Fintech Week

Fintech Week
Name	Fintech Week
Status	Active
Genre	Conferences
Frequency	Annual
Location	London; New York; Singapore; Hong Kong
First	2014
Organizer	Independent promoters; trade associations

Fintech Week

Fintech Week is an annual series of industry gatherings that bring together startups, investors, incumbent institutions, regulators and technologists to discuss innovation in financial services. The events typically run over multiple days in global financial centers such as London, New York City, Singapore, and Hong Kong, featuring keynote talks, panel sessions, hackathons and networking receptions. Prominent attendees have included executives from Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, HSBC, and founders from startups associated with Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures and Accel Partners.

Overview

Fintech Week aggregates programming across venues including conference centers, accelerators and coworking spaces in cities like Canary Wharf, Wall Street, Marina Bay Sands and Central, Hong Kong. Typical stakeholder groups represented are venture capital firms such as SoftBank Group and Benchmark Capital, technology firms including Microsoft, Google, Amazon Web Services and IBM Watson, payment companies like Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and Stripe, and trading platforms such as NASDAQ and NYSE. Regulators and public bodies often participate, including delegations from Bank of England, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Monetary Authority of Singapore and Securities and Exchange Commission. Academic partners have included institutions like London School of Economics, Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

History and Origins

The format evolved from earlier gatherings such as Web Summit, TechCrunch Disrupt, Money20/20 and Sibos, which connected technology entrepreneurs with financial incumbents. Early editions were influenced by accelerator programs like Y Combinator, Seedcamp and incubators such as Level39 and Plug and Play Tech Center. Founders and investors who had worked with firms like Revolut, TransferWise (now Wise), Stripe and Square (company) were instrumental in shaping programming. Host cities sought to emulate business tourism effects seen in events like the Davos meeting of the World Economic Forum and trade shows such as Consumer Electronics Show. Over time, policy discussions referenced frameworks from the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, General Data Protection Regulation and case law emerging from European Court of Justice.

Major Events and Editions

Notable regional editions have paralleled large conferences such as Money20/20 USA, Money20/20 Europe, Sibos, Consensus (conference), Blockchain Expo and TED (conference). Special sessions have been co-located with industry award programs like the FinTech Awards and accelerator demo days referencing alumni from Ant Financial and Stripe Atlas. City editions have hosted keynote speakers from institutions including BlackRock, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, UBS Group AG and Barclays. Hackathon winners have secured pilot agreements with corporate partners including Accenture, Deloitte, KPMG and PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers).

Themes and Conference Programming

Recurring themes include blockchain and distributed ledger pilots linked to projects from Ethereum, Hyperledger, R3 and Corda; digital identity initiatives referencing OpenID Foundation and FIDO Alliance; payments innovation with case studies involving Alipay, WeChat Pay and M-Pesa; risk and compliance panels citing Know Your Customer frameworks and anti-money laundering work by Financial Action Task Force; and machine learning applications referencing research from DeepMind, OpenAI and university labs. Programming often features product demonstrations from cloud providers Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure, and discussions on listings with London Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange. Specialized tracks examine central bank digital currencies tied to projects by the Bank for International Settlements and pilot programs from Bank of England and People's Bank of China.

Participants and Sponsorship

Sponsors range from multinational banks like Morgan Stanley and BNP Paribas to fintech unicorns such as Chime (company), Klarna, Nubank and Robinhood Markets. Strategic partners have included consulting firms McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, Oliver Wyman and technology vendors such as Salesforce and Oracle Corporation. Investor delegations often include sovereign wealth funds including Temasek Holdings and Qatar Investment Authority, family offices, and accelerators like 500 Startups. Media partners have included outlets such as Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg L.P. and TechCrunch.

Impact and Criticism

Proponents credit the series with accelerating partnerships between incumbents and startups, facilitating fundraising rounds for companies including Revolut and TransferWise/Wise, and informing policy through dialogue with bodies like Financial Conduct Authority and European Central Bank. Critics argue that commercial sponsorship can bias agendas toward vendors such as IBM and Accenture and that networking-driven formats echo the criticisms leveled at events like Davos and South by Southwest for elite capture. Observers have raised concerns about diversity and inclusion similar to debates around TechCrunch Disrupt and the Grace Hopper Celebration, and environmental impacts comparable to major trade shows like Mobile World Congress.

Category:Conferences