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| Fintech Connect | |
|---|---|
| Name | Fintech Connect |
| Genre | Conference and Expo |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Location | London |
| First | 2010s |
| Organiser | Clarion Events |
Fintech Connect is an annual conference and exhibition focused on financial technology, bringing together practitioners from banking, payments, lending, insurance, and investment sectors. The event convenes executives, regulators, investors, and startups to discuss disruption in digital payments, blockchain, artificial intelligence, and open banking. Attendees typically include representatives from legacy institutions, challenger banks, cloud providers, venture capital firms, and standard-setting bodies.
Fintech Connect assembles panels, keynote speeches, hackathons, and an exhibition floor that showcases solutions from incumbent firms and startups alike. The programme features voices drawn from Barclays, HSBC, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Standard Chartered, Santander, and Lloyds Banking Group. Speakers have included executives from Stripe, PayPal, Adyen, Square (Block, Inc.), Revolut, Monzo, N26, Wise (TransferWise), and Chime. The event attracts technology vendors such as Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, IBM, Oracle Corporation, and SAP SE, as well as investors from Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures, Accel Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, and Balderton Capital.
Fintech Connect was established during a period of rapid fintech expansion following high-profile launches and regulatory shifts that included initiatives like PSD2 and the emergence of open banking regimes. Early editions reflected discussions held in forums alongside gatherings such as Money20/20, Sibos, Web Summit, and Consensus (conference). Over time the conference broadened from payments and remittances to include topics led by participants from BlackRock, Vanguard Group, State Street, Fidelity Investments, and Schwab Corporation. The organiser worked with trade associations and standards bodies including Financial Conduct Authority, European Banking Authority, Bank of England, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and Financial Stability Board.
Exhibitors present a range of services spanning digital wallets, card processing, core banking platforms, risk engines, and regtech solutions. Demonstrations have showcased platforms by Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and niche providers like Plaid (company), Yapily, Tink (company), Thought Machine, Mambu, and Temenos. Wealthtech and robo-advisory offerings by firms such as Betterment, Wealthfront, Nutmeg, and Scalable Capital appear alongside insurtech innovators like Lemonade (company), Zego, and Root Insurance. Lending marketplaces and buy-now-pay-later vendors including Klarna, Affirm, Afterpay, and Zopa also exhibit.
Keynotes and workshops cover blockchain, distributed ledger projects, and central bank digital currency pilots led by institutions such as European Central Bank, Federal Reserve, People's Bank of China, and Bank for International Settlements. Panels often include technologists from Ethereum Foundation, Hyperledger, R3 (company), and Chainlink. Artificial intelligence and machine learning sessions feature companies like Palantir Technologies, DataRobot, H2O.ai, and research partners from Oxford University, University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, Stanford University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Cloud-native architecture and API-first models are illustrated by case studies from Salesforce, Twilio, Kubernetes, and Docker, Inc. contributors.
Regulatory programming involves dialogues with enforcement and supervisory bodies including Financial Conduct Authority, Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, European Securities and Markets Authority, and International Organization of Securities Commissions. Sessions address anti-money laundering tooling produced by firms such as Chainalysis, Elliptic, ComplyAdvantage, and data protection considerations under regimes like General Data Protection Regulation. Compliance tracks examine licensing, sandbox frameworks exemplified by Financial Conduct Authority's regulatory sandbox, and cross-border issues involving World Bank and International Monetary Fund experts.
The conference highlights adoption curves where incumbents partner with challengers; examples cited include collaborations between HSBC and fintechs, or platform integrations linking Visa rails to neobanks like Revolut and N26. Venture funding trends discussed reference rounds led by SoftBank, Tiger Global Management, Goldman Sachs-led funds, and corporate venture arms of Mastercard and Visa. Case studies often cite market entries in regions served by Africa Finance Corporation, Asian Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and adoption stories from markets such as Nigeria, India, Brazil, United Kingdom, and United States.
Critiques levelled at the event reflect broader sector tensions: perceived hype cycles mirroring episodes like the 2018 cryptocurrency crash, concerns about gatekeeping and sponsorship influence involving major vendors, and debates over surveillance implications tied to data analytics vendors akin to controversies surrounding Cambridge Analytica. Commentators have questioned whether marquee gatherings favor corporates from Silicon Valley and Canary Wharf over grassroots innovators, and whether conference discourse sufficiently addresses systemic risks highlighted by bodies like Financial Stability Board and Bank for International Settlements.
Category:Fintech conferences