FF Awards 2021 Media Pack

FF AWARDS Media Pack 2021 August 2021

Contents Entering the Awards Categories Timeline Judging

Entering the Awards

INTRO When it comes to awards, we found the tricky part to get right is entry.

What exactly is being judged? How much detail can and should be added? How relevant is that piece of information?

For the FF awards, we want to be clear - we simply want to see a wow moment; something that makes people in the fintech industry get so excited about it, that they have to show it to a friend not in the industry... and even they go “WOW!” The entry format is a video. With a maximum run time of 4 minutes, you need to show us enough information, need and solution, that a judge can give it a defined mark out of ten.

The monetary cost to enter is zero.

The only barrier to entry is to be able to produce a 4 minute video.

Once a video has been submitted we will review it for quality control, before sending it on to be judged.

To produce the four minute video, we would love you to work with the FF team to create this (in the interest of transparency, this is how we are monetizing the awards). This will have zero bearing on the judging process.

The entries can of course be produced in house, via other third parties, or even from fans of the entry!

CATEGORIES

Categories

WOW moment in Consumer Banking

WOW moment in Business Banking

Invisible Security

Pillar of Payments

WOW moment in ID Verification

Biggest WOW using AI

WOW moment in Cross-Border Payments

Best WOW insight from Data

Best WOW in Blockchain

WOW moment in Lending

Authentic ESG

Unseen Embedded Finance

Open Banking esprit de fiducia

WOW moment in Growing your Wealth

WOW! We can build a Bank!

WOW MOMENT IN CONSUMER BANKING

WOW MOMENT IN BUSINESS BANKING

INVISIBLE SECURITY

WOW moments are created when you compel your customers to involuntarily feel “wowed” by delivering a truly extraordinary customer experience. Going the extra mile, or “plus-ing” for your customers when they least expect it, in ways that are unexpected creates a unique, special moment.

Traditionally retail consumers have all the bells and whistles, with slick front end interfaces and the newest products. Businesses have had the practical side of the stick, with little to no updates and uninspiring interfaces.

No one enjoys the process of going through airport security. You are stopped, have to wait, scanned, searched before being allowed to pass through. The security presence is very visible and not the most convenient.

Business banking needs have not been understood. In reality they need to make larger, more frequent payments, with everything tracked for their accounts. They need to manage cash flows, even across multiple departments, and in multiple currencies. Clearly easy. Banks have offered improved security at the expense of experience.

With banking, we want to feel safe, to know our funds and our data are secure. But we don’t want to have to remember a spreadsheet full of numbers, or where we placed a dongle.

In Consumer Banking, these are the moments that cause customers to evolve into fans.

Twenty years ago, if you were shown that you could check your bank balance online; they would have been amazed. Ten years ago, if you made a payment with your phone, they would have been astonished!

What are you doing today that makes your customers become your unconditional champions?

Tony Stark asks “Is it too much to ask for both?”

How have businesses been enabled by banking? What is out there that will tip someone over the edge into entrepreneurship?

What would make someone want to do business banking?

Pull back the curtain - what amazing security products and processes are out there? How does this work at scale? How does the consumer feel safe with a digital SDI defence protecting them?

Categories

PILLAR OF PAYMENTS

WOW MOMENT IN ID VERIFICATION

BIGGEST WOW USING AI

Payments are literally the vital infrastructure of any financial institution. They are the core pillar which everything revolves around - money in and money out.

With around one billion people in the world without any form of ID, the opportunity to unlock this immense population is vast.

Equally, this level of digital identity needs to be secure and protected.

AI has the potential to shape the world, in every aspect of every industry, especially financial services. There is the potential to enable solutions that were in the realms of sci-fi.

Very few people on the planet are able to distinguish a real passport from a high-end forgery; so how can we use technology to uncover the baddies and give people and companies a safe digital record that they can trust?

We want to see how AI today is changing the way that we operate. Whether that be hyper personalization, reconciling billions of transactions, security detection - we are looking for moments in financial services that would have been unthinkable 5 years ago.

