FinovateEurope: Fintech Talk at London’s Tobacco Dock

FinovateEurope: Fintech Talk at London’s Tobacco Dock

FinovateEurope 2019 kicks off this week here in London, U.K. And for the second year in a row, FinovateEurope has a new home in England: London’s famous Tobacco Dock. We’re hoping that you’ll be able to join us this week for what promises to be three days (plus an additional summit day on Friday) of innovative fintech demos, insightful keynotes, and deep dive breakout sessions.

To help ensure you make the most of the event, here are a few last minute notes and need-to-knows.

Save Your Spot!

Registration for FinovateEurope is still open! If you haven’t picked up your ticket, run – don’t walk – to our registration page to make sure you don’t miss a minute of this year’s event. Group, government, and startup discounts are available. Contact us at gf-registrations@knect365.com for information on government and regulatory entity discounts. For more information on startup discounts, email us at europe@finovate.com.

Location! Location!

FinovateEurope moves to London’s Tobacco Dock this year. Located in London’s growing enterprise zone and just one stop on the DLR from Bank, Tobacco Dock is close to the Tower of London and only a few kilometers from Tech City and London’s Financial District. Tobacco Dock is on Wapping Lane, St. Katharine’s & Wapping, London, E1W 2SF.

Timing = Everything

Registration on Tuesday morning begins at 0800, and the first demo starts at 0925. Both coffee and a continental breakfast will be provided, so be sure to arrive a little early, pick up some refreshments, and join us in the main hall.

On Thursday, registration begins at 0800, with our Chairman’s opening remarks – courtesy of Dave Birch, Global Ambassador with Consult Hyperion – starting at 0840, and our opening keynote beginning at 0845 – featuring Tan Le, founder and CEO of EMOTIV. On Friday, registration begins at 0815, with opening remarks from our Chairs begin at 0900. Opening keynotes begin at 0910 for the Open Banking Summit and at 0915 for the AI Summit.

Live Demos and Deep Dive Discussions

Both Tuesday and Wednesday will feature four live demo sessions each for a total of 64 scheduled demos. Get to know our demoing companies ahead of time via our FinovateEurope 2019 demos page, and then learn a little more about them in our FinovateEurope 2019 Sneak Peek series.

On Thursday, we bring the experts to the stage to discuss some of the most important technology trends in fintech. We will begin with an opening address and opening keynote, and then proceed to a variety of main stage addresses and panels on topics including e-commerce, innovation and collaboration, and digital transformation. Thursday will also feature streams on subjects such as challenger banks, blockchain technology, the the democratization of data, and the role of augmented intelligence in chatbot technology.

And remember we will also hold a special Summit Day on Friday with two streams: one dedicated to Open Banking, and the other focused on AI. For more information on how to attend our Friday Summit Day, check out our registration page. Discounts are available for attendees purchasing tickets to all four days of FinovateEurope 2019.

As you can see, there’s a whole lot going on at FinovateEurope this year. We look forward to seeing you this week here in London at the Tobacco Dock!

Have a question about FinovateEurope? Check out the FAQ section on our FinovateEurope 2019 page, or send us an email at europe@finovate.com.

DSwiss, Digital Safes, and the Principles of Privacy By Design

DSwiss, Digital Safes, and the Principles of Privacy By Design

Ahead of FinovateEurope in London next week, we talked with Tobias Christen, CEO of Zurich, Switzerland-based DSwiss, about his company and its flagship digital safe technology that supports the long-term secure, safe-keeping of personal files and passwords.

DSwiss was founded in 2008 and most recently demonstrated its technology at FinovateEurope 2018.

Finovate: Banks offer an adapted version of your digital safe directly from their online banking portals. But why would people want to save passwords and files with their bank?

Tobias Christen: A recent PwC-survey concluded that banks are amongst the most trusted organizations when it comes to privacy and cybersecurity, outranking healthcare providers, nonprofits, and online retailers. This only confirms our own experience: Increasingly, people are looking for a trusted partner that can help them keep important data safe. Banks are really well-positioned to act as that partner because of their long history as custodians of wealth.

