Summarizing four days of fintech content can be done using a four-letter word: data. That simple term and its many uses was the overarching theme of FinovateEurope last week in London.

The use of data is not new to the industry, but advanced AI models have helped data evolve from the early days of “Big Data” in fintech. Leveraging large data sets for a variety of uses has become an industry standard, but players who make the most of their data will win.

Below, I’ve categorized a variety of data uses, all shown and discussed at FinovateEurope last week. Remember– it’s not how much data you have– it’s how you use it.

AI

When talking about data, artificial intelligence seems like a good place to start. It is AI, after all, that offers deep insight into data.

In his keynote presentation, futurist Rohit Talwar discussed the AI revolution and the road to superintelligence. In the speech, Talwar explained six types of AI:

1. Domain specific: the AI knows a lot about the problem, but not about the world surrounding it
2. Context-aware: the AI is able to retain information for later use
3. Theory of mind: the AI has the capacity to reason like a human
4. Self-aware: the AI has an understanding of human emotions
5. Superintelligence: the AI is capable of out-thinking humans
6. Singularity: the AI has achieved enlightenment and transcendence

Credit scoring and risk underwriting

Data has turned traditional credit scoring upside down– and that’s a good thing. During the demo sessions, ApPello showed how it is using data to transform credit scoring and risk underwriting. The company’s risk assessment technology helps underwrite business loans with thin credit files.

The topic was also breached during the panel discussions, when Hari Ramamurthy, CTO & Technical Architect of Kuflink and Jaidev Janadana, CEO of Zopa each talked about data’s importance in making lending decisions.

Banking the underbanked

This topic is tangential to leveraging non-traditional data sources for credit and scoring. Because unbanked and underbanked individuals have little-to-no credit history, data is the key to providing services to these individuals.

In Friday’s fireside chat with Bernadetta Arese Lucini, Oval Money CEO, Lucini discussed how Oval Money leverages the bank account data of underserved individuals to help them achieve savings goals. Additionally, Sheraz Dar, CEO of CreditLadder explained how CreditLadder uses monthly rental payment information to help users build their credit score by paying their rent on time.

Open your bank

Being in the EU, there was plenty of talk about PSD2. Throughout these discussions, many touted the benefits of consumer data-sharing through the use of APIs. Allowing third parties to leverage data ultimately offers the best experience and provides more options for your customers.

Specifically, Tesobe’s Open Bank Project demoed a portion of its large catalogue of APIs, along with its network of more than 8,000 fintech developers across the globe.

Secure your site

Data gathered about how consumers navigate a website or a mobile app can help flag fraudulent activity. Two demo companies exemplified this use case.

First, Fortytwo Data showed how data can help banks comply with anti-money laundering regulations and leverage behavioral analytics and transaction monitoring to meet compliance standards and keep the client’s account secure.

Next, HooYu demoed how it leverages customer data to help onboard customers and ultimately meet security and compliance needs.

Personalizatoin

Personalization is a huge use case for consumer data. By tailoring the user experience based on the client’s specific needs, banks and fintechs stand to gain more customers and sell more products, ultimately improving the user experience. Three companies exemplified this in their demos.

First, Efigence debuted EFI4 Analytics, which converts data into insights and automatically recommends banking products based on those insights in real time.

Next, DataSine showed how it uses psychology and machine learning to tailor the customer experience and segment the audience by personality type at scale.

Finally, W.UP takes a range of customer data– including photos on their camera roll, fitness data, and geolocation– analyzes it using AI, and leverages those insights to create a personalized user experience.

Regulation

With the GDPR deadline looming, data protection is on the minds of many banks and fintechs across the globe. This topic emanated in almost all discussions throughout the conference.

Analytics Marketing

Offering loyalty and rewards to consumers is a great way to differentiate a payments offering. This topic was quite popular in 2011 but faded after mobile wallets struggled to gain ground. With the advent of more powerful analytics thanks to AI, however, loyalty and rewards offerings are experiencing another surge in interest. Four companies in last week’s show demonstrated how consumer data can be analyzed to improve marketing efforts.

First, CASHOFF uses consumer transaction information to create a white-labeled, gamified loyalty rewards program that is tailored consumer preferences.

Second, Yoyo offers a payment and loyalty platform that leverages behavioral analytics and marketing tools to effectively reach consumers, increase their transactions, and offer them spending insight via receipt analysis.

Finally, Touche showed how it analyzes consumers’ historic activity and predicts behavior in order to offer merchants insights for loyalty programs and targeted marketing campaigns.

Investing

Robo advisory services stand to win big if they leverage data correctly. By analyzing large data sets about consumer confidence and market sentiment, algorithmic investing models can win over consumers. On the human side, financial advisors also benefit by gaining the ability to better manage more portfolios at scale. Two companies exemplified this during the demo session.

First, YUKKA Labs showcased its language intelligence capabilities that evaluate financial news to help advisors and individual investors make better investment decisions.

