Four winners named in first-of-its-kind event
seeking ground-breaking ideas to transform banking
TORONTO, SAO PAULO, MELBOURNE and LONDON, Nov. 17,
2021 /CNW/ - Today CIBC, Itaú Unibanco, National
Australia Bank and NatWest Group announced the winners of the
Global Open Finance Challenge, which invited teams of innovators
from around the world to prototype and present ground-breaking
ideas to help customers and the public at large access banking
services in new and exciting ways. The Challenge was hosted by the
four banks in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS).
In total, 91 teams from 19 countries competed in the Challenge,
with four teams ultimately selected as winners by the four banks'
CEOs and three industry leaders.
Each of the winning teams will now have the opportunity to
explore working with one or more of the banks to turn their
innovative idea into a proof of concept.
The winning teams
The overall winner of the Global
Open Finance Challenge is:
- ValAi, Australia
-
- ValAi developed Greenhouse, an automated sustainability rating
tool and marketplace that provides customers tailored insights for
their home, and fills the knowledge gap for homeowners and
financial institutions on the impact of a sustainability rating on
the value of the asset.
The winners of each Challenge theme are:
- 9th Gear Technologies, USA– 'Most innovative customer
experience for businesses and corporates'
-
- 9th Gear Technologies developed a blockchain-powered
business-to-business foreign exchange (FX) platform that allows for
real-time FX settlement using tokens which represent pre-funded
currency values, expediting the current process for clients.
- NoFrontiers, Brazil – 'Most
innovative and convenient channel for accessing banking
services'
-
- NoFrontiers developed FinPass, a newcomer/immigrant onboarding
and credit solution, connected to a global network of banks, making
it easier for newcomers/immigrants to access credit and establish
themselves in new countries.
- Banyan, USA – 'Most innovative
solution in support of climate and sustainability'
-
- Banyan developed a loan and risk management platform which
digitizes the loan lifecycle for renewable energy projects, to
enable financial institutions to fund an increased number of green
infrastructure projects.
"Founded in late 2019, ValAi is a female founder-led startup
with backgrounds in sustainability, property valuation and tech.
Our novel product, Greenhouse, puts people at the heart of the
global transition to net zero and challenges the finance sector to
influence and guide the next phase of our community's
transformational change," said Allys
Todd, Founder, ValAi. "Our company vision is creating a
zero-carbon, nature-positive global economy, in which finance fuels
the energy transition, a healthy planet and green jobs."
The four winners were amongst the top teams selected to present
their ideas to a judging panel featuring the CEOs of the four
banks, plus executives from private equity, venture capital, and
technology organizations:
- Victor Dodig, President and CEO,
CIBC
- Milton Maluhy Filho, CEO, Itaú Unibanco
- Ross McEwan, Group CEO, National
Australia Bank
- Alison Rose, CEO, NatWest
Group
- Werner Vogels, Vice President
and Chief Technology Officer, Amazon.com, Inc.
- Rob Heyvaert, Managing Partner,
Motive Partners
- Rick Yang, General Partner and
Head of Consumer, New Enterprise Associates
"We're thrilled that so many innovators from around the world
took part in the Global Open Finance Challenge, presenting new
ideas and solutions to advance and reshape our financial
ecosystem," said Victor G. Dodig,
CIBC President and Chief Executive Officer. "Global collaboration
offers immense opportunity to generate and harness ideas that can
create more value for clients, which benefits all stakeholders as
we shape the future of banking."
"AWS has been a champion of startups from day one and we
continue to work hard to support a global community of builders who
can transform ideas. It was an exciting journey working with the
teams in the Global Open Finance Challenge as they built and tested
technology solutions to better serve banking customers in the
rapidly evolving digital economy," said Werner Vogels, Vice President and Chief
Technology Officer, Amazon.com, Inc. "Times of change offer
opportunities to experiment and innovate, and the impressive
fintechs that took part in the Challenge embraced the resources and
expert advice it provided to hone their ideas and jumpstart new
technology solutions."
Notes for editors:
About The Global Open Finance Challenge
In creating
this event, the four banks sought solutions from global innovators
in response to three Challenge themes:
- How can we better serve our corporate and business customers,
and the public at large, by delivering high-value digital
services?
- How can we help current and new customers access banking
services through more convenient or relevant digital channels?
- How can we find innovative ways to help our customers make
better decisions around climate and sustainability?
To support participants with the development of their solutions,
the four banks co-developed a secure sandbox environment featuring
a set of shared APIs (Application Programming Interfaces),
including a combination of open banking, open finance and
experimental services.
During the solution development phase from 18 to 24 October, the
teams also benefitted from mentoring and access to experts from the
four banks to help them build and refine their solutions.
For more information on the Global Open Finance Challenge,
please visit:
www.globalopenfinancechallenge.com
About CIBC
CIBC is a leading North American financial
institution with 10 million personal banking, business, public
sector and institutional clients. Across Personal and Business
Banking, Commercial Banking and Wealth Management, and Capital
Markets businesses, CIBC offers a full range of advice, solutions
and services through its leading digital banking network and
locations across Canada, with
offices in the United States and
around the world. Ongoing news releases and more information about
CIBC can be found at
www.cibc.com/en/about-cibc/media-centre.html.
About ITAÚ:
Itaú Unibanco's purpose is to promote
people's power of transformation and we do it through a strategic
agenda focused on client centricity and digital transformation,
based also on the diversity of our people. The largest bank in
Latin America, Itaú Unibanco is
present in 18 countries and has more than 56 million customers,
among individuals and companies in all segments, to whom we offer
the best experiences in financial products and services. Itaú
Unibanco has been selected for the 21st consecutive time to be part
of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI World), being the
only Latin American financial institution to be part of the index
since its creation in 1999.
About National Australia Bank:
National Australia Bank
(NAB) is a financial services institution. We're here to serve
customers well and help our communities prosper. Today, we have
more than 31,000 people serving eight million customers at more
than 900 locations. As Australia's
largest business bank, our business experts work with small, medium
and large businesses to help them grow.
About NatWest Group:
NatWest Group is a leading
banking and financial services group in the UK and Ireland.
We operate through a number of well-known banking brands. We have a
presence on the high street through our customer facing brands -
NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland
and Ulster Bank. We are the largest supporter of UK business,
banking around 1 in 4 businesses across the UK. Our private banking
customers know us through their relationships with Coutts, Adam & Company, Child & Co and
Drummonds. And NatWest Markets help our corporate and institutional
clients manage their financial risks and achieve their short and
long-term financial goals.
SOURCE CIBC