FinovateSpring is right around the corner! Our week of live fintech demos, insightful discussions, and passionate debates is one of the best – and most entertaining – ways to get up to speed on everything you need to know about the state of fintech today.

With a special, pre-show Summit Day on Tuesday, May 7, FinovateSpring begins on May 8 and runs through Friday the 10th. Our annual spring conference will be held at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square, where we’re looking forward to a fun and informative four days focused exclusively on fintech innovation.

Here are a few things to keep in mind as you plan your trip to the Bay Area.

Get Your Tickets Here!

Save your spot at FinovateSpring by visiting our registration page and picking up your ticket today.

Registration for both the main, three-day conference, as well as for our special Summit Day on Tuesday, May 7, is quick and easy. Discounts are available for groups, representatives of governmental/regulatory agencies, startups, and attendees registering for both the main conference and the Summit Day. Check out our registration page for more details.

Back at the Bay

FinovateSpring returns to San Francisco for the first time since 2013. This year our spring conference will be held in the heart of the city at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square on O’Farrell Street. The venue is less than an hour away from the main Bay Area airports, as well as shops, restaurants, and a variety of entertainment venues.

Live Demos and Deep Dives

FinovateSpring begins Wednesday morning, May 10, and continues through Friday afternoon. The first two days of the conference will feature our presenting companies as they demonstrate their latest technologies live on our stage.

On Friday, we will invite the fintech experts to take over and have them put into context the innovations that have been on display over the past few days. We’ve prepared a full day of keynote addresses, debates, fireside chats, and panel discussions on a wide range of critical trends and themes in fintech.

Check out a preview of our Friday morning main stage agenda, as well as our afternoon breakout streams on Community Banking, Digital Payments, Digital Banking, and Digital Lending.

This year we will also feature a special, pre-FinovateSpring Summit Day on Tuesday. This Summit Day consists of two tracks: one focusing on the evolving role of the customer experience in fintech and the other examining the rise of artificial intelligence as an enabling technology in the industry. We’re looking forward to the conversations with and insights from our speakers in both of these tracks.

With all we’ve got planned for FinovateSpring next week, we are thrilled to be back in San Francisco for this year’s conference. If you’ve got any questions about the event, check out the FAQ section on our FinovateSpring page or contact us directly.

What’s new and what’s next in fintech? How are all of those 2019 industry predictions panning out?

One of the best ways to gauge what’s trending is to attend FinovateSpring, which will be taking place next week, May 8 through 10, in San Francisco. If you haven’t already, be sure to register today so you don’t miss out!

The word cloud above outlines trends the demoing companies will present on stage. Here’s my take:

Dominant themes

Artificial Intelligence
Is anyone surprised to see AI as the top trend at this year’s show? Fintechs and banks alike are leveraging the enabling technology to build out use cases across the sector from security, to investment, to marketing, and more. You can expect to see this theme pulse throughout the demos this year.

Data
If AI is a jet engine, data is jet fuel. No matter how powerful the plane, it won’t move without the propellant. Financial services generate a lot of data and fintechs are ready to show you how to put it to use.

Sales
Banks know that no matter how much money you pour into a new offering, products don’t sell themselves and up-selling and cross-selling aren’t always straightforward. So whether it’s wealth management or accounting tools, checking accounts or lending products, fintechs are ready to help bring in revenue.

APIs/SDKs
What’s a fintech without an API these days? Using an API or SDK helps fintechs give the keys to their technology to another business or organization. Prepare to see most companies allowing you to tap into their technologies with their own API and/or SDK.

Dwarfed topics

Algorithmic Investing
Wealthtech solutions were red hot in 2015, but while they are as relevant as ever, their popularity has been minimized by the takeover of topics such as AI, machine learning, and voice banking. And while companies have been using algorithms for years to disrupt this space, other topics are rising to the top of the popularity list.

Alt Payments
This is another trend that’s been around for awhile. In fact, it’s a topic startups have been tackling since the dawn of fintech. However, since consumers are still comfortable paying by credit card, cash, and in some cases even by check, alternative payments technology hasn’t accelerated quickly.

Insurtech
In the U.S., insurtech has been slow to excite both consumers and banks. There is clearly a market for insurance solutions in financial services, but it’s a small one.

What I’ll be watching

Alternative banking services, such as products for unbanked and underbanked populations are making a slow but steady rise in fintech. Big banks struggle to serve this market, which can be less than profitable, but many fintechs have found ways to deal with the risk and create a product that is relatable for the underserved audience.

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There’s still time to book your ticket for FinovateSpring. And it’s worth coming a day early to attend the Summit Day on May 7. The Summit Day will feature in-depth discussions on customer experience and AI. Check out what to expect from the AI Summit and what you’ll get out of the Customer Experience Summit.

From walking meetings to working lunches, we know that fintech folks like to stay busy. And with so much to offer during FinovateSpring’s Content Day on Friday, May 10, we thought we’d take advantage of the noon lunch break to bring you even more great analysis and insight from some of fintech’s sharpest observers.

Here’s a peek at our lunch time line up, including one expert briefing panel discussion and a whole slew of special interest, hosted discussions held under Chatham House Rules to promote a free and open conversation.

