazon.