With many fintech fans still enjoying the last few days and weeks of summer vacation, it can be hard to believe that FinovateFall is right around the corner.

Our fall fintech showcase returns to the New York Marriott Marquis in Manhattan’s Times Square next month, September 23rd through September 25th. We will also feature a special Summit Day on September 26th, not covered by the general admission ticket, that will have a focus on artificial intelligence and wealthtech.

Find out more about our conference agenda, including how to register and save your spot. Pick up your ticket by Friday, August 16th and take advantage of early bird savings.

Get to know FinovateFall’s demoing companies in our Sneak Peek series

Over the next few weeks between now and our annual autumn event, we’ll profile the companies that will demonstrate their latest technologies live on the Finovate stage as part of our FinovateFall Sneak Peek series. Find out how some of our industry’s most ambitious startups and innovative veterans are shaping the future of fintech today.

And to help you get ready for FinovateFall beyond the demos, the Finovate blog will also feature profiles of our conference speakers, and an advance look at some of the topics that will drive our keynotes and panel discussions at the event.

More details on FinovateFall are available at our conference page. Check out the full list of demoing companies, our keynote speakers and deep dive sessions, as well as information on how to plan your visit. If you have any questions, send us an email and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

With such a fast news cycle in fintech, sometimes it’s helpful to dissect the news based on verticals; looking at them each independently. And we’ve done just that. Here’s a quick synopsis of what’s trending among six fintech verticals.

We’ll be taking a closer look at each of these topics at FinovateFall (September 23 through 25 in New York), where the brightest minds in fintech will discuss what you need to know about the latest news during our breakout streams. Register today to save your seat.

Challenger banks

Challenger banks got their start during the 2008 financial crisis after consumers lost trust with mega banks and began looking for an alternative. Recently in this space, we’ve started seeing U.K. banks make inroads into the U.S., where there is less competition for non-traditional banking providers. After amassing a waitlist of 100,000 U.S. consumers, German challenger bank N26 launched in the U.S. this July. A few weeks earlier, Monzo also announced a U.S. expansion after amassing a user base of 2.2 million customers in the U.K.

These non-traditional banks are also experiencing a funding boom. Last month alone brought major funding rounds to three challenger banks. U.K.-based Atom raised $60 million at a $644 million valuation, N26 raised an additional $170 million investment at a $3.5 billion valuation, and MoneyLion raised $100 million at a valuation of almost $1 billion. And in June U.K.’s Monzo raised $144 million at a $2.5 billion valuation.

Geographical expansion and strong investor confidence in this space indicate it is ramping up, and we can expect more competing challenger banks to enter the arena soon. The influx of funds also brings the likelihood that, as the startups continue development efforts, new products and features may be on the horizon.

Regtech

In the past, regtech has been looked at as the ugly cousin within fintech sub sectors. While not as sexy as investing technology, this vertical has seen increased popularity as of late. With the API economy making bank-fintech partnerships the new norm, regulators are begging for oversight and regulation-as-a-service companies have stepped in with the solutions banks need to stay compliant.

Similarly, as enabling technology expands, so does the need for regulation. Fortunately, along with this need comes the advances in technology for the regtech sector itself, which has benefitted from increased automation and scalability as AI and machine learning gain traction and become more accessible for firms.

Open banking

The final deadline for PSD2 is looming. September 14 is the final deadline by which all EU companies must comply with PSD2’s regulatory technical standards and impose strong customer authentication methods. This has sparked a lot of recent conversation as it has been reported that 41% of EU banks missed the original deadline. And the stakes are high– not only can regulators impose fines, they can also revoke payment providers’ licenses.

Customer experience

Last fall the hot button topic was customer experience. Since then, there have been endless debates on Twitter and the blogosphere on the necessity of bank branches. Some argue that online and mobile channels are the best avenues to serve consumers whereas others contend that physical bank branches are essential to maintain a personal connection with customers. The biggest voice in this debate, however, are the numbers. According to the Financial Brand, 81% of banks and credit unions do not plan to close any branches this year.

It’s hard to talk about the customer experience without bringing up chatbots. The AI-powered technology can be used to scale and humanize the online experience. Not only have we seen an increase in chatbot technology providers, we’ve also been seeing more companies build chatbot capabilities into their own apps.

Banking and payments

It’s true that banking and payments is almost too broad to be considered a vertical of its own. And with such a big category, it can be difficult to narrow down current trends. One topic that has been bubbling up lately, however, is the need for real-time payments in the U.S. Just a couple of days ago, the Federal Reserve announced it will develop a real-time payment and settlement service, called FedNow, that will support faster payments in the U.S.

Voice banking technology has been another widely discussed topic among banks, fintechs, and analysts in the past few months. With voice assistants such as the Amazon Echo, Google home, and Apple’s Siri becoming commonplace in homes, consumers are getting used to asking their AI assistants for answers to quick questions. However, the possibility of using the technology to conduct day-to-day banking activity hasn’t been on consumers’ radar– that is, until recently. On July 1, the classic game of Monopoly released a voice banking version that eschews paper currency. Instead, Rich Uncle Pennybags (the Monopoly man) manages the players’ money. When consumers get used to using voice technology in a game, they will soon be looking for it in their real bank.

Wealth management

Wealth management and roboadvisory technologies haven’t changed dramatically since 2015, the height of the roboadvisor boom. However, in the past few months some wealthtech companies have been broadening their offerings to compete with traditional banks. Betterment, Wealthfront, and SoFi, for example, have all launched checking accounts. Many firms have also unveiled additional capabilities, as well, such as tools for trusts, donation features, 529 plan options, and more.

