ESSENCE, FEATURES AND CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF FINANCIAL SERVICES PROVISION

Abstract

The article analyses the main scientific approaches to defining financial services essence and reveals the lack of a unified approach among scientists. It is determined that researchers mainly characterize the essence of financial services as the result of economic interaction among providers and consumers of financial services; particular type of economic relations; specific (financial) goods; economic activity; benefits and satisfaction from selling money; transactions with financial assets; component of the financial market; the result of the subjects' interaction. Based on the content analysis of the definition of “financial service”, it is proved that its essence is revealed both within financial categories (“financial transactions”, “financial assets”, “financial resources”, financial intermediaries) and categories in the field of services (“customer needs”, “benefits and satisfaction”, “financial value”). It is proved that the purpose of financial services is to meet customers’ needs to perform specific actions with financial assets, which result in the client receiving financial value in the form of economic benefits or satisfaction, which is manifested in profit or preservation of the actual value of financial assets. The essence of the financial services market is presented, and the main approaches to its definition are analysed: institutional, resource, commodity, market. The set of primary and specific features of financial services available in the scientific literature is studied. Considering modern trends, it is proposed to expand the features of financial services with the following components: customer orientation, trust-centricity, product-centrism, servicing. Considering modern features and peculiarities of financial services, the definition of this category is offered, and the conceptual model of rendering of financial services is proposed.