Magazine BEAST #16 2019

28
#Business | FinTech
GET ACQUAINTED
WITH THE PARIS
FINTECH FORUM
BY ALI PATERSON
Paris Fintech Forum has established itself as one of the main global
events of the sector in only a few years. In January, the 2019 edition
confirmed this reputation, and the upcoming 5 th edition is on track
to do the same. Held over two days, on 28 and 29 January 2020, at
the Palais Brongniart in Paris, the forum aims to gather, as usual,
2,700 attendees to listen to more than 250 international speakers,
almost all CEOs from global financial institutions, regulators and, of
course, Fintechs from all over the world. Most of the participants
come from outside of France, with 70-plus countries present,
Luxembourg being always in the top 3 of the participants number.
For two years in a row the event has sold out a week before opening.
Laurent Nizri, is founder and CEO of Altéir Event, which organizes
the Paris Fintech Forum: we asked him what we should expect from
this fifth edition.
How would you describe Paris Fintech Forum to someone
who hasn’t attended yet? Why is this event so unique?
Paris Fintech Forum is the most exclusive European event
on digital finance in the Fintech age. There is no other event
gathering as many international CEOs from across the industry,
both among the audience and on stage.
Another thing that sets us apart is that we purposely limit our
capacity to 2,700 attendees to leverage real networking in a
club format. We are a kind of ‘Davos of digital finance’.
We have no keynotes and all the speakers participate in strong
added value fireside chats and panels in order to debate and
exchange opinions on the future of finance. We are used to
receiving numerous ministers, governors of central banks and
other regulators involved in the industry. As an example, last
January, among our 280 speakers were Christine Lagarde, MD of
the International Monetary Fund; Bruno Le Maire, French minister
of the Economy and Finances with Pierre Gramegna, Minister
of Finance of Luxembourg and their Belgian, and Lithuanian
counterparts; and so many others.
One more key characteristic of this event is that we gather
people together from a diverse range of sectors in all verticals.
Indeed, we have tracks and sessions on credit/alternative
lending, payment and neo banks as well as InsurTech, RegTech,
wealth management, blockchain and cryptocurrency.
Lastly, a key purpose of the Forum is to foster business meetings
between key players. With more than 150 exhibitors, eight
thematic lounges for conducting business and many side events
dedicated to networking (VIP lunches, parties, etc), our attendees
get multiple opportunities to strike up new partnerships or
imagine future collaborations.
BEAST MAGAZINE #16
Last edition, 80 per cent of the 180 Fintech CEOs
on stage were not present the year before.
What is your selection process?
To be honest, it gets harder and harder. In the last
four years we have already had more than 800 unique
speakers, including the vast majority of the key Fintechs’
CEOs, globally speaking. So, finding new top successful
voices of the industry is not that easy!
What we aim for at the Forum each year is a real expert
selection to offer our participants an up-to-date
and state-of-the-art vision of what Fintech is in the
different geographies and in all financial domains. We
do not claim that we select the «best» Fintechs; rather,
we choose those that, at the time of the Forum, are
the best representative players in their sector, bringing
real innovation and/or being at the center of a strong
commercial traction.
As a result, we don’t have a lot of early-stage companies
because one of the objectives of the Forum is to enable
partnership between historical players and new entrants.
This is possible only for startups that have already
successfully taken the first steps in their company
journeys and are strong enough to face the unavoidable
hazards and timelines accompanying collaboration with
big groups.
Our selection is a mix of international unicorns and
a plethora of startups, sometimes less known to the
general public, which apply to be on stage via our
online platform. This year, we expect to exceed the 900
applications for the last edition.
You also have many speakers from incumbents
– including key CEOs. How do you get them to join
the debate?
We all have our secret recipes! However, what I can tell
you is that when a company is already engaged in a
real digital transformation, their leaders are quite easy to
convince to come and share with the crowd their vision
of the future. Of course, some financial institutions are
quite late in that process, so you don’t really see their
top leaders on stage.
Any scoops you can share with us on the already
confirmed speakers for next January?
We just started to share our first confirmed speakers
and among them you can find: Ralph Hamers, CEO of ING;
Carlos Torres Vila, Chairman of BBVA; Frédéric Oudéa,
CEO of Société Générale; Hikmet Ersek, CEO of Western
Union; Javier Pérez-Tasso, CEO of SWIFT; Ann Cairns,
Executive Vice Chair of Mastercard; Nicolas Huss, CEO
of Ingenico Group; Nikhil Rathi, CEO of London Stock
Exchange; Valentin Stalf, CEO of N26; Kathryn Petralia,
President of Kabbage; Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple;
Anne Boden, CEO of Starling Bank; Osama Bedier, CEO
of Poynt; David Gurlé, CEO of Symphony; Brandon Krieg,
CEO of Stash; Arik Shtilman, CEO of Rapyd, Julian Teicke,
CEO of Wefox Group, Elizabeth Rossiello, CEO of Aza
Finance, … among many others and still big surprises to
be announced!.