Fintech Week Lithuania | Day 2 - Fintech Week Lithuania
2020-06-16

Fintech Week Lithuania | Day 2

The second day of Fintech Week Lithuania had a lot of expectations after the stellar speech of Brittany Kaiser the day before. Nonetheless, day two had a solid start with the London Stock Exchange and discussion about digital assets and the future of capital markets.

Panellists discussed how will the future lifecycle of the financial instruments look like, considering that they will be issued in a digital form and handled on updated digital accounting and settlement systems. What was stressed is that collaboration among stakeholders is required in order to create synergy in the industry and reap the benefits. Right now, a lot of groundwork has to be done from technical and regulatory perspectives and once the initial stages are completed in a couple of years, we shall see a big shift and explosion in fintech.

Panellists listed the benefits of digital exchanges that use the distributed ledger technology (DLT) and gave examples of pioneers, such as the Australian Stock Exchange, which was the first one to work on DLT. It is clear that innovation is making significant changes in the capital markets industry and is redefining business models.

A similar question was asked by the second discussion of Fintech Week Lithuania, where fintech companies Twino and ConnectPay, among others, discussed whether the Covid- 19 crisis has helped companies to shift from being product- centric to customer-centric? Twino, which is an online investment platform and a Peer-to- Peer lending marketplace, said that fintechs and their products have always been customer-centric. However, the crisis has made companies change their behaviour and communication with customers, being more proactive in their approach. In general, according to the Deputy CEO & Board Member of ConnectPay, which is offering alternative banking services to online businesses, people have become more focused during this crisis.

Indeed, the focus is a must when businesses are suffering from closures and lack of financing. This was the topic of the following panel, which discussed lending options to Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in order to enable recovery after the Covid-19 crisis. Panellists, that included lenders to SMEs, such as Finbee, Saldo Finance, Factris and Lithuanian state agency for investment and business guarantees, INVEGA, said that companies will need capital quickly after being hit by the Covid-19 crisis. However, banks tend to prefer to on-board bigger clients, rather than going through lengthy onboarding processes with the SMEs.

Here is where a niche where the fintechs come in: Factris, for instance, said that they have developed a system, which enables for a fast on=boarding of companies that want to receive business loans.

Notwithstanding, the development of technology and advancement of regulation, such as open banking and APIs, will enable to operate even faster. INVEGA said that this crisis caused by the Covid-19 has broken some logical barriers and opened up discussions about bigger state involvement indirect lending to businesses.

We can see that although we are talking about technology, which is perceived as an independent, forward-thinking tool, it is clear that technology alone cannot promote the adoption of innovations. There is a need for cooperation with governments and regulators, which are instrumental in synchronizing global order.

The next panel was exactly about that: digital currencies, initially viewed as anarchic tools, are now coming closer to the governmental level. Fintech Week Lithuania guests in a panel about Digital Programmable Euro included three professors, who spoke about national currencies created on a Distributed Ledger Technology. We know that the adoption of digital currencies will be certainly fast-forwarded with the encouragement of governments.

The day has ended with perhaps the most awaited panel for newly aspiring fintech startups: Startup Wise Guys was answering an important question whether Venture Capitalists are still interested in fintechs? And the answer is yes. Startup Wise Guys, which is an accelerator that has over eight years of experience and over EUR 32 million fundraised for portfolio companies, said that investments in fintechs have been growing. However, trends are changing. While previously, the old normal was ‘fintech fetishism’ with skyrocket valuations, right now; there is a ‘fintech realism’.

The accelerator has noted that in 2019, key trends in fintech were Know Your Customer solutions, customer lending, API integrators, Apps for wealth management, payment gateways, cashback, encryption and compliance. While in 2020, the trends differ. We see lending already emerging as a winner, together with debt management, mortgage refinance, e-commerce payments, as well as health savings accounts, capital markets, cyber insurance and digital identification and biometrics.  Apparently, VCs will be investing in companies that are using financial technology as an ingredient, versus a primary business model. Attention was brought to sustainable finance as a visibly emerging trend in finance and investments.

