Join the conversation with Alessandra Gambril - Guion from Fintech Belgium and Alex Panican from the LHoFT talking about their presence at the Singapore Fintech Festival (SFF 2022). Recorded live at SFF 2022.
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Cheers
Koen Vanderhoydonk
koen.vanderhoydonk@jointheconnector.com
#FinTech #RegTech #Scaleup #WealthTech
Join the conversation with Alessandra Gambril - Guion from Fintech Belgium and Alex Panican from the LHoFT talking about their presence at the Singapore Fintech Festival (SFF 2022). Recorded live at SFF 2022.
Thank you for tuning into our podcast about global trends in the FinTech industry.
Check out our podcast channel.
Learn more about The Connector.
Follow us on LinkedIn.
Cheers
Koen Vanderhoydonk
koen.vanderhoydonk@jointheconnector.com
#FinTech #RegTech #Scaleup #WealthTech
Introduction 0:01
Welcome to the connector podcast, an ongoing conversation connecting fintechs banks and regulators worldwide. Join CEO and founder toe and Vander Heiden as you learn more about the latest available trends and solutions in the markets.
Koen Vanderhoydonk 0:20
Hello, everyone and welcome directly live from Singapore FinTech festival. And for two very special guests with me, Alexandra, and Alex, how do you like the FinTech festival?
Alessandra Gambrill - Guion 0:31
I personally love it. I find it incredibly vibrant. The whole community the whole world is here. It's incredibly exciting and vibrant
Koen Vanderhoydonk 0:43
sounds so it sounds so what about you, Alex?
Alex Panican 0:45
Indeed, yes, it's the biggest FinTech festival in the world. I'm not sure about the numbers, if we reach the 60,000. But if there is one event you cannot miss, this one during the year is this one if you're in FinTech, or list or finance, what is
Koen Vanderhoydonk 1:01
the difference between all the European festivals that we are usually go to,
Alessandra Gambrill - Guion 1:06
I would say is the fact that all the continents are represented here. And if you want to have a step into Asia, it's very, it's incredible. Just Singapore as an island is like a window of the whole region. And you can feel it in the halls here with the people that you meet.
Koen Vanderhoydonk 1:22
Excellent. What about you, Alex?
Alex Panican 1:24
Yeah, indeed. I mean, it also broadens your perspective about what's going on in the world of fintech. Given that you see so many continents, so many innovations from income companies, the FinTech conference we have in Europe is mainly European companies. And we live in Europe to think we are the best. When I travel to US or Canada, you have mainly US or Canada and companies and they think they are the best. But, man, we are so so wrong. Yeah. Because here you see the vibration. You see the future. People asking me all the time, what's the future of finance? Alex? The future of finance? Is the world already the present? And it's happening in Asia? So if you really want to grasp what's the future of finance in Europe, you come here. Yeah. And it also humbles you makes us more you know, humble regarding innovation, how good we are in Europe, because there are so so ahead of us.
Alessandra Gambrill - Guion 2:21
It is very inspirational India.
Koen Vanderhoydonk 2:24
Yeah. Because you're both actually are also organizers of events. But that's not all what you do. Maybe you could also explain the audience a little bit what you bought to at Belgium, FinTech and at the loft,
Alessandra Gambrill - Guion 2:37
FinTech, Belgium, we are we represent like 130 members fintechs, from 100, from Belgium and a 30 from abroad. And what we do is we foster innovation, basically. And I think that Alex can join me on that the left is doing exactly the same thing. We just do things differently. We are we promote our members, we represent them towards the regulator, we do this at a European and ATO Belgian level. And we do we make the magic happen in Belgium basically, by you know, sharing information, sharing best cases and an experience.
Koen Vanderhoydonk 3:17
Okay. Luxembourg.