Second, aixigo demoed how it leverages data to help advisors scale their offerings and manage millions of portfolios.

The days have flown by and it’s hard to believe we’ve arrived at the final day of FinovateEurope! We have a lot of content in store today and can’t wait to get started.

We’re at ExCel London and tickets are still available at the registration desk. If you missed the first part of the show, catch up by searching #Finovate on Twitter.

Here’s an overview of today’s agenda. For a detailed look, check out the event website.

From 10:10 to 12:00 our four-track summit panel discussions and fireside chats will cover four topics:

• Payments
• Digital Lending
• New Tech
• Special Interest

And that’s a wrap! Thanks to all of the presenters for braving the stage with their live demos, to all of the speakers and panel hosts, and of course to our audience– we couldn’t do this without you.

Demo videos will be available on Finovate.com in a couple of weeks and you can find panel discussions as well as bonus content and interviews on our YouTube channel. Until we see you again next year, tune into the Finovate blog for the latest in fintech news.

The midway point of FinovateEurope falls on a notable holiday– International Women’s Day. This combination makes it the perfect time to celebrate all of the women who have graced the Finovate stage over the past two days.

Out of our 68 demoing companies, 21 were represented by women presenters– that’s 31%. This figure is 35% higher than at FinovateEurope last year, when 23% of the presenting companies were represented by a woman on stage. And it’s 55% higher than at FinovateEurope 2016, when 20% of the companies featured a woman on stage; more than 2x higher than FinovateEurope 2015, where 15% of the companies had female speakers; and a huge leap from our first event in 2007 with zero (see note 1).

These numbers spell out definitive progress. And with this in mind let’s celebrate women in fintech today– and every day, recognize how far we’ve come, and make an effort to foster a more inclusive environment within our industry.

The companies appear in demo order:

ApPello

Bernadett Nagy and Agnes Magyar

 

Opentech

Lisa Ann Caringi

 

ebankIT

Diana Winstanley

 

Google & KBC Bank

Petrina Grady and Deniz Oran

 

Avaloq

Esther Kaufmann

 

Salt Edge

Lisa Terziman-Gutu

 

CASHOFF

Yulia Clarke and Lina Perez

 

Horizn

Janice Diner

 

Fintech OS

Paula Costea

 

Electronic IDentification

Patricia Diez Diez

 

3rd-eyes

Stephanie Feight

 

Exate Technology

Sonal Rattan

 

IBM Trusteer

Eileen Turner and Sarit Kozokin

 

ING

Iwona Ziolkowska and Ewa Szerszen

 

CREALOGIX

Jo Howes and Eszter Vass

 

Solna

Inna Kaushan and Fatima Ayoub

 

Sensibill and NatWest

Wincie Wong

 

Smart Valley

Dr. Anna Elmirayeva

 

Partner HUB

Katalin Kauzli

 

SMART VALOR

Olga Feldmeier

 

ITSector

Luisa Silva

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Editor’s Note: While sadly it’s true that no women were on stage during the 20 demos of the first Finovate. One company, iPay Technologies, was founded by Dana Bowers, but she chose not to speak that day. And Finovate might not even exist if it wasn’t for Melanie Flanagan, then Marketing Manager at Yodlee (also co-founded by a woman), who was the first person to agree to demo. Finally, Susan Hawkins, then SVP at Metavante,was instrumental in getting both her company and Monitise on stage. So there you have it, woman called the shots for at least 20% of Finovate v1.0’s content, even if they ended up delegating the on-stage pitching to men. Thanks Melanie, Dana and Susan! — Jim Bruene, Founder

The demo sessions of the first two days of FinovateEurope are complete and Best of Show winners have been named. Now we turn to industry thought leaders to not only help us digest what we’ve just seen but also turn to the future and anticipate what’s coming next.

We’re back at ExCel London for today’s sessions and tickets are still available at the front desk. You can check out the full agenda on the event website, but here’s a quick overview of what to expect today: 

From 14:05 to 17:45 our four-track summit panel discussions will cover four topics:

• Banking
• Investing
• Regtech
• New Tech

Registration will open tomorrow at 8 AM and the first session starts at 8:30 AM. Coat check is available outside the networking hall in the ExCel Center.

The week started off strong with an exciting first day of FinovateEurope. Continuing our momentum today, we have another 29 companies ready to demo their fintech on stage.

If you missed out on the first day, no problem! Come down to ExCel London and register today, and check out the action on Twitter by searching #Finovate.

