EVENTS: PARIS FINTECH FORUM few names that are 100 per cent confirmed: Ralph Hamers, CEO of ING; Carlos Torres Vila, chairman of BBVA (Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria); Frédéric Oudéa, CEO of Société Générale; Hikmet Ersek, CEO of Western Union; Nikhil Rathi, CEO of London Stock Exchange; Valentin Stalf, CEO of N26; Kathryn Petralia, president of Kabbage; Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple; David Gurle, CEO of Symphony; Brandon Krieg, CEO of StashInvest… among many others. TFM: You are mixing fintechs and top-level incumbents on stage. But what happens backstage – any real deals? LN: Since our very first edition, we’ve promoted cooperation between incumbents and fintechs. There is competition, of course, but ‘coopetition’ is really the word here. New entrants mostly disrupted tech solutions providers (core banking, regtech, robo advisors, credit platforms, application programming interface (API) providers, blockchain solutions) more than banks or insurance firms themselves. But to get back to your question, yes, real deals definitely happen! We very often receive messages from our speakers and
We select fintechs that are the best representative players in their sector
TFM: You also have many speakers from incumbents – including key CEOs. How do you get them to join the debate? LN: We all have our secret recipes! However, what I can tell you is that when a company is already engaged in a real digital transformation, their leaders are quite easy to convince to come and share with the crowd their vision of the future. Of course, some financial institutions are quite late in that process, so you don’t really see their top leaders on stage. TFM: Any scoops you can share with us on the already confirmed speakers for next January? LN: We usually publish the first confirmed speakers list in mid-October, but here are a www.fintech.finance
days
2
attendees, telling us about business deals, investment discussions or partnership agreements during the Forum. We plan the event for that to happen: innovation and business lounges are organised with our partners to foster meetings and partnership propositions; dedicated networking apps help you to find the right match for your needs and organise meetings, and there are numerous networking spaces. Last but not least, 64 per cent of our attendees this year were CEOs, C-level executives and directors. They are the decision-makers, which is key to making real business happen! TFM: Who are the main partners to organise such a big international event? LN: Every year, we gather around 200 financial partners, including major sponsors, exhibitors and institutions. We purposely limit the number of platinum and gold sponsors to 16. This year, our platinum sponsors are Arkea, Banking Circle, BNP Paribas, Mastercard, Sopra Banking Software and Wirecard. Gold sponsors are Capgemini, Finance Innovation, Forter, IDnow, Mambu, Rapyd, Rise, Temenos, Tribe Payments and Western Union. It’s a very diverse mix. Then there are almost 150 exhibitors and many dedicated partnerships.
An event held over 2 days to foster real exchanges between major players from different ecosystems.
280 speakers
Mainly CEOs & Managing
3
2700 attendees
52%
exhibition
international
halls
75
countries
1340
companies
37%
50+ exhibitors & partners
120+ Fintech booths
bank, insurance, finance & institutionals
Directors of Banks, Insurances, Regulators & more than 150 worldwide Fintechs from all sectors at various development stages.
5 stages Session
For 150+ exclusive panels, fireside chats & pitches.
04_ff-the-fintech-mag_visual1.indd 1
8
Networking &
innovation
43%
Lounges
Fintech & Tech
Organized with our partners to discover, learn, exchange, do business through showcases, meetups & 1 to 1.
rooms 2 workshop Dedicated to our partners thematic sessions.
12%
VCs / investors & media
29% CEOs & founders
82%
35% C-level & directors
C-level & top management
3
parties
What we aim for at the Forum each year is a real expert selection to offer our participants an up-to-date and state-of-the-art vision of what fintech is in the different geographies and in all financial domains. We do not claim that we select the ‘best’ fintechs; rather, we choose those that, at the time of the Forum, are the best representative players in their sector, bringing real innovation and/or being at the centre of a strong commercial traction. As a result, we don’t have a lot of early-stage companies because one of the objectives of the Forum is to e nable partnership between historical players and new entrants. This is possible only for startups that have already successfully taken the first steps in their company journeys and are strong enough to face the unavoidable hazards and timelines accompanying collaboration with big groups. Our selection is a mix of international unicorns and a plethora of startups, sometimes less known to the general public, which apply to be on stage via our online platform. This year, we expect to exceed the 900 applications for the last edition. As of 1 September 2019, we have already received 400-plus and that call for speakers is ongoing until the end of October. You can find more details and apply directly by going to www. parisfintechforum.com/speakers.
18% Mngt. team
Speaker dinner
Gala dinner
Closing party
Issue 13 | TheFintechMagazine 131 10/09/2019 21:02