The study also revealed that only 10% of consumers feel they have complete control over their personal information. In my opinion, that’s because they started out making the mistake of saving everything with companies whose business model was to sell data. There’s nothing wrong with using social media, iCloud or Google Docs but we’re seeing a growing understanding that not all data is made equal. Some documents are worthy of a superior protection – copies of ID papers, financial documents and passwords for example – and people are really looking for a safe alternative to store such data.

This is where a digital version of the bank safe seems like a very logical place to go. People feel safer storing essential data here because the business model of banks is not based on selling customer data but rather on their ability to keep such assets safe.

Finovate: How do you keep up with consumer demands and ensure that the digital safe stays relevant to them?

Christen: We’ve had a two string approach to that. On the one hand, we develop and market our own B2C solution called SecureSafe, which has more than 1 million users. Being behind our own B2C solution gives us direct access to highly valuable user feedback. Due to the popularity of such services as Dropbox, SecureSafe users started asking for more advanced file sharing and sync capabilities. We responded with secure sharing and encrypted sync functionality.

On the other hand, we’ve established a highly collaborative approach to the digital safe. Since our first private and cantonal bank clients joined us in 2009, DSwiss experts have joined forces with banks to develop strategic features that fit their particular needs. In 2011, we started to work on a patented single sign-on technology to allow for smooth integration of digital safes in online bank portals. eDelivery for the safe transfer of bank documents directly to clients’ safes followed soon after. After entering our first collaboration with a major bank in 2015, we’ve been able to speed up the collaborative product innovation.

Our latest innovation combines original meta-data that is passed along with documents (or requests) and data that is extracted with rule-based and machine-learning-based algorithms. This might sound very technical, but at Finovate London 2019 we’ll show you how it makes onboarding for a mortgage a lot faster and easier for bank clients. Ultimately, this feature makes any interaction between bank advisor and end-client user-centric. This fosters customer loyalty and helps a bank stand out to prospect clients.

Finovate: How do you keep up with security demands from your bank clients?

Christen: Banks have always been focused on a particularly high level of security and are understandably cautious when it comes to collaborating with fintechs. However, DSwiss was built on the principles of privacy by design from the get-go. We’ve employed zero knowledge architecture, double encryption and triple data redundancy since the very beginning. In particular, our zero knowledge architecture takes the confidentiality protection, which banks generally implement, to the next level. Throughout the years, we’ve been so fortunate as to work with banks of all sizes, both private and retail. That has enabled us to build up a lot of experience with the specific regulations that concern banks, such as GDPR.

Finovate: According to you, what are the biggest challenges to online security and privacy protection today?

Christen: In the old days, cyber criminals were quite often isolated individuals with limited financial resources. They were principally motivated by curiosity, pride or revenge. Today, the offenders are mostly motivated by economical perspectives and they are often engaged by governments. This means that we increasingly see well-organized and well-founded groups at work.


Watch DSwiss and dozens of other innovative fintech companies demonstrate their latest technologies live at FinovateEurope 2019, 12-14 February at the Tobacco Dock in London, U.K. For more information, including how to buy your ticket and save your spot, visit our registration page today.

Beyond AI: Brain Augmentation and the Future of Interfaces

Beyond AI: Brain Augmentation and the Future of Interfaces

The keynote addresses at Finovate conferences are more than just an opportunity to catch up on the coolest conversations in fintech.

From author Tim Urban, who delivered a thrilling presentation on AI and the prospects for superintelligence, to futurist Rohit Talwar who discussed the relationship between AI and the future of work, our keynotes help put fintech in the larger context of some of the most impactful technological trends of our time.

This year at FinovateEurope will be no exception. For our opening keynote, we will feature Tan Le, founder and CEO of EMOTIV, for a conversation on artificial intelligence, brain augmentation, and more that you won’t want to miss.

Check out this excerpt from her TedGlobal presentation from 2010.

