Join KA2 at the FStech Awards

Dust off that evening wear, the countdown is on for the 20^th annual FStech Awards! KA2 is proud to sponsor the awards this year, which recognise excellence and innovation in IT within the financial services sector, not just in the UK but also across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The awards have become one of the biggest nights for the top players in the fintech industry. The event is hosted by FStech, a leading online publication for IT leaders and decision makers that explores cutting-edge topics impacting the financial technology industry. We hope you’ll consider joining us on 19 March in London!

Who Will Win?

The FStech Awards are unique within the industry in that fintech start-ups compete alongside established banks for top honours. We’re excited to see such a diverse and impressive shortlist of financial technology players from across the spectrum. (And no, unfortunately, sponsors aren’t privy to who will win.)

Be on the lookout for some big names, like Lloyds, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, Barclays, Natwest and JP Morgan, which are represented across categories like Best Use of Mobile, Open Banking Product or Service of the Year and Digital Transformation Project of the Year. Meanwhile, challenger banks and fintech startups like Starling Bank, Yolt, LAB577, eToro and Traydstream are all vying for recognition in categories like Compliance or RegTech Project of the Year, Open Banking and Best Use of Technology in Customer Service.

Awards to Watch

At FStech Awards 2020, a total of 28 awards are up for grabs, many of which are new this year to reflect a shifting industry. While we’ll be keeping our eyes on all the prizes, there are a few awards we’re especially interested in for their relevance and importance in the broader financial services industry.

First up is the Compliance and Regulation Technology (RegTech) Project of the Year, which will go to the most effective compliance project by a financial services provider. The financial services industry is, by its nature, steeped in compliance and government regulation, such as MiFID, SEPA and anti-money laundering protocols. Add to that fresh challenges like Brexit, GDPR and IR35, and, well, there’s quite an opportunity for smart RegTech products and services.

The winning RegTech project of the year will leverage technology in a strategic way to enable compliance with regulations, either for a single project or for an overall strategy. Last year’s winner was Bank of America; this year will be an interesting one as it pits big banks like Deutsche Bank and HSBC against smaller startups like LAB577, Traydstream and Chef Software. We think this shows a critical and continual need (and opportunity) to stay atop an increasingly complex compliance and regulation landscape. Other shortlist contenders for the RegTech project of the year include Cappitech, ClauseMatch, Feedstock, Know your Customer, and Signicat and Rabobank.

A second award to watch is the Cyber Security Solution of the Year, a new category for 2020. Today,  keeping your employees, customers and data safe requires a cyber security solution that spans the entire company. This award will recognise the best strategy, be it an internal solution from a financial services company or an external solution from a technology provider. The winner will need to demonstrate how their approach protected end users or helped a company protect its data, with bonus points available for creating clear business benefit alongside protection and innovation.

The shortlist for Cyber Security Solution of the year includes Clearswift, CybSafe, CyNation, Eze Castle Integration, Nuggets, Redscan, SaltDN, Semafone, SWIFT and Trustonic. It’s interesting that no big banks are among these, perhaps a nod to the fact that cybersecurity is a complex challenge that requires out-of-the-box thinking and breaking down of silos, a trait we tend to see shared more by smaller, nimbler organisations than large, entrenched banks.

Another award we’ve got our eye on is Best Customer Experience, another new offering for 2020 and perhaps one of the more ‘experimental’ categories. This is also an exciting category for us, as KA2’s CEO Chriss Andrews will be presenting the award during the ceremony. Not surprisingly, customer experience is of paramount importance for today’s bank and financial services providers. Consumers are savvy and no matter what your business is, delivering an absolutely stellar customer experience will be key to your success. We’re mostly seeing start-ups in this space, who challenge the banking industry to provide faster, better customer-centric experiences, from getting people to sign up, to gamifying experiences, to discovering innovative ways to keep users happy. The shortlist for this award includes ANNA (issued by Wirecard), eToro, Paylink Solutions, Natwest and Somo.

Connect with KA2 at the #FStechAwards

KA2’s own Chriss Andrews and Lewis Martin will be at the awards on 19 March at the London Marriott Hotel in Grosvenor Square. Please come say hello and learn about how KA2 can help you land on next year’s shortlist! We partner with leading financial services firms to deliver better business outcomes through security-driven technology transformation guided by our proprietary Smarter Framework, which helps break through silos to accelerate business transformation. From enterprise service management and modern workplace to information security and compliance, see how we can help you create enhanced security-led and compliant experiences for customers and employees.

Can’t make it? We’re sorry to miss you, but please follow the conversation at @FStechAwards and #FStechAwards. We’ll also be sharing updates from the event at @KA2Admin, so be sure to follow us and catch the latest from the event!

We hope to see you there!