Today’s format will look quite similar to yesterday’s. The full agenda can be found on the FinovateEurope website. Here’s what you can expect:

8 to 9 Registration and continental breakfast

9 to 10:10 Demo session

• Simplavivo
• W.UP
• Hydrogen
• Exate
• IBM Security Trusteer
• Wealth Wizards
• Be-IQ
• Touche

10:20 to 10:50 Intermission and refreshments

10:50 to 12:10 Demo session

• NF Innova
• Thought Machine
• HooYu
• bpm’online
• QOVER
• NDGIT
• iProov
• ING Bank Śląski
• CREALOGIX
• Dynamics

12:10 to 13:10 Lunch and networking

13:10 to 14:30 Demo session

• Solna
• Sensibill
• Smart Valley
• Five Degrees
• DataSine
• DSwiss
• Partner HUB
• SMART VALOR
• ITSector
• Fortytwo Data

14:30 to 17:00 Cocktail reception and networking

Tomorrow, registration opens at 8 AM and the first session begins at 8:45. Please remember your name badge.

FinovateEurope begins tomorrow and we’re placing the finishing touches on this week’s event. Companies are practicing their demo pitches for March 6 and 7, breakout rooms are ready for panel discussions that will take place on March 8 and 9, and the networking hall is prepared.

Are you ready? Here’s all of the last minute information you need to know:

Arrival

The event will be held at ExCel London. Registration opens at 8 AM tomorrow and the first demo begins at 9 AM. If you still don’t have your ticket, be sure to arrive early tomorrow to register.

Agenda

You can find the four-day agenda online. We’ll also post basic agenda details here on the blog every morning.

Questions?

For specific questions, visit the FinovateEurope website or contact our events team.

If your idea of fun is hanging out with fellow fintech and banking enthusiasts and discussing what the future of the industry holds, then you’re in good company this week as FinovateEurope is taking place this week. Here are the details

Ready…

First, don’t forget to register ahead of time. Tickets are still available online. The event takes place March 6 through 9 and will be held at ExCel London (Finovate veterans, take note– it is a new venue!). Also, to help you prepare, we’ve compiled a Sneak Peek series to get an advanced look into what some of the companies will debut on stage.

Set…

Check out the list of demoing companies, view the agenda, and finalize your accommodations. And if you have additional questions or need help with a special ticket request, please contact our events team.

Go!

Registration and a continental breakfast take place at 8 AM on 6 March, and the first demo will begin at 9 AM. Come early to settle in with a coffee or tea and save your seat.

We’ll be live Tweeting throughout the event from @Finovate, using the hashtag #Finovate. Be sure to check the Twitter feed for presenter information, analyst insights, and even bonus video content throughout the four-day event.

FinovateEurope is coming to London next week, and while our Sneak Peek series may have prepared you for the first two days of non-stop fintech demos, you still need to get ready for the extra content and discussions taking place the second half of the week.

Here are the folks who will– in just a few days from now– step up to the Finovate stage to share their insights on some of the most topical issues in fintech:

Rohit Talwar

The Rise Of The Machines – The AI Revolution And The Road To Superintelligence. What Will AI Mean For The Future Of Financial Services – And The Future Of Work?

Talwar is an award winning global futurist, entrepreneur and specialist advisor on business transformation, disruptive strategies and radical innovation. Nominated as one of the top ten global future thinkers by the U.K.’s Independent newspaper, he comments regularly on the future and innovation for global news networks. Talwar has been published widely. He is the initiator, editor and a lead author for The Future of Business, which was published on June 23rd 2015 – completed in just 19 weeks. This 60-chapter book brings together the work of 62 future thinkers from around the world to explore the forces shaping our world and highlight the implications for business.

Jamie Woodruff

Cyber Security – Why We Should All Be Very, Very Afraid…

In his early 20s, Woodruff is one of the world’s leading authorities on hacking and cyber security.

Woodruff entered the public eye when he successfully hacked Facebook as part of a student competition at Bangor University where he was studying computer information systems. He has since uncovered security holes in numerous high-profile operations, including Kim Kardashian’s website, which he hacked to reveal that it was putting her fans’ data at serious risk.

Woodruff is a director of Metrics Cloud specialising in training, penetration testing, and recruitment. He is also the cyber safety advisor for the Cyber Smile Foundation which specialises in online cyber bullying.

Woodruff talks about the importance of system and network security and is known for disclosing world-wide exploits and vulnerabilities within leading security applications such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Apple, and Google. He finds existing exploits by infiltrating the companies in question. He demonstrated this by impersonating a Domino’s pizza delivery boy at a large financial institution and gaining access to their server room via pick-locking. All carried out under fully authorised, ethical penetration testing.

Simon Taylor

Why Blockchain Is The Next Generation Of The Internet

Taylor is Co-Founder and Blockchain Practice Lead at 11:FS. He led Blockchain Research and Development at Barclays, where Barclays became the first bank in the world to perform a live trade finance transaction over a Blockchain / DLT with a real customer attached. Today at 11:FS, Taylor advises governments, regulators and some of the worlds largest banks, financial institutions, and corporations on how blockchain and DLT will impact their business in the short, medium, and long term. In addition Taylor also co-hosts the industry-leading podcasts Fintech Insider and Blockchain Insider.

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We’ll see you on 6 through 9 of March at the ExCel Center in London. If you haven’t saved your spot, register today. And don’t hesitate to contact us with any enquiries or customer service needs.