A place where bankers meet FinTech founders – Episode 2

EPISODE 2 – This week, we would like to share the views from:

• Mario Pirola, Chief Executive Officer Bank Pictet & Cie (Europe) A.G.: watch the video
• Julien Renkin, Chief Commercial Officer, SOPIAD: watch the video

Stay tuned for other reactions next week!

What a success for the ABBL Bank CEO – FinTech Speed Meeting 2024! This annual gathering brings together C-level executives from financial institutions with innovative solution providers (FinTechs) to explore cooperation opportunities and spark ideas. A wonderful example of collaboration, a value that the ABBL actively promotes as a cornerstone of the growth of the Luxembourg financial industry!

This year, we had the pleasure of hosting the event in the presence of Finance Minister Gilles Roth. More than 100 key players from our financial ecosystem attended: bank CEOs, CIOs, COOs, CTOs and many others, who came to engage with FinTech representatives, with a great deal of networking and discussion of mutual interests.

The ABBL did not achieve this alone: it was made possible thanks to the support of BGL BNP Paribas, under the guidance of Béatrice Belorgey, who graciously hosted the event on its premises. We would also like to thank The LHoFT – Luxembourg House of Financial Technology for its ongoing collaboration with the ABBL. A big thank you to all the bank and FinTech representatives who contributed to the success of this event. It was thanks to the dedication of everyone involved that we were able to make this event a reality, and for that we express our sincere gratitude to everyone!

We look forward to seeing the benefits of this event for the national ecosystem and to seeing bank executives and FinTech founders again next year to contribute together to innovation in the Luxembourg financial sector.

Testimonial from a Bank CEO: Mario Pirola, Bank Pictet & Cie

What do you think about this ABBL initiative?

“It was a fantastic initiative! It was my first time here. I would like to express, first of all, my gratitude to BGL and to Béatrice. And, of course, to the ABBL as well. I really enjoyed it. I like the format, the opportunity to see so many FinTechs in a very sort of speed dating type of situation, extremely relevant for the banking business, for the wealth management business, which my company represents in Luxembourg. And great ideas, very innovative, something certainly to continue and to do it again.”

What are your biggest takeaways from the event?

“First of all, I have learned a lot of things. I have also met companies I didn’t know we are already clients of. Luckily, I had my information security officer, information technology officer with me who was able to ask all the intelligent questions. I think the most striking element for me is the connectivity, is the ecosystem of all those FinTechs in Luxembourg. And I had no idea we had so many, and how successful they are in integrating their solution and providing a “keys in” type of solutions for banks to improve in their compliance obligation, in their digital payments, in their instant payments. So definitely subject which are very actual, very relevant and topical for the industry.”

What’s next? How do you plan to follow up on these contacts and opportunities?

“We will definitely organize follow-up meetings because in 8 minutes it is very, very difficult to go into the details and understand exactly the value proposition. So you only get a glimpse of what those interesting companies have got to offer. Definitely we will. We have already taken notes and we have exchanged cards. We will follow up with two or three of them. Particularly in the regulatory compliance space, in the client onboarding, in the AML and KYC, in the digital payments, in the instant payments, some of the solutions that really are innovative to respond to the compliance and to the regulatory obligations of today. So again, a big thank you, it was a fantastic initiative.”

Testimonial from a FinTech Founder: Julien Renkin, SOPIAD

What do you think about this ABBL initiative?

“I find this initiative amazing because actually that is the opposite of what we used to do. Most of the time, we attend to events where basically Fintechs or Fintechs incubators, accelerators or communities are organising those events, and they are reaching out to banks and financial institutions to attend to that event. Here, that is the other way around, basically. Banks are welcoming us, they are inviting us and, this time, basically, even though at the end of the day the discussion is basically the same, it doesn’t feel the same, and it’s nice for once to feel that we are the guests.”

Did anything surprise you or particularly catch your interest during the evening?

“I was actually positively surprised by how much the company I met and the people I met knew about SOPIAD. I don’t know if it’s because they did the homework, they did that research, or because maybe we have a stronger brand this year than last year. But that was a very good news for us and a very positive feedback.”

What’s next? How do you plan to follow up on these contacts and opportunities?

“Several of the people I met, we are already in contact with them and there is already a plan in place, and it was good to catch up to see that we had the same feeling about the plan, and we agreed on the next steps. Others are brand-new contacts. We never met them. It was very good for us to have this first interaction with them. We will see where this leads, where the path will lead us, and no doubt that we will keep you posted about it.”