
The first neobank made in Romania was launched
Idea Bank becomes Salt Bank and chooses Engine by Starling, as a strategic partner for its SaaS Cloud
STUP
Bucharest, Romania
May
23, 2023
STUP
Bucharest, Romania
May
23 2023
“Regulation, supervision of crypto-assets as well as stablecoins is an absolute necessity (…) MiCA will be a reality for economic players in, I hope, two years or a little less than two years.” – says Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank in a monetary dialogue with Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (28 November 2022)
„This year, the FSB will finalise its recommendations for the regulation, supervision and oversight of crypto-assets and markets and its recommendations targeted at global stablecoin arrangements (…) many existing stablecoins would not currently meet these high-level recommendations.” – wrote Financial Stability Board chair Klaas Knot in a letter to G20 finance ministers (20 February 2023).
The biggest challenges banks are currently facing can be grouped into four: regulation, new technology, competition, and customer needs. These concerns are not new for banks.
In fact, new is that each category mentioned means something different compared to what it meant just three years ago, before the pandemic.
Chris Skinner, one of the most influential people in technology and a best-selling author.
More than ever, new technology comes with a lot of innovation that will spread as fast as more of the global population goes online. For better online protection of consumers, 3D Secure was first introduced, then contactless technology and we finally reached tokenization.
Now the hot topic in the banking industry is AI with current use cases in risk management, fraud detection and data analysis. Also, AI can inspire loyalty through hyper-personalisation and enhanced customer experience. By democratising data more meaningful results can be extracted and better customer understanding can be integrated within operating systems. For all of this, banks need to be open to open data.
How much things are changing in the new open era? Even Moody’s will use Microsoft’s OpenAI research tool to assess risk
New technology is also about continuous migration to keep up with the speed of innovation that will continue to accelerate. After the pandemic, the digital integration journey was launched.
Now the topic of infrastructure flexibility comes up again, in a different approach. Banks should see the cloud as an opportunity to experiment and play with new innovative offerings without disrupting business as usual.
The rapid development of digital finance resulted in fierce competition in the banking industry.
When Revolut was launched in Romania, in 2018, no one expected that five years later it would reach 3 million customers and become the second financial institution by the size of the customer portfolio. Customers, not just digital natives, have embraced the new user experience and the new services – many of which have been launched for the first time.
Starting this year, the institution offers loans and from 2024 it will also attract interest deposits from clients, acting like any other local bank. But no branches. Now, extrapolate this competition worldwide, where currently there are 276 neobanks with a billion open accounts.
To stay relevant, banks understood that they have to migrate from “product oriented” to “customer oriented”. In the process, banks have the opportunity to transform their relationships with customers so that they understand and serve them better. But how?
Recent banking consumer study on customer needs shows that consumers’ relationships with their banks are becoming increasingly impersonal. Most consumers use their bank’s digital channels for quick functional tasks only. This suggests that digital channels are functionally correct but emotionally devoid.
In the new open era there are two business models that are particularly relevant for banks:
– Through the Banking-as-a-Platform model banks open up to include new, innovative offerings and technologies from the outside, finding novel distribution channels but still keeping the customer relationship and commercial control
– Through the Banking-as-a-Service model banks take a back seat and make use of their infrastructure, licensing and regulatory capabilities to enable the FS offerings of partner players that control the commercial side.
Sebastian Burduja – Minister of the MINISTRY OF RESEARCH, INNOVATION AND DIGITALIZATION is talking to Andrei Burz-Pinzaru, Partner Deloitte Legal Romania
“Regulation is the way to mass adoption”
Elizaveta Palaznic – independent MiCA expert
Ludmila Andreeva-Paskov – Policy Officer: Digital Finance Unit – European Commission Directorate General for Financial Stability (online)
Raluca Micu – Head of Payments Oversight Division at National Bank of Romania
ASF – Tudor Doman – Head of Strategy at Financial Supervisory Authority
Alex Stanescu – Partner at SLV Legal
Moderator: Andrei Burz Pinzaru – partner at Deloitte Legal Romania / Reff & Associates
Yoav Soffer – CBDC project manager at Bank of Israel
Subject – The Icebreaker project
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the central banks of Israel, Norway and Sweden have concluded Project Icebreaker, which studied the potential benefits and challenges of using retail central bank digital currencies (CBDC) in international payments.
A collaboration between the BIS Innovation Hub Nordic Centre, Bank of Israel, Norges Bank, and Sveriges Riksbank, the project tested the technical feasibility of conducting cross-border and cross-currency transactions between different experimental retail CBDC systems.
Yoav Soffer – CBDC project manager at Bank of Israel (online)
Felix Crisan – Co-founder Netopia
Andrei Radulescu – Director, Macroeconomic Research (analysis and forecasting) at BT
Moderator: Nic Balaceanu – board member Rofin.Tech
Case study presentation – Yield agregator
Augustin Jianu – certME, product owner
Sebastian Cochinescu – Fouder & CEO at Tailpath (online)
Nils Andersen Roed – Deputy Head of Financial Crime at Binance (online)
Andrzej Dominiak – Chief Technology Officer – Banca Transilvania
Moderator: Nic Balaceanu – Co-Founder of Sunt.io
Are you ready to explore the cutting-edge technologies that are shaping Metaverse? Even if ChatGPT and Generative AI waves submerged Metaverse hype, the techs behind Metaverse, such as Web3, Digitalized Asset, and Immersive Xperience still continue to attract and bring value in new use-cases.
