A place where bankers meet FinTech founders – Episode 3

• EPISODE 3 – This week, we would like to share the views from:

• Emanuele Vignoli, Chief Executive Officer, HSBC Continental Europe, Luxembourg S.A.: watch the video
• Chrystelle Tassios, Business Development Manager, MySwissKeeper: 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: Emanuele Vignoli, HSBC Continental Europe

What do you think about this ABBL initiative?

“A fantastic event! Thank you to the ABBL, Béatrice and BNP for hosting us. It is essential that we keep doing this, it is the second year in the running for me. It is essential that bank and Fintechs keep cooperating. We have the balance sheet, we have the wallet share of clients, but we do need their expertise, their agility and their ability to see things in a different way. So please let us keep doing this event very useful.”

What are your biggest takeaways from the event?

“I would say probably three takeaways. The first one is the variety of FinTech and their skills that I have talked to tonight. The second one is the depth of their knowledge and the research that I’ve done. And finally, the level of energy and engagement, which was great.”

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

“Last year, we actually ended up onboarding one of the Fintech that I talked to. This year, I have decided to follow up with at least four of the Fintech that we discussed tonight. So there are definitely some follow-ups and some of them will work, some other may not. But nevertheless, we will be learning from them. They will be learning from our expertise, and I am sure that we will pick up another Fintech to work on this year.”

Testimonial from a FinTech Founder: Chrystelle Tassios, MySwissKeeper

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.”