We want to know what has enhanced payments and truly brought them to the next level. Whether it be innovative approaches to utilising physical cash and the cash network, or enabling frictionless data rich transactions at a quantity that would be untenable twenty years ago.

What processes, what products and what partnerships exist to propel payments further forward?

We want to see how a mixture of inclusion and trust can be deployed to everyone. How can these one billion people, who live in every country on the planet, be able to hold a digital identity?

(in a crazy cool way)

WOW MOMENT IN CROSS-BORDER PAYMENTS

BEST WOW INSIGHT FROM DATA

BEST WOW IN BLOCKCHAIN

The world is now a much smaller place, and E-commerce has played a huge part in this.

Transactions for goods and services, of varying volumes, are happening between currencies at an incredible scale. And that volume is only increasing.

Technology and communications have enabled us to minimise this barrier to trade.

The expression “data is the new oil” may well be a cliche, but cliches exist for a reason. There are so many insights, knowledge and understanding that can be drawn from data in every part of financial services.

From the fringes to the limelight; blockchain, crypto and defi are now more than just buzzwords they are industries in their own right.

Despite this, there are still cross border transactions that are too expensive, and are even slower than flying cross-continent with a suitcase full of cash.

How does the speed and ability we can attain by technology power cross-border payments to make an impact in the world; not just for financial services, but all industries?

How can this data be used in an unexpected way? How can this be analysed to enhance customer experience? To ramp up security?

To enable empowerment of employees?

How has Data changed the way that decisions are now made for the better?

We want to see how deep a footprint blockchain will leave.

What products and processes are out there that have decentralization at its core, and what impact is this having on individuals, on businesses and society in general?

Categories

WOW MOMENT IN LENDING

AUTHENTIC ESG

UNSEEN EMBEDDED FINANCE

In previous years, lending and taking loans would come with interest rates and debt. With recent innovations in lending services, however, such as the advent of Buy Now, Pay Later, it’s never been easier in today’s world to acquire products and money.

ESG needs to be more than just lip service. It needs to be at the heart of why an organisation exists profits for profits’ sake has little meaning, but how that is used can shape civilizations.

Embedded Finance has, despite its name, taken the non financial world by storm. The ability to open up financial services in ways we had previously never thought possible, makes this award truly groundbreaking. From travel agents offering up repayment schemes on the fly to the humble payment within your ride sharing application.

Lending is starting to become available for all; where merchants are charged fees, and where people are leaving a digital trail - to show that they’re a good, reliable borrower. We want to see how that has been pushed further, and the most amazing innovations to come with lending.

We want to see how organisations are rising to ESG beyond public perception and into authentic, passionate long term goals.

Whether this is enabling ethical standards, striving for sustainability, or even applying pressure on violators to basic human rights.

Whoever wins this award is not only leading the industry, but also the ways people and businesses understand the very concept of finance.

OPEN BANKING ESPRIT DE FIDUCIA

WOW MOMENT IN GROWING YOUR WEALTH

WOW! WE CAN BUILD A BANK!

Open Banking is in many ways a miracle. The fact that so many service providers can be involved in a singular service. The level of openness and trust is incredible esprit de (Latin: “Spirit of”) fiducia (Esperanto: “Trust”).

If you leave money in a savings account, that money will (ever so slowly) grow safely. If instead it was exchanged for stocks and shares, it has the potential to grow faster than inflation, but the risk of losing value is well and truly there.

We want to see where open banking has been used to drive innovation, to form a rallying cry for competition and enable all customers to link their finances, in a spirit of trust.

With Wealthtech you have more chances, and more opportunities, to increase the value and purchasing power of that money.

This, which is traditionally tied to HNWI and UHNWI, is now open to more people than ever thanks to technology, with more inclusive and available platforms.

It’s easy to have your eye caught by the window dressing of the bank, the glamorous shop front, the slick applications. It’s easy to forget all the changes that have happened to the foundations of a bank during their digital transformations.

