Emirates NBD announces winners of its Group Fintech Challenge 2016

Dubai - MENA Herald: Emirates NBD, a leading banking Group in the region, today announced the winners of its Group Fintech Challenge 2016. Launched in February this year in partnership with the Berlin-based Open Bank Project, the Emirates NBD Global Innovation Program is considered a first by a Bank from Middle East.
The Challenge invited Fintech experts, start-ups and individual developers/ innovators from across the globe to present their big idea on financial technology and the winners selected by the senior management of Emirates NBD and Emirates Islamic were:
First Prize: Atsora Team
Second Prize: The Fluid Motion Team
Third Prize: The vLendRight Team
Technology Prizes: Kuan Inc. and Cargochain
Social Media Prize: @Sudkes from vLendRight team
Abdulla Qassem, Group Chief Operating Officer at Emirates NBD said: “Emirates NBD is very proud to host an international competition aimed at fostering entrepreneurial solutions within the Fintech sector. A platform of this caliber is a first for a bank from the Middle East and we remain committed to promoting innovation in the banking sector. The ideas that we have received from these startups have us convinced that innovation is ultimately the key to sustainability.”
Also speaking on the announcement, Suvo Sarkar, Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head of Retail Banking and Wealth Management said: “Technology is constantly evolving and Emirates NBD strives to remain at the forefront of it. The ultimate goal for us, however, is to leverage emerging trends such as Biometrics, Artificial Intelligence and more to grow what has always been the Bank’s greatest strength: delivering superior customer experience,”
During the course of the challenge, an international roadshow was held in eight countries and over 200 applications were received from a total of 89 cities in 36 countries globally. 35 of the applications were from revenue-generating startups and 57 had prototypes. The international outreach was supported by 10 media partners.
After a preliminary voting session, 20 finalists were invited to London to engage in a three-day hackathon to further develop their product and receive mentoring from business, design, technology and communication experts. Concluding with presentations of a prototype and demo on the final day, the winning innovators were announced. They were awarded 20,000 Euros, 12,500 Euros and 10,000 Euros for first, second and third prizes respectively.
The Group Fintech Challenge represents the first initiative of Emirates NBD’s Global Innovation Program. This year, the competition centered around five relevant challenges: customer acquisition & on-boarding, loyalty & engagement, SME banking, banking in the age of Blockchain/ Biometrics/ Iot and Islamic Banking.