Organised by Fintech Australia and backed by Investment NSW, this event aims to address major concerns in sustainability, payments, and combating frauds and scams within the financial services industry.
Rehan D’Almeida (pictured above), FinTech Australia’s general manager, highlighted the practical nature of reverse pitch events, highlighting the focus on tangible solutions to the banking sector’s challenges.
“It’s about ensuring that it can be done,” D’Almeida said. “These early-stage companies don’t necessarily understand the challenges banks face around compliance and other issues, so it gives them an opportunity to learn about these problems and build solutions.
“On the other side, it’s about giving financial institutions an opportunity to be more efficient with their investment by integrating some of the services from these emerging and established tech companies.”
David Walker, Westpac’s chief technology officer, shared the sentiment, viewing the event as a mutual learning experience.
“This event will provide us with an opportunity to explore new perspectives on how we can tackle critically important challenges including how best we can reduce fraud and scams, support businesses and improve the sustainability of homes in Australia,” Walker said.
“We look forward to seeing the fresh thinking from this dynamic sector.”
One fintech eyeing the opportunity to pitch is IDverse (also known as OCR Labs), known for its use of generative AI in delivering software solutions for customer identity verification and fraud protection.
Paul Warren-Tape, IDverse's general manager for Asia-Pacific, explained the company’s role in facilitating trust in digital transactions.
“In any business relationship where there is trust, you look someone in the eye and you know who you’re dealing with. In a digital world we still need to know who we are dealing with on the other end of that transaction,” Warren-Tape said.
IDverse’s collaboration with Westpac on the smart verify customer onboarding process exemplifies the potential for fintechs to enhance banking operations through innovative technology, including biometrics.
D’Almeida sees this collaborative approach as a shift away from the notion of “disruption” in the industry. By leveraging the agility of startups and the experience of established financial institutions, the sector can achieve significant advancements in addressing its challenges.
“Through these collaborative opportunities you can take advantage of the strengths of a nimble startup along with the strengths of a financial institution – an incumbent that understands the industry and has that customer base, has that trust within the industry,” he said.
The event has garnered considerable interest, with more than 100 fintech and emerging tech companies registered to attend. While the in-person event at the Sydney Startup Hub is at full capacity, online participation remains open, offering a wide platform for startups and scaleups to present their solutions by March 20.
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