Communication between people, on the other hand, is far more complex and a lot more interesting because we take into account so much more than what is explicitly expressed. We observe facial expressions, body language, and we can intuit feelings and emotions from our dialogue with one another. This actually forms a large part of our decision-making process.

Our vision is to introduce this whole new realm of human interaction into human-computer interaction so that computers can understand not only what you direct it to do, but it can also respond to your facial expressions and emotional experiences. And what better way to do this than by interpreting the signals naturally produced by our brain, our center for control and experience.

EMOTIV is a bio-informatics and technology firm, founded in 2011 in Australia and currently headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company develops and manufacturers wearable electroencephalogy (EEG) products designed for a variety of use cases: from enhancing performance and well-being to supporting brain controlled technologies to helping businesses conduct consumer research.

In her presentation at FinovateEurope next weekThe NeuroGeneration – How the New Era in Brain Augmentation is Revolutionizing the Way You Think, Work, Lead, and Live, Le will explain how automation and AI can serve as allies en route to a new, extended, augmented human organism.

To catch Le’s presentation – and several more insightful takes on the role of technology in our lives – be sure to join us at FinovateEurope 2019 next week at London’s Tobacco Dock. For more information, including how to pick up your ticket and reserve your spot, visit our registration page today.

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Finovate Forecasts: Our Experts Talk Fintech in 2019

Finovate Forecasts: Our Experts Talk Fintech in 2019

Mirror, mirror, on the wall. What fintech future does 2019 have in store for us all?

We posed the question to a handful of fintech experts who will be driving the conversation at FinovateEurope in London, U.K., on February 12-14.

Here’s what they had to say about the themes and trends that will dominate fintech this year.

And remember there’s still time to save your spot and join us for what promises to be our most exciting FinovateEurope to date!

Aurélie L’Hostis, Senior Analyst, Forrester

AI is set to disrupt business models, change operating models, and reimagine customer experiences in financial services. But like all other new technologies like big data and cloud computing, AI still requires hard work. Financial services executives must prepare their organizations for change and take a strategic approach to AI.

Join Aurélie as she provides key insights into digital business strategy as part of our Analyst All-Stars Session on February 14 at FinovateEurope.

Giulio Montemagno, General Manager, Amazon Pay, Europe

Since the emergence of digital, commerce has been in a state of transformation, first with e-commerce and then with the rise of mobile came m-commerce.  We’ve gone from typing and touching to swiping and now to talking, each mode of interaction has gotten progressively easier for the consumer. What could be more simple or intuitive? More personal than a conversation?

With the rapid adoption of voice across multiple use cases and devices, commerce may well be the next frontier. It can make the complex simple—it’s the most natural and convenient user interface. Today, we are in the very early stages of the third era–voice commerce–a powerful medium that will transform our day-to-day lives and how we purchase. Central to emergence of voice is building connected experiences for customers so they can interact and transact where, when and how they want–their choice, and at their convenience.

Join Giulio as he discusses The evolution of the third era of commerce on February 14 at FinovateEurope.

Benoit Legrand, Chief Innovation Officer, ING

Our 2019 prediction would be that 2019 will be the year of hyper personalization where financial ecosystems parties (BigTechs, FinTechs, incumbents) will combine advanced AI techniques with the (new) access to personal banking data provided by PSD2 APIs and beyond.

2019 will also be the year where DLT initiatives will move from pilot to scaling in the more mature use cases (i.e trade finance).

Join Benoit as he presents our afternoon keynote Digital transformation – culture, collaboration, and competition on February 14 at FinovateEurope.

Juliette Souliman, Early Stage VC Investor, Octopus Ventures

I think payment control will be at the heart of 2019 fintech innovations. With non-cash transactions increasing at the highest growth rate in the last decade, it is crucial to ensure a strong level of control over those new cashless and seamless payment experiences.

Hence, Octopus Ventures will be closely monitoring the newest players in the cyber security and anti-fraud prevention sectors – from robotic process automation, advanced ML, to biometrics solutions.