What we see is that fintech is an exciting area of growth and innovation, which joins everyone- businesses, consumers, technology, governments and regulators. Fintech Week Lithuania is certainly happening at the right time, at the right place.

 

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15 June | USA | GMT +3 /
Time
Topic
Speakers
16:00 - 16:20
WELCOME ADDRESS

Vilius Šapoka, Minister of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania
Žygimantas Vaičiūnas, Minister of Energy, Acting Minister of the Economy and Innovation 

16:20 - 16:30
OPENING

Aurimas Danielius, moderator

16:30 - 16:50
FINTECH, BLOCKCHAIN: INNOVATION, INFRASTRUCTURE AND REGULATION

Pēteris Zilgalvis, Head of Unit, Digital Innovation and Blockchain @ European Commission

16:50 - 17:00
INTERVIEW WITH BANKERA, WINNER OF EUROPEAN COMMISSION #EUVSVIRUS HACKATHON

Vytautas Karalevičius, Co-founder @ Bankera

17:00 - 17:40
THE FUTURE OF FINTECH AFTER THE COVID CRISIS

Chris Skinner, Author, commentator and troublemaker

17:40 - 18:30
CHALLENGERS VS INCUMBENTS: AGILITY AND CUSTOMER ACQUISITION – WHO WON, WHO LOST?

Jean Louis Van Houwe (moderator) Founder & CEO @ Monizze, President of the Board
@ Fintech Belgium

Šarūnas Legeckas, General Manager Greater Europe @ N26

Jeffrey Alberts, Partner @ Pryor Cashman LLP

Mantas Staliūnas, CEO @ Verifo

18:30 - 18:45
INTERVIEW

Linas Beliūnas, Influencer, Country Manager, Europe @ Flutterwave

18:45 - 19:30
PANEL: WHO LEADS INNOVATION: BANKING-AS-A-SERVICE OR CUSTOMER-FACING FINTECHS?

Douglas Mackenzie (moderator) Head Series Producer & Host @ Fintech Finance
Andy Patton
, CCO @ Contis
Benjamin Ensor, Director of Research @ 11:FS
Andrius Bagdonavičius, Managing Director @ Mambu Lithuania
Erika Maslauskaitė, Chief Business Development Officer @ Inventi

19:30 - 20:30
PANEL: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IMPLEMENTATIONS ON BLOCKCHAIN. USE CASES AND FUTURE APPLICATIONS

George Papageorgiou (moderator), Independent Bitcoin Researcher
Konstantinos Sgantzos, Theoretical Physicist, Biochemist, Bioinformatics
Ian Grigg, Cryptographer

20:30 - 21:20
OWNING YOUR DATA

Brittany Kaiser, Activist, Founder @ Own Your Data Foundation

16 June | ASIA | GMT +3 /
Time
Topic
Speakers
11:00 - 11:03
OPENING

Aurimas Danielius, moderator

11:03 - 12:00
PANEL: DIGITAL ASSETS AND THE FUTURE OF CAPITAL MARKETS

Oz Sultan (moderator) Chief Information Officer @ PAC Global
Andrius Bartminas, CEO @ Super How?
Stephanie Brennan, CEO @ Evarvest
Dotun Rominiyi, Blockchain & Innovation Strategy @ London Stock Exchange

12:00 - 12:50
PANEL: HAS THE CRISIS HELPED COMPANIES SHIFT FROM BEING PRODUCT-CENTRIC TO CUSTOMER CENTRIC, ARE THEY READY FOR CONSUMER OF 2021?

