Warchi
The word fintech generally brings to mind scrappy startups, financed by venture capital firms, that are seeking to change the world and open up banking and other services to a wide range of customers through amazing apps.
As technology advances, though, just about any financial services company is now a fintech. And the technology part, of course, is key. Even more important, is the ownership and protection of that intellectual property, if the company wants to maintain a dominant position.
Several financial-related companies resided among the top 300 companies in terms of patents granted in 2022, according to a list from the Intellectual Property Owners Association. Capital One Financial (NYSE:COF) received the most patents of any financial company in 2022 with 708 patents in 2022. That puts it in the 59th slot on the list. Its number of patents increased 1% from 2021.
The next financial company in the list is Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), which received 608 patents last year, up an impressive 19% from the prior year. The bank said it received patents in artificial intelligence and machine learning, information security, and payments.
“Over $10B in annual investment in these innovations earned our company a patented portfolio of solutions that spans artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, payments, and other technologies that help our clients live better financial lives,” said Aditya Bhasin, Bank of America’s (BAC) chief technology and information officer.
Following is Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC), taking the 109th spot with 403 patents (+4%Y/Y); PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:PYPL), at 137 with 311 patents (-5%); Visa (NYSE:V) at No. 141 with 308 patents (+5%); and Mastercard (NYSE:MA) at No. 144 with 303 patents (-12%), according to the IPO list.
Insurer State Farm came in 172nd place with 262 patents (-9%); JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) stood in the 183rd spot with 247 patents (-5%).
Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.B) (NYSE:BRK.A) was in 239th slot with 186 patents (-5%). While the Omaha-based company headed by Warren Buffett is a giant in the insurance industry, the company’s businesses span a wide range of industries. Its patents could apply industries, such as energy, railroads, chemicals, or castings for the aviation industry.
The total number of patents granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office were 323,018, down 1% from 2021.
Many other financial service-related patents could be owned by technology behemoths including Samsung Electronics, the company that was granted the most patents in 2022 at 8,513, Apple (AAPL), No. 14 on the list with 2,313 patents, and Google parent Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL), No. 15 with 2,077 patents.
Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that Apple (AAPL) plans to launch its Buy Now, Pay Later service in September.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon has been pushing the company to compete and beat fintech. At the end of 2022, the Wall Street and Main Street banking giant aimed to hire 2,000 tech workers.