Earlier this month, Fujitsu revealed that 37% of customers would leave their current bank if it did not offer up-to-date technology, while US researcher Gartner said it expects only 25% of retail banks to use fintech start-ups by 2019.

As big banks struggle to keep up, many challenger banks are now harnessing the power of fintech in an attempt to turn the tables on financial giants.

“Fintech is going to revolutionise the banking world and those that don't accept this won't be around to tell the tale,” explained John Davies, Director of Just Cash Flow PLC.

“Embracing new technologies provides more of a challenge for traditional banks as they often don't fit well with their clunky legacy systems.

“However, while the banks get their act together, and believe me they will, alternative lenders like Just Cashflow have been able to use fintech to make more informed lending decisions and offer SMEs the seamless access to finance the need.”

Just Cashflow utilises a ‘PropensityPlus’ credit-scoring system, which provides the firm with a competitive advantage by streamlining the application process.

Computer systems are just one facet of fintech, with other examples including smartphone apps, digital currencies and physical payment hardware.

New challenger Atom Bank has taken fintech even further, making their services available exclusively via a mobile app.

Stewart Bromley, Chief Operating Officer at Atom said: “Customers understandably crave the best experience possible.”

Stewart said that this meant making things easy, intuitive and frictionless.

“Much of fintech [is] designed to solve small, niche problems, but you need to stitch many [of] these things together to create services that deliver the desired customer experience.”

Challenger bank OakNorth believes this new wave of technology would be key in disrupting big bank monopolies.

Rishi Khosla, CEO and co-founder of OakNorth Bank said: “Digital disruption has the potential to shrink the role and relevance of today’s banks, but simultaneously help them create better, faster, cheaper services that make them an even more essential part of everyday life for institutions and individuals.

“Historically, banking in the UK has been very concentrated among a handful of large institutions.

“They dominate market share and rely on the fact that the majority of consumers tend to stick with their bank for a number of years, so are not conducive to high levels of innovation.”

But Rishi warned that this status quo could shift in the near future.

“As time goes on, we’re going to see more innovation from fintech businesses as well as challenger banks such as OakNorth, and a higher degree of convergence between the two.

“Challenger banks and fintech companies are all just categorisations of businesses that are trying to improve finance and banking for the end consumer.

“I view OakNorth as much as a fintech player as I do a challenger bank.”