Join Juliette as she discusses the finance and fintech trends that getting investment during our Lunchtime VC Panel on February 14 at FinovateEurope.

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FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: Fincite & ABN AMRO

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: Fincite & ABN AMRO

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateEurope on February 12 through 14, 2019 in London, U.K. Register today and save your spot.

Recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in Germany, Fincite provides an investment suite with a 360° customer view, intelligent recommendations, and portfolio management for banks and asset managers

Features

  • Automatically provide an individual investment proposal based on customer and bank restrictions
  • Reduce the effort of an investment advisor to handle a portfolio by 4x
  • Ensure portfolio compliance

Why it’s great
The tool allows investment advisors to quickly give accurate financial advice and optimize portfolios, providing a completely new user experience for advisors and customers.

Presenters

Friedhelm Schmitt, Co-CEO, Fincite
Schmitt is a German technology entrepreneur and founder of Fincite and Fincite Ventures. Fincite is creating solutions to reinvent investment and portfolio management in a digital world.
LinkedIn

 

Maarten Heyboer, Business Developer, Investments, ABN AMRO
Heyboer is a Dutch business developer working for ABN AMRO Private Banking. His drive is to optimize customer satisfaction by developing great investment products using the latest innovations.
LinkedIn

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: Keepabl

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: Keepabl

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateEurope on February 12 through 14, 2019 in London, U.K. Register today and save your spot.

How good’s your GDPR answer? Keepabl helps you feel confident about GDPR and gives you a great GDPR answer for the board, investors, and customers in an intuitive, simple SaaS solution.

Features

  • Incredibly simple, user-friendly interface
  • Instant reports, registers, and analysis to help you get the GDPR job done
  • Years of legal expertise baked into the product

Why it’s great
Have a great GDPR answer and unlock investment and revenue blocked by privacy concerns.

Presenter

Robert Baugh, CEO
Baugh founded Keepabl after 13+ years as General Counsel, EVP and Director of VC-backed growth SaaS companies, combining legal and SaaS expertise with the coal-face experience of being the customer.
LinkedIn

 

Andrea Spataro, Privacy Executive
Spataro is a qualified Italian lawyer and Data Protection consultant, combining legal expertise with experience implementing practical and achievable compliance programs in Italy and the U.K.
LinkedIn

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: Salt Edge

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: Salt Edge

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateEurope on February 12 through 14, 2019 in London, U.K. Register today and save your spot.

Salt Edge is a leading financial API platform that offers a range of PSD2 and Open Banking solutions. By having a global vision and EU focus, it securely connects to 3,100+ banks in over 60 countries.

Features

  • Verification of payee before the confirmation of payment
  • Built-in payment templates for all instant payment schemes
  • Notifications about banks’ PISP/AISP channels availability

Why it’s great
Salt Edge enables your company to experience the full power of Open Banking. With a single integration, you get access to thousands of banks and dozens of unique services.

Presenters

Lisa Terziman-Gutu, Head of Business Development
Terziman-Gutu has five years working experience in the fintech industry developing Open Banking products. She leads Salt Edge’s business expansion around the world.
LinkedIn

 

Andrei Scutari, Senior Sales Manager
Scutari is a fintech and Open Banking industry expert. He has international experience in product management, sales, and corporate business.
LinkedIn

 

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: Icefire

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: Icefire

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateEurope on February 12 through 14, 2019 in London, U.K. Register today and save your spot.

Icefire‘s Modularbank is a true BaaS platform built on decades of industry expertise. It allows banks to run their businesses in real-time and rapidly leverage new business models.

Features

  • Rapidly launch business lines like accounts, payments, and loans on the side of your existing business.
  • Replace your existing systems step-by-step
  • Launch a new credit institution in no time

Why it’s great
Icefire has successfully replaced the heart of numerous established banks. With its API-based banking platform Modularbank, Icefire can now serve its clients with the most aggressive timeline possible.

