• Phil Siarri, Principal Advisor at psiarri.xyz


• 10.04.2017 10:00 am
fintech industry

On April 5 and 6, I attended the EXEC Fintech / Insurtech conference in Berlin, Germany. The event featured a diverse group of professionals, mostly from Germany and other European countries; but also from Canada, the US and other parts of the world. Here are my main takeaways.

Advanced analytics in insurance

Recently, the release of previously inaccessible public-sector data has greatly expanded potential sources of third-party data. The European Union have recently launched “open data” websites to make available great amounts of government statistics, including health, education, safety.

German insurance companies have clearly understood the benefits of using such statistics to refine frameworks such as fraud prevention and claims processing. A concrete example is the use of accident data from local police authorities to ensure the validity and accuracy of claims.

Germany remains a cash oriented society but that’s slowly changing

In Germany, one third of consumer transactions are cashless (versus 60% in Sweden), and there are only 0.06 credit cards in existence per person. This comes as no surprise as the concept of debt is closely associated with guilt in the German psyche. This deeply ingrained mentality has historically been perceived as an obstacle to Fintech adoption.

However mentalities are changing, exemplified by the success of Berlin-based digital bank N26 among millennial consumers.

N26 has opened more than 300,000 bank accounts and 1,000 people sign up every day. The vast majority of users live in Germany and Austria (it’s good to note the bank is undergoing an aggressive international expansion).

The Blockchain monoculture is no more

The consensus among panellists was that Blockchain is definitely going beyond its cryptocurrency roots. One project that was particularly talked about was Hyperledger which has been used towards voting and healthcare prototypes.

Planning an international career in Fintech

There was a panel that I thought was quite interesting. It featured several individuals who decided they wanted to work internationally either as expats or nomads.

The panellists urged the audience to explore opportunities beyond established financial centres such as London and New York. The highlight of that exchange was without a doubt fellow Canadian Daniel Steeves speaking on his experience advising companies in Africa, including Nigerian payment platform Voguepay (which included many insightful cultural “nuggets”).

Overall it was an enjoyable, relaxed event with quality guests. I’m looking forward to the 2018 edition.

Thoughts and opinions are my own.