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Ilie Puscas – Country manager Binance Romania
Konstantinos Adamos – Lead Legal Counsel at Revolut (online)
Marius Morra – Co-founder Tokero
Mihnea Blidaru – Owner CryptoAlphas / trader
Mădălin Muraretiu – co-founder COINsiglieri
Moderator: Cornel Fratica – COO Metaventis
Adrian Stratulat – Co-Founder Clapart
Mihai Daniel Eremia – CEO XOXNO (online)
Sergiu Draganus – ludo.com
Victor Vevera – Director general ICI
Moderator: Endi Ungureanu – CEO and co-founder Metaventis
Ioana Frincu – Technology strategist
Alex Arghirescu – Chief Marketing Officer IXFI
Paige Soponar – Co-Fonder & COO at The Connecter
Alexandru Carbunariu – Crypto Project Advisor
Perello Laurent – CEO Arthera
Moderator: Alexandru Hobincu – Cryptoholics101.ro
Flavius Jakubowicz – Managing Partner Jasill
Elena Sighinaș – Tax Director Accace România
Moderator: Sergiu Traian Vasilescu – Managing Partner VD Law Group
Web 3.0 project competition
Sinaia resort – “The Carpathian Pearl”
Situated in a breathtaking mountain scenery, the resort is located at an altitude between 798 and 1055m, on the south-eastern slope of the Bucegi Massif, along the Prahova Valley, at 120 km from Bucharest (nearly 110 km from the Henry Coanda Airport) and 40 km from Brașov. Sinaia takes its name from the 17th century monastery built by a Romanian nobleman – Mihail Cantacuzino – after undertaking a pilgrimage to Mount Sinai, Egypt.
Sinaia is one of the most famous and oldest mountain tourist resorts in Romania, known as “The Carpathian Pearl”. It is best known for being the summer residence of the Romanian Royal family.
Therefore, Sinaia is more than just a resort, it is history. The city is officially documented for the first time around the year 1200. The city’s orthodox church is the oldest proof and one of the interesting places to visit. By far, the most interesting place to visit in Sinaia is the Peles Castle. This is one of the best-preserved royal palaces in Europe. It served as the summer residence of the first Hohenzollern king of Romania, Carol I.
Bult in the latter half of the 19th century, it was the king’s attempt to imitate the styles of his former homeland, creating a Bavarian setting in the mountains of Romania. The palace is ornately decorated, both the interior and the exterior, with intricate wood carvings and paintings of scenes from Wagner operas.
Source: montania.ro
Peles Castle – Source: peles.ro
The Casino from Sinaia
Located in the northern part of the “Dimitrie Ghica” park, the “Casino” in Sinaia is still today one of the edifices – a symbol of the resort. The imposing building was built in record time, in just one year (1911-1912), on the site where the villa Ghica once stood, the resort’s first villa, built by Prince Dimitrie Ghica.
The casino in Sinaia had as its main shareholder the baron de Marçay, also a shareholder in the casino in Monte Carlo, which is why it was speculated that this building would be a faithful copy of the French edifice.
Weekends at Casino attracted the social elite, the old aristocracy and the privileged for roulette and card games (baccara, Brazilian). At 4:00 p.m., when the gambling halls opened, the “servants of vice” got off the Bucharest-Sinaia “pleasure train” that ran on Saturdays and Sundays. The flow of players from that period is unimaginable for today, this “social magnet” hosting, every game day, 600-800 people.
It is said that, before entering the Casino, the players, confident of the chances of significant winnings, threw silver into the artesian well near the building.
After the Second World War, Sinaia Casino became the property of the Romanian state. In 1995, the casino passed into the State Protocol Administration.
Source: casino-sinaia.ro
Idea Bank becomes Salt Bank and chooses Engine by Starling, as a strategic partner for its SaaS Cloud
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Consistent with the idea of promoting emerging technologies in the new digital economy, the NOCASH EVENTS company continues the Banking 4.0 event series – this year’s spring edition being dedicated to blockchain technology.
The international conference comes with a new start-up competition of blockchain projects “made in Romania”, intended to highlight the most promising ideas and business models, developed on blockchain technology.
The organizers of Banking 4.0, together with COINsiglieri, will select companies that are at most in the seed stage.
If your business also offers such a revolutionary business model or that solves a real problem by using blockchain, we invite you to register in the competition. Complete the registration form here. The last day of registration is June 7, till 05.00 pm.
Presentation
Each start-up will have a 7-minute pitch, followed by another 3-minute Q&A session. It is up to each contestant how they will use their allotted time to convince the jury. It could be a pdf, a demo, or anything else deemed more relevant.
Judging criteria
The minimum criteria taken into account are presented as follows:
Each evaluation criterion is scored from 1 to 10.
The final score will result from the summation of the points received on each separate criterion.
In case of equal points, the tie-breaker will be made after a new final round with another 5 minutes of presentation.
The first three winners will receive extremely attractive and complete service packages for a start-up at the beginning of its business journey, looking for financing and consulting.
Our competition offers 1st place with 112,800 EUR in services, products, and perks from partners, 2nd place with 21,300 EUR in services, products, and perks and 3rd place with 18,800
EUR in services, products, and perks, providing an opportunity for your startup to win valuable resources to help grow your business.
Registration
500 euro/project registration fee
“The NOCASH gala event was an exceptional platform that not only acknowledged, but also celebrated the innovative strides made in the field of blockchain technology. It is events like these that bring together the best minds in the industry, fostering a sense of unity, collaboration, and mutual respect among all participants. We were particularly impressed by the level of professionalism, organization, and dedication to excellence that NOCASH demonstrated throughout the event.