And as AIs get smarter and work harder, there will be a backpedaling of pure roboadvisory plays. Many wealthtech companies already offer a hybrid option that combines roboadvisor tools with advice and guidance from human advisors. The human touch will rise to the top as a must-have option as consumers manage their nest egg.

Is HSBC’s Pepper the best bot in banking?

Attendees at FinovateFall in New York this September will have an opportunity to judge for themselves as the social humanoid robot, Pepper, makes its Finovate debut. Following our Innovation Keynote on Wednesday, September 25th, attendees will have the opportunity to meet, greet, take selfies with (#PoseWithPepper), interact with, and see Pepper’s capabilities and customer journeys for themselves.

Developed by SoftBank Robotics, Pepper has been deployed at HSBC banks across the U.S. Pepper was first launched at HSBC’s flagship Manhattan branch, and has been rolled out to locations from Miami, Florida to Seattle, Washington. The technology has been credited for gains in everything from ATM transaction volume to new credit card applications.

“As we’ve already seen in HSBC’s Fifth Avenue, Beverly Hills and Seattle branches, Pepper provides services that truly elevate the retail banking experience for both visitors and staff,” Head of Marketing and Business Strategy for SoftBank Robotics America Kass Dawson said.

And in a world in which robotic technologies are often referred to simply as “bots,” and appear to most consumers as mere animations on a digital screen, the arrival of Pepper is both a throwback and a vision into the ways new technologies will enable new forms of banking. Dawson referred to Pepper as a “unique banking experience that is enriched by human-robot interactions.”

HSBC Head of Innovation Jeremy Balkin, who will address FinovateFall this year, explained how Pepper fits in with what he referred to as the “Branch of the Future.” Comparing the rise of robotics in banking to the advent of the smartphone, Balkin said that giving customers products and services that leverage these technologies is key to delivering the digital experience consumers increasingly expect from all service providers.

“By creating these revolutionary new types of digitally enhanced retail banking experiences that use data intelligence and leading edge robotics,” he said, “HSBC is transforming the everyday task of a branch visit into a memorable and extraordinary experience.”

So what does Pepper do? With the ability to provide information on 300 different actions ranging from account opening to applying for a credit card, Pepper performs in three main areas:

• Attention Please! Pepper helps reduce customer waiting time by communicating directly with bank staff based on customer responses to qualifying questions.

• Education and Empowerment: Pepper informs customers on the latest available technologies, products, and services such as ATMs, the bank’s mobile app, and self-service options.

• Product and Service Awareness: Pepper boosts awareness of the bank’s products and services, especially special promotions, by facilitating more productive interactions with HSBC Relationship Managers.

In an extensive feature on Pepper last month, The Financial Brand’s Bill Streeter noted Pepper’s talents: “It uses natural language processing, a component of artificial intelligence to understand multiple languages,” he wrote. “(Pepper) is said to be capable of recognizing basic human emotions and adapting its behavior to what it perceives.”

Streeter quoted HSBC Bank USA’s Head of Retail Banking and Wealth Management for the U.S. and Canada Pablo Sanchez who was blunt in describing Pepper’s ability to move metrics positively. “Unless the robot adds value then it is a gimmick,” he said. “But we knew it was going to help us. We just didn’t realize it would get a billion hits and would increase sales so much.”

To learn more about the technology behind Pepper, visit SoftBank Robotics. And to see Pepper in action for yourself, visit our FinovateFall registration page, pick up your ticket, and reserve your spot at the show.

We’re excited to announce that Finovate is offering pitch sessions exclusively for early-stage startups! This is a brand new initiative from Finovate, and we’re seeking cutting-edge companies focusing in AI or Wealth Management for 3 minute pitches at FinovateFall’s Summit Day.

For less than the price of a single ticket, seed-stage startups will receive a three minute pitch on stage, a dedicated space at the Startup Pitch Bar, access to our powerful networking app, and a ticket to attend the full conference. In order to qualify, companies must be a pre-seed fintech with less than $100k in annual revenue and less than $1M in total funding.

Finovate has always been a powerful platform for promoting new financial technology innovations, and we want to make sure that our show remains accessible for the new companies that represent the bleeding-edge of the industry. We expect startup pitch slots to fill up fast so act now if you want to get involved! Visit our website for more information, or email dominika@finovate.com.

There’s one perk that comes with working as a woman in a male-dominated field– there’s never a line for the ladies restroom. In fact, at a handful of Finovate conferences, we’ve had to convert some of the women’s restrooms into men’s rooms in order to make a the wait time for the men more reasonable. When that happens, you know there’s a problem– one that goes beyond toilets.

Lack of workforce diversity has many drawbacks, the most obvious of which is the gender pay gap. According to the film Equal Means Equal, a documentary that looks at how women in the U.S. are treated today, “Compared to white men, white women working full time, based on median annual full-time earnings, earn 78 cents to every dollar a man earns.”

In an effort to help tip the scales of the gender ratio and bring awareness to the wage gap, Finovate is offering female registrants tickets to FinovateFall for 78 cents on the dollar. That means women who register by this Friday, July 26, can purchase a ticket to FinovateFall for 22% off just by entering the code EQUALITY on page two of the booking form.

Here are a handful of speakers who are helping to bring the female quotient up a notch at FinovateFall this year:

The conference takes place September 23 through 25, with an additional summit day on September 26, at the New York Marriott Marquis.

To take advantage of this offer, book online today with code EQUALITY, contact our customer service team at +1 (888) 670-8200, or register@knect365.com. Rooms can be reserved at the New York Marriott Marquis.