Alex Panican 3:19
So we are with different answers that yes, we are good with, let's say foster the community around the around fintech. So we are incubator. We are. We incubate around 87 firms today, we might be the biggest FinTech incubator in Europe, to be honest. Yeah, now that UK is not European anymore. But and we do many acceleration programs a bit for scaleups early stage companies or financial inclusion companies from Africa, we have a special dedicated program, but what we are as a foundation given that we are public and private, backed by the government of Luxembourg and 22 private partners, mainly mainly our asset managers, banks and insurance companies. We are looking for innovation in in the fashion industry. So we are like a facilitator of innovation. So when banks have a request and a need, they contact us same thing for asset managers have insurance. But yes, we help fintechs but the goal is the end, fostering innovation the financial industry.
Koen Vanderhoydonk 4:21
Makes sense. Now earlier was saying that you feel innovation driving at this festival, the theme of this year is sustainability. ESG. But how does that actually resonate to the local programs that you run?
Alex Panican 4:35
You know, we tried to have an acceleration program for green FinTech for a few years, but we always thought we were not ready in the sense that we don't have enough fintechs in Europe to run such a program. We start having now a lot of fintechs in green finance. It's from a finance we have we Nami from from Belgium. We have links AI from Portugal in Luxembourg, very good and many others. Hi, I'm Sofia, also from Belgium, but many others that are maybe forgetting. But here I'm really shocked, because there are so many good companies worldwide and mainly Asians die in the sustainable finance industry. I mean, I just talked with three and major investors is the MLS. I don't know many regulators in Europe we invest as a VC in ESG companies. That's amazing, isn't it? Mind blowing. The IMS has provided the full village is not even a pebble in a village for ESG companies do what they are investing in, or they're working with. And I've just looked at maybe 15. And don't even have the time to do all of them. It's half a hole here. Yes, half a hole is just ESG companies that mis so the regulator, the local regulator is working with the imagine, I don't know many regulators in Europe who understand that, you know, I don't know what what do you think unless
Alessandra Gambrill - Guion 6:00
the same thing as you? I mean, we are I mean, you are already you have your government with you, which enables you to do a lot of things for for the FinTech community in general, at the European level, and we are struggling doing this at a Belgian level because we are not supported. So, yeah. It's, I think the magic happens when the government realizes the importance of it.
Alex Panican 6:24
Yeah, so the government of Luxembourg. So we've Ministry of Finance, a Launch Initiative is called the Luxembourgers sustainable Finance Initiative. And its, let's say, a fund like at the foundation, that helps entreprises lead the banking or the non financial industry to be more sustainable. I mean, the carbon footprint calculation stuff like that, but is nothing nothing compared what I've seen here. Again, with are so ahead, and in Europe, we like to, to look ourselves all the time, still, this may be colonial stick, you know, syndrome, we have thing, we are the best, and we gonna preach what's the best in the world? But man, I mean, you just have to come here for three days, and then you change is different.
Alessandra Gambrill - Guion 7:08
Yeah. Okay. But it's also the fact that every time I speak with incumbents, the the main message is that, yeah, we are good with fine, we don't need, of course, we need innovation to evolve, but it's not like if you ask them, because we are launching also incubation and acceleration in Belgium. And the main question that we have, is we asking, Okay, tell us are your challenges and we'll be working on that we will bring the whole, you know, all the stakeholders needed to, to tackle this challenge around the table users, as you said, as facilitator for innovation, and it's like, we don't really have that many challenges and or, or it's going to be, you know, an effort to to identify them. And then we are there for that as well. But here I'm we had a visit of the DBS Innovation Lab. And it was just mind blowing how the they treat innovation internally. It's completely horizontal, they have a team of seven heads that are completely spread over the all the departments and it's really, another view on even on innovation is really impressive. Yeah. And inspiring. I don't
Koen Vanderhoydonk 8:21
know if you know, but it's also due to the MIS because they're not only organizing this event, but they also by law have forced all the banks to have an innovation lab. Yeah, that's a completely different mindset. Right? Absolutely. So I think we need to collaborate with them. Yeah, definitely.
Alessandra Gambrill - Guion 8:39
We are actually we have an MOU with the Singapore FinTech Association as well.
Alex Panican 8:43
I mean, you as a as a connector you have you've been in almost all the FinTech conference in the world. What what what do you think personally? Reverse interviewing by example, to be good? It'll be good to have your input. No, no.