Presenters

Rivo Uibo, Head of Business
Uibo has been leading and advising many influential and award-winning business cases in the banking and financial services industry. He is one of the driving forces behind Modularbank.
LinkedIn

 

Ove Kreison, Head of R&D
Kreison has extensive banking and financial services experience backed with deep technical know-how. He is one of the founders of Modularbank.
LinkedIn

 

Save up to £400 if you register for FinovateEurope before Friday!



David Birch
Global Ambassadaor
Consult Hyperion

David will be the chairman of Day 3 at FinovateEurope 2019. He is an internationally-recognised thought leader in digital identity and digital money; was named one of the global top 15 favourite sources of business information by Wired magazine and one of the top ten most influential voices in banking by Financial Brand; created one of the top 25 “must read” financial IT blogs; was found by PR Daily to be one of the top ten Twitter accounts followed by innovators, along with Bill Gates and Richard Branson and was rated Europe’s most influential commentator on emerging payments by Total Payments.
LEARN MORE


Russell Pert
UK Head of Industry
Facebook

Russell will discuss how technology is augmenting relationships between brands and customers and why the future of loyalty is centered around relevant and meaningful one to one interactions, at scale.
LEARN MORE


Tan Le
Founder & CEO
Emotiv

As one of Fast Company’s Most Influential Women in Technology and Forbes’ 50 Names You Need to Know, Tan will show you how automation is an opportunity rather than a threat, as humans and machines become increasingly integrated.
LEARN MORE

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: DSwiss AG

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: DSwiss AG

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateEurope on February 12 through 14, 2019 in London, U.K. Register today and save your spot.

With its latest innovation, DSwiss’ Safes can combine original meta-data that is passed along with documents/requests and data that is extracted with rule-based and machine-learning based algorithms

Features

  • Support for structured and guided document requests
  • Automatic match of requests with existing documents in safe
  • Passing of available meta-data back into the workflow

Why it’s great
User-centric workflows that combine a personal data safe with document requests can provide additional value to both the bank and the client.

Presenters

Tobias Christen, CEO
Christen boasts 20 years of experience in software development. Prior to co-founding DSwiss, he was responsible for developing the architecture of a security system for a large international firm.
LinkedIn

 

Damir Durut, Senior Project Manager
Durut earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the Applied University of Zurich. He has 6+ years of experience in IT Project Management, Business Analysis, and Process Management. He is fluent in five languages.
LinkedIn

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: LOQR

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: LOQR

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateEurope on February 12 through 14, 2019 in London, U.K. Register today and save your spot.

LOQR’s Unified Identity Management approach provides a customer-centric, mobile first, one-stop-shop, digital identity lifecycle manager, focused on B2B and B2E regulated verticals.

Features

  • Identity Verification: Simplified enrollment and identity verification
  • Identity Engagement: Unique identities and multi-factor authentication features
  • Identity Provider: A unique identity for each person

Why it’s great
Use LOQR to turn identity verification into a speedy and cost-effective onboarding process, with the best possible customer experience and easy compliance.

Presenters

Ricardo Costa, CEO
Costa has experience in cybersecurity as an international project leader within financial, payment systems digital certification, and electronic identity sectors.
LinkedIn

 

Pedro Borges, CTO
Borges has taken on multiple roles involved in the software development lifecycle. His experience has ranged from hands-on development to multiple management responsibilities in organizations of different sizes operating in multiple countries.
LinkedIn

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: Launchfire

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: Launchfire

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateEurope on February 12 through 14, 2019 in London, U.K. Register today and save your spot.

Launchfire’s Lemonade platform is the only all-in-one learning experience platform built specifically for financial institutions.

Features

  • Launch more engaging and effective learning experiences for employees
  • Get employees role-ready in less time
  • Measure business impact and prove ROI

Why it’s great
The Lemonade learning experience platform creates better staff, faster.

Presenter
Romeo Maione, Program Designer and Strategist
As program designer and strategist at Launchfire, Maione has helped design Launchfire’s Learning Experience Platform, Lemonade.
LinkedIn