With an event attended by more than 200 people, the 4th edition of the Financial Innovation Program (PIF) closed today, promoting financial inclusion through the formalization of quality ideas and projects, through collaborative work between the public and private sectors. This edition of the PIF was co-organized between the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic and the National Securities Commission.
The meeting brought together profiles from the financial, technological and entrepreneurial sectors who listened to the 10 selected proposals and top-level speakers who talked about digital transformation in financial services and emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things, robotics, machine learning, among others.
“The Central Bank promotes competition in the financial system and transparency in information with conviction,” said Director Enrique Szewach, who moderated the panel “The challenges of digital transformation in financial services.” For his part, Nicolás Gadano, general manager, mentioned the measures adopted by the BCRA in recent years to promote financial inclusion with the support of technology as a facilitating tool.
Mara Misto Macías, senior manager of Information Security Standards in Entities, moderated the panel on emerging technologies. Towards the end of the day, Gonzalo Arzuaga told his experience as an entrepreneur and founder of GauchoNet 20 years ago and today of Terrífico Capital, a fund that invests in cryptocurrencies.
With the debate of the jury composed of Alejo Macaya (BCRA), Iván Novakovich (CNV), Lorena Suárez (Grupo Supervielle), Hanna Schiuma (Prack Asset Management) and Mariano Biocca (Argentine Chamber of Fintech), and having analyzed creativity, quality, feasibility and public impact based on social value, the three winners of this edition were defined:
First prize $125,000
Wibond: Corporate virtual wallet with the main objective of helping companies save administrative and financial costs by using a platform that connects them. Topic: Market Infrastructure.
Second prize $90,000
SKERE: Learning and saving tool through which children incorporate the practice of saving as a daily element, through a mobile phone application under the concept of the historic savings books. Topic: Financial Education.
Third prize $55,000
JOTA: Adaptation of the visualization system and logic of online banking platforms through a system of folders and subfolders with name and description, where the user/customer can “separate” the available money, which would represent the allocation of expenses. Topic: Mobile & Home Banking.
The Financial Innovation Program began in May and called for more than 70 ideas with the purpose of achieving a more accessible financial system and capital market . To reinforce the federal sense of the PIF and encourage the participation of new sectors, the BCRA and the CNV visited Neuquén, Córdoba and Rosario where, through special talks for entrepreneurs, students, banks, accelerators, and start-ups, they invited new entrepreneurs to participate with the following lines of work:
- Complementary Agencies | To promote the development of complementary agency services through the use of technology.
- Mobile & Home Banking | Improve the user experience in mobile banking and internet banking through technology.
- Digital Validation | Use biometric identification to validate banking and capital market transactions.
- Financial Education | Apply technology to develop interactive content to bring the population closer to financial concepts – banking and capital markets.
- Regtech | Apply technology to compliance with BCRA and CNV regulations.
- Market Infrastructure | Apply technology to make the infrastructure of the financial system and/or the capital market more efficient.
The other finalist projects
IntegrAR: Platform that allows individuals, entrepreneurs or companies to upload their profile and then send a request for a financial product or service to the market. The provider may take this request and evaluate the customer from the website or app. Topic: Complementary Agencies.
BANCAR Open Banking: It establishes a standard of communication between banks, the BCRA, and the developer community to allow the creation of applications focused on financial services, collections, and banking information. Topic: Complementary Agencies.
Women in the race: Online training platform for the inclusion of women and girls in finance and the economy. Its modules are based on the microlearning philosophy, fast and effective content straight to the point. Topic: Financial Education.
Invera: Investment platform based on automated advice, which allows retail investors, previously not advised, to be served in an economically efficient way. Topic: Market Infrastructure.
Starkus: It connects members with the financial needs of the clubs, so that they can carry out their projects through the issuance of stablecoins of each club. Topic: Market Infrastructure.
THE POM: It proposes the possibility that bank customers can transfer their financial products to any other entity in no more than 72 hours, promoting free competition and the experience of customers of the financial system in general. Topic: Mobile & Home Banking.
Digiventures: Financial services marketplace. It focuses on providing onboarding and scoring services for financial institutions offering cost competitiveness. In addition, the platform provides user-focused financial education. Topic: Digital Validation.