• Addressing Financial Wellness & Financial Inclusion. An expert briefing moderated by Theodora Lau, Founder, Unconventional Ventures. Featuring:
  • Monica Brand Engel, Founder, Quona
  • Ashraf Hassan, Global Head of Strategic Partnerships, Google Play
  • Stoyan Kenderov, Head of Product & Design, Lending Club
  • Brad Leimer, Co-founder, Unconventional Ventures
  • Jennifer McHugh, Director of Public Affairs & Financial Education, Royal Credit Union

Here are our special interest discussion tables held under Chatham House Rules:

• How Incumbents Can Successfully Collaborate with Fintechs to Accelerate Change with John Stecher, Chief Innovation Officer, Barclays Bank

• The Democratization of Alternative Investments with Ronak Pakzad, Founder, GoodWealth

• Quantum Computing – The Wave of the Future? with Aleksandr Oysgelt, Director, Technology and Innovation, Deutsche Bank

• Challenges in the Insurance Industry & How Insurtech Could Solve Them with Quetin Coolen, Co-founder and CEO, Waffle

• How Challenger Banks are Creating a Seamless Digital Experience with Tyler McIntyre, Founder, Bank Novo

• How Community Banks Can Harness Fintech with Jill Castilla, President and CEO, Citizens Bank of Edmond

• Addressing the Security Challenges Facing Financial Institutions with Sean Sposito, Security Analyst, Javelin Strategy

Remember our Content Day on Friday, May 10, will also feature four afternoon content streams dedicated to Community Banking, Digital Payments, Digital Banking, and Digital Lending.

Tickets to FinovateSpring are still available, so visit our registration page today and reserve your spot. We’ll see you in San Francisco!

Have we saved the best part of this year’s FinovateSpring for last? You’ll be the judge on Friday, May 10th when we turn from the entrepreneurs to the experts, analysts, and investors.

Our Content Day begins Friday morning with opening remarks from our chair and an expert insight into the most innovative technologies from our Best of Show Awards, courtesy of Beyond the Arc’s Steven Ramirez.

What follows is a day’s worth of keynotes, roundtables, fireside chats and debates on topics ranging from digital transformation in financial services to the rise and role of new technologies like AI. Friday will also feature four content streams: Community Banking, Digital Lending, Digital Payments, and Digital Banking, with their own addresses and panel discussions that we’ll highlight in an upcoming post.

Tickets are still available. And we’re looking forward to seeing you next month in San Francisco, California. In the meantime, here’s a look at who will be saying what on the final day of FinovateSpring.

• 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? A keynote address from Tim Urban, Founder, Wait But Why.

• Which Artificial Intelligence Technologies Will Really Change Financial Services? A power panel featuring:
  • Emil Matsakh, former Chief Analytics Officer, Commonwealth Bank of Australia
  • Jon Zanoff, Managing Director, Techstars
  • Ankit Bhatt, SVP of Omnichannel Experience, U.S. Bank
  • Karen Gordon Mills, Former member of President Obama’s cabinet and Senior Fellow, Harvard Business Schoo

• Improving the Financial Health of America’s 100 Million Credit Underserved Consumers. A fireside chat featuring Alex Lintner, Group President, Consumer Information Services, North America

• How Can Financial Institutions Capture the Fintech Opportunity and Collaborate with New Players to Transform Customer Experience? A C-Suite digital change leaders debate featuring:
  • Vaduvur Bharghavan, CEO, Ondot Systems
  • Peggy Mangot, Senior Vice President, Wells Fargo
  • Dave Mooney, President and CEO, Alliant Credit Union
  • Jeff Winner, Managing Director, Marcus by Goldman Sachs
  • Edward J. Achtner, Head of Digital Banking & Strategic Change, U.S, Commercial Bank (CMB), HSBC Bank USA
  • Steven Ramirez, CEO, Beyond the Arc

• Simplifying and Securing Digital Commerce through Tokenization. A special address from Jessica Turner, Executive Vice President, North American Digital Payments and Labs and Global Issuer Engagement.

• How are Regulators Approaching Cryptocurrencies? A fireside chat featuring Andrea Seidt, Ohio Securities Commissioner, Ohio Department of Commerce, and Valentina Isakina, Managing Director, Jobs Ohio

• The Evolving Role of Cybersecurity – Are Banking Treating Technology Risk as Extensions of Their Businesses? A strategy roundtable featuring:
  • Bindu Sundaresan, Cybersecurity Leader, AT&T
  • Rahul Pangam, VP, Risk Strategy, Simility
  • Nipun Gupta, Vice President, Technology, Deutsche Bank
  • Sean Sposito, Cybersecurity Analyst, Javelin Strategy & Research.

• Where Is the Smart VC Money Investing in Fintech? An investors debate featuring:
  • Mike Sigal, Partner, 500 Startups
  • Michelle Arbov, Vice President, Mergers & Acquisitions, IAC
  • Ramneek Gupta, Co-head of Venture Investing & Managing Director, Citi Ventures
  • Mike Parker, Partner, AGC Partners
  • Patricia Kemp – Co-founder & General Partner, Oak HC/FT

• Finovate Finale! The Accelerators Showcase featuring:
  • Jon Zanoff – Managing Director, Techstars
  • Nami Baral – Founder & CEO, Harvest Platform
  • Quetin Coolen – CEO & Co-founder, Waffle Labs
  • Sunny Parikh – Vice President, Partnership Fund for New York City
  • Jason Briggs – COO, Diffeo
  • Tadas Jucikas – Founder and CEO, Genus AI
  • Brittany Lockard – Principal, Financial Services, Accenture Ventures
  • Mary Cay Cousart – Senior Vice President, Cutover
  • Marcia Chong Rosado – Manager, Financial Innovation Practice, Village Capital