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.
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.
Advances in technology will transform business
operations over the coming decade as new tools and higher degrees of automation find their way into the workplace.
To stay ahead of the competition, successful businesses won’t just be those that implement the latest technologies.
The power of human interaction will continue to play a critical role in business over the coming decade, even as technology such as AI, robotics and quantum computing dramatically reshapes entire sectors.
Virtually every bank has a mobile app that works effectively: it manages the majority of customer interactions, is typically rated well over 4 out of 5 by customers and—together with digital enhancements elsewhere in the organization— continues to deliver big efficiency gains and convenience for customers. Yet there have been unwelcome side-effects.
By shifting customer engagement out of the branch and onto their digital channels, banks’ experiences have become functionally correct but emotionally void.
And at the same time as their personal connection with customers has weakened, so has banks’ ability to differentiate themselves: Accenture’s Life Trends 2024 survey found that 42% of consumers find it hard to distinguish between financial services brands. In the process, customer loyalty has weakened.
Digitalization has improved banks’ ability to solve customers’ most basic needs, but conversations about their financial aspirations and how the bank can help them achieve their goals have become increasingly rare.
Yet the goal of increasing the proportion of digital sales depends on it.
The good news is that customers still trust banks and are sending them clear signals of what they want. To capture the full potential of digital, banks need to improve their ability to respond to these signals.
This includes shifting their thinking about digital from “servicing” to “conversations”.
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
Braşov. 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.
Built 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
Carpathian Mountains
Home to outstanding
natural beauty
Sinaia Resort
Former residence of the Romanian Kings
Casino Sinaia
A glimps in the luxuriant life at the
end of 19th century
New embedded payments technology will launch in the UK and roll out across Europe, enabling autonomous payments between machines in the freight, shipping, fleet and logistics industries. Pairpoint – Vodafone and Sumitomo Corporation’s Economy of Things business – and Mastercard
The innovative TQ Braille system, developed by Piedmont company Arti Grafiche Parini, enables people with visual impairments to listen to content via screen reader systems such as iOS’ VoiceOver and Android’s TalkBack. „Banca Sella is the first bank in Italy
The first 50 buyers will receive the book Money in Metaverse*, which will be signed by the author himself at Banking 4.0. Make sure you will not miss Banking 4.0 and book your tickets now! The 10th edition of the Banking
BLIK Romania, registered in Bucharest, has obtained authorization for the operation of the BLIK payment system. This decision will enable the development of this system in local currency (RON) and open it to Romanian payment service providers. As a first
OpenAI is introducing a public beta of the Realtime API, enabling all paid developers to build low-latency, multimodal experiences in their apps. „Similar to ChatGPT’s Advanced Voice Mode, the Realtime API supports natural speech-to-speech conversations using the six preset voices already supported
The Fraud Intelligence Reciprocal Exchange (FIRE) programme, allows banks to share intelligence with Meta directly to combat scams on Meta platforms. NatWest and Metro Bank are the first banks in the UK to participate in this pilot, with more scheduled
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.
“Soon it will be 25 years since I’ve been organizing events in the banking
industry. It all started with Expo-Invest in 2002, the First Financial Fair
focused on selling banking products. It was the first time in Romania when
people could interact directly with bank employees outside of branches.
The event anticipated the explosion of bank retail a year later.
Starting with 2017, with the European Commission’s decision to
democratize banking through PSD2, we opted to expand to a new
business line: international events that promote the impact of emerging
technologies on banking. It was an inspired decision. Since then, thousands
of experts from 34 countries have physically attended our event and over
20,000 online. Banking 4.0 is now an internationally recognized brand as
one of the most appreciated fintech events in CEE.
Having reached the 10th edition, we continue to offer premieres and
anticipate trends that will make the difference. This year we invite you
to analyze a new theme: “conversational banking in digital time”, in the
wonderful mountain resort Sinaia, the former summer residence of the
kings of Romania, located in a fairytale land, in the immediate vicinity of
Bran Castle – Dracula’s Castle.”
Banking 4.0 – Event Organizer
Named ”King of the Disruptors” and the “Godfather of Fintech”, King is a Fintech Hall of Fame who was voted American Banker’s Innovator of the Year, voted the world’s #1 Financial Services Influencer by The Financial Brand and was nominated by Bank Innovation as one of the top 10 “coolest brands in banking”. He hosts a radio show called “Breaking Banks”, which is The #1 global fintech radio show and podcast reaching 180 countries. Also, he is the Founder of Moven, the world’s first mobile, downloadable bank account.
Skinner has been voted one of the UK’s foremost fintech observers by The Telegraph and one of the most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal’s Financial News and Thomson Reuters. He has advised CEOs and leaders from every continent of the world including the United Nations, the White House, the World Bank and the World Economic Forum. In 2023 he was recognised with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Payments Association, the largest community in payments.
Andrei Burz-Pinzaru