We want to see what investment platforms there are for anyone to grow their money and purchasing power, while they sleep.

The winner of this award leads the industry in building both.

From banking as a service, to creating the very core, this product is reliable, agile and most importantly innovative.

It builds banks better than banks do.

Timeline WEDNESDAY 15TH OCTOBER, 12:00 Entrants available to view!

Judging starts & Videos can be seen and voted on!

MONDAY 15TH NOVEMBER, 12:00 CLOSE for new Entrants.

MONDAY 15TH NOVEMBER, 14:30 Finalists Announced.

Final 14 days of Judging begins

MONDAY 29TH NOVEMBER, 20:00 Winners Announced

JUDGING

JUDGES We want the judging to be truly transparent, and data driven. Anyone can become a FF Judge.

Whether you are Jamie Dimon, or a student in Palau.

Our judges are the leaders in fintech of today and tomorrow.

Once registered, an FF Judge. can log in and be able to view each entry for each category. After watching an entry, they must give it a mark out of ten before going onto the next award.

The FF Judge’s mark out of ten, is multiplied by the number of videos in each category they have watched and scores.

We want our judging process to be open to everyone, but more akin to a meritocracy. The more active an FF Judge is, and the more entries they have viewed, the more weight their vote counts. The total weighted score from each judge is added to each entry.

We want our finalists to be judged on merit, so that even if they enter at the last minute, they can still reach the final.

The top three total scores, and the top two average scores will proceed to the finals.

Voting then resumes on ju Entry Video st the finalists, with the highest average score winning the category.

PARTNERS

PARTNERS We are currently arranging some of our Media partnerships, both to help support the event and production and PR partners to help arrange and produce entries.

Reach out to Awards@FFnews.com

FAQ

ENTERING & ENTRY VIDEO How do I become a Finalist?

What needs to be in the entry video?

In the first phase of judging (15th October to 15th November) we will be taking the top three TOTAL scores (advantage to enter early) are nominated and enter the final... AND the top two AVERAGE scores.

Note: we will be manually keeping an eye on sneaky say a sneak trying to enter at 1 min before closing and giving themselves 10/10... likely to be an average score of 10/10.

This can be whatever you want it to be - We simply want to see a WOW moment.’ We want you to put together an ‘elevator pitch’ to convey your message.

Why you should win in your category, summed up in an easy way to understand.

So even if the judges weren’t an ‘expert’ in that space, they would even watch it and think ‘WOW, that’s pretty cool!’

Whether you wanted to keep it a simple and direct message to the camera or include a bunch of graphics, edits and b-roll is completely up to you.

When is deadline to enter?

We will stop accepting entries right up to the 15th November. One of the most negative comments we have heard about award programs in general is missing the close of entry date.

There are advantages to entering as soon as possible, as it gives you more time to accumulate more total points.

Does my entry need to be created in the past 12 months?

No. Can we do a joint entry/case study or bring in a third party?

Yes.

Can I enter/win in more than one category?

Yes.

Can I use a previous video?

Absolutely - as long as it is four minutes or under. If you have a five minute explainer video, then if you can edit this down to four minutes - submit away! If you have a three min case study video, do submit it.

The important thing is that it is clear to understand your process or product, and it showcases a WOW moment!

AWARDS SHOW Are you having an Awards Ceremony? Are you really doing an in person event Yes. This will be on the 29th November at Old Billingsgate. If there are no covid restrictions, we can have up to 1,200 seats. If there is a rule similar to the “rule of six” we can have up to 500 seats with barriers in place.

How much are tickets?

If you make it into the finals, the entrant will be given two free tickets to the awards ceremony. The rest of the tickets will be available in the coming weeks .

Can I attend even if I don’t make the finals?

Yes What if I can’t attend in person?

Irrelevant of any Covid restructons, there will be a full livestream from Old Billingsgate. We will also be able to have a live video stream direct to finalists unable to attend .