Emirates NBD and the Open Bank Project launch Emirates NBD Group Fintech Challenge: A global competition for financial technology start-ups
Emirates NBD, a prominent banking group in the Middle East area has introduced its Global Innovation Program in collaboration with Berlin-based Open Bank Project.
The Emirates NBD Group Fintech Challenge is an arena for fintech professionals, and a platform for start-ups and specific developers/ pioneers around the globe to provide their big idea on financial technology.
The Emirates NBD Group Fintech Challenge is centred around five (5) relevant challenge themes:
* Customer Acquisition & On-boarding
* Loyalty & Engagement
* SME Banking
* Banking in the age of Blockchain/Biometrics/IoT
* Islamic Banking
Participating start-ups can leverage these challenge statements on leading technology patterns such as Biometrics, Mobile Wallets/Payments, Artificial Intelligence, Social Media Banking in conjunction with new and emerging Business Models.
Start-ups are welcomed to get in the competitors before April 1st through an online application at www.enbdgroupfintechchallenge.com. 15 to 20 Finalists will be picked and receive travel stipends to participate in a 3-day hackathon in London from April 15-17. At the hackathon, the start-ups will further establish their products, get mentoring from business, design, innovation and communication experts; and present to senior management members of Emirates NBD and Emirates Islamic, who will identify the winners of the competitors.
The winning teams will get 20,000 Euros, 12,500 Euros and 10,000 Euros for first, second and 3rd prizes respectively, and awarded the chance to additional establish the product with the bank.
The competition is fuelled by the Open Bank Project API (Application Programming Interface), which allows developers to access data and services at the bank and build new apps and software application solutions on top of these. The competition will be run in a controlled environment ('sandbox') in which test data emulating real situations is used.
"Emirates NBD has actually constantly taken bold actions to stay the most innovative bank in the Middle East," Abdulla Qassem, Group Chief Operating Officer of Emirates NBD, "The bank has actually invested smartly in technology development to transform the customer experience and opening to external developments belongs to our constant search for brand-new technologies that will drive the future of banking. We are committed making banking easily accessible and convenient to match our customers' lifestyles and needs.".
In recent years, Emirates NBD has actually launched amazing next generation self-service banking innovations such as the mobile-based Fitness Account; DirectRemit, a 60-second online remittance service; Mobile Cheque Deposit, Banking via Twitter; Emirates NBD mePay, a peer-to-peer money transfer service; and 'Shake n Save'. This has actually led to various awards including the Best Consumer Digital Bank in the Middle East and Africa by Global Finance, 'Bank of the Year-- Middle East 2015' by The Banker and the Fitness Account Innovation of the Month December 2015 by EFMA.
"An API enables innovation to take place in faster and unforeseen methods due to the fact that ingenious developers and entrepreneurs can rapidly think of, design and code 'out of the box' solutions leveraging rock solid, safe and secure services offered by the bank. This allows the bank to quicker comprehend and on-board innovations to the advantage of their clients. We are thrilled to be dealing with Emirates NBD and Emirates Islamic, a banking group that is plainly serious about partnering with outside start-ups and innovators across the globe," says Simon Redfern, CEO of TESOBE Ltd/ Open Bank Project.