Koen Vanderhoydonk 8:57
I've been here at 2019. And I'm back this year. I think that that tells it all. This is the place to be this is where you get your new insights. This is where you make a lot of connections, even not talking about the FinTech itself, is the map mentality that amongst people, it's so much different. You go to a bar and you immediately start speaking to anyone, CEO, CFO, it doesn't matter. They all open for collaboration. Yeah. And that's just amazing. Yeah, the mindset here, but collaborating. So you said there was an MOU with the FinTech association here locally, but amongst yourself, there is a lot of collaboration, too much too much collaboration.
Alessandra Gambrill - Guion 9:39
Yeah, we do. We do. We are very complimentary. I keep saying it. I was on stage yesterday and I said it as well. We are two small countries and we don't work the same way. And I mean, your ecosystem is more international corporates, lots of them other whereas we have a A bigger slightly, because when you see the well is still a tiny country, but we still have a testing market which is, yeah, considerable for a testing market in Europe, which is not the case in Luxembourg. And I will leave you to say what, why to come to you?
Alex Panican 10:19
No, no, you're right. I mean, on the b2c market is you are much better because you're bigger on the b2b. I mean, we are the financial industry in Europe, the financial center. So we are very complementary and we are close by so it makes sense to work together. And some of your members are members and all members are your members. So
Koen Vanderhoydonk 10:40
you can almost think further if you take Hall on Twitter, the real Benelux has a different type of financial industry,
Alex Panican 10:48
India. That's why we have many events, join webinars and conferences together as a Benelux industry. Makes sense. Makes sense. And also to have our voice heard in Europe because we have those big market Germany, France, Spain, Italy, with whom we are collaborating a lot. Don't get me wrong, the Nordics they have their own stuff. But we need also to have some kind of representation. So working together makes us stronger.
Alessandra Gambrill - Guion 11:15
Yeah, the Benelux has, Yeah, makes sense. Again, not whereas it has been forgotten as a word for for decades, I would say and you can feel that there's something going
Koen Vanderhoydonk 11:26
on the politics
Alessandra Gambrill - Guion 11:30
it's just that you can feel that the Benelux is a story that yeah, that works and people. Yeah, the ecosystems like to work together. And when you when we organize an event, you can see that this again, this the vibrant. Yeah, vibe about it also.
Koen Vanderhoydonk 11:48
Makes sense. I feel it too. So I can only say that this my personal view, too. We now are getting closer to the end of our podcast. So if you would say one thing that you've learned here or one impression that you share with you when going home from the Singapore FinTech festival, what would that be?
Alessandra Gambrill - Guion 12:07
I'd go back to what we said is like, if you want to know about innovation, about the future of finance, just come here, because you're going to be mind blown.
Koen Vanderhoydonk 12:16
So you will be back next year? Absolutely. And will it be more will be more excellent.
Alex Panican 12:21
Just like the first time I came was doesn't it before the COVID. I'm here again this year, because you cannot miss it. What I'm what I miss without delegation is maybe the corporates maybe our own regulator, that came with us three years ago, but cannot come. I think every corporate everybody in the finance industry, in Luxor in Luxembourg. and in Europe, they have to come here to see what's coming, what's going on, and what will come. So if I have learned something, again, is we should have more humility in Europe, and really, really pay attention to Asia, because we look a lot towards the US. But again, that's if the sun is, you know, rising here is for a reason.
Koen Vanderhoydonk 13:11
On that bombshell, I would like to thank you both for your participation and your insights. It was a pleasure to have you in this podcast. Thank you.
Unknown Speaker 13:21
You are the best. Thank you.
Koen Vanderhoydonk 13:23
I will turn that back to you, Alex. Thank
Unknown Speaker 13:24
you so much, brother. So
Koen Vanderhoydonk 13:25
also thank you to all the listeners and tuning into these podcasts of the connectors. So please do follow us and you hear more about FinTech in the world. Thank you so much. Bye bye.
Introduction 13:34
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