Nick Price (moderator) CEO & Founder @ Bright Purple, Director @ Primed
Agnė Selemonaitė, Deputy CEO & Board Member @ ConnectPay
Peter Oakes, Board Director @ TransferMate Global Payments & Founder @ Fintech Ireland
Anastasija Oleinika, CEO @ TWINO Group

12:50 - 13:35
PANEL: SME AND MICRO LOANS: ENABLING THE RECOVERY

Dovilė Burgienė (moderator) Co-founder & Managing Partner @ Walless
Jarkko Mäensivu
, CEO @ Saldo Finance
Kęstutis Motiejūnas, CEO @ Invega
Audrius Griškevičius, Head of SME lending @ Finbee
Brian Reaves, CEO @ Factris

13:35 - 14:20
PANEL: PROGRAMMABLE DIGITAL EURO

Dr. Audrius Kabašinskas (moderator) Assoc. Prof. @ KTU, Council Member @ ECMI
Prof. Dr. Philipp Sandner, Head of the Frankfurt School Blockchain Center
Dr. Pavel Kravchenko, CEO & Co-founder @ Distributed Lab

14:20 - 15:20
WORKSHOP | FINTECH TRENDS: WHAT ARE VCS LOOKING AT RIGHT NOW?

Jonė Vaitulevičiūtė, Partner @ Startup Wise Guys

17 June | EUROPE | GMT +3 /
Time
Topic
Speakers
13:00 - 13:05
OPENING

Aurimas Danielius, moderator

13:05 - 14:15
FINTECH PITCH BATTLE
14:25 - 15:20
PANEL: THE MOST EXCITING COVID-19 CRISIS INNOVATIONS THAT WILL SHAPE THE FUTURE OF FINTECHS

Paulius Tarbūnas (moderator) Head of Fintech Lithuania @ Infobalt
Douglas Mackenzie, Head Series Producer & Host @ Fintech Finance
Kęstutis Gardžiulis, Founder & CIO @ Etronika
Vytautas Karalevičius, Co-founder & Chairman of the Board @ Pervesk
Jesper Carvalho Andersen, Chairman @ GREEN EQUITY SGP

15:20 - 15:50
PANEL: AML AND KYC – NEW KING?

Alexandre Pinot (moderator) Founding Member @ ACAMS Baltic Chapter & MLRO & Head of Vilnius Office @ SONECT
Joseph Weinberg, Special Advisor @ OECD & FATF
Federica Taccogna, Senior Managing Director @ FTI Consulting
Steve Hancock, Director & Co-founder @ AML Analytics

15:50 -16:00
REFLECTION ON THE PANEL

Domantas Čiuldė, CEO @ IDenfy

16:00 - 16:50
PANEL: DRIVING THE FUTURE OF SUSTAINABLE FINANCE

Alex Gibb (moderator) Partner @ Katalista Ventures
Dovilė Grigienė, CEO @ Swedbank Lithuania
Keesa Schreane, Senior Executive in Financial Services, Host & Executive Producer @ Refinitiv
Otavio Lopes, Deputy Portfolio Manager @ International Finance Corporation
Jacek Kubas, Associate Director @ EBRD

16:50 - 17:50
PANEL: CYBERSECURITY: INCREASED RISKS IN THE CURRENT ENVIRONMENT

Živilė Nečejauskaitė (moderator) Director of Marketing and Communication @ NRD Cyber Security
May Michelson, Senior Director of Global Sales @ GK8
Malte Pollmann, CSO @ Utimaco
Thomas Kerbl, Team Lead/Principal Security Consultant @ SEC Consult Group
Dr. Rytis Rainys, Director @ National Cyber Security Center of Lithuania

17:50 - 18:35
PANEL: SCALING YOUR FINTECH IN TIME OF CRISIS: MISSION (IM)POSSIBLE?

Ieva Paulauskienė (moderator) Investment Advisor for Fintech @ Invest Lithuania
Nigel Verdon
, CEO @ Railsbank
Sigutė Kuncevičiūtė, CEO @ SumUp EU Payments
Stefano Vaccino, CEO @ Yapily

18 June | USA | GMT +3 /
Time
Topic
Speakers
15:00 - 15:05
OPENING

Aurimas Danielius, moderator

15:05 - 16:15
FINTECH PITCH BATTLE
16:15 - 16:50
PANEL: SURVIVING CRISIS: BEST PRACTISES AND TIPS FOR STARTUPS

Vytautas Černiauskas (moderator) Expert at Civitta/Startup Division
Jean-Baptiste (JB) Daguené
, Partner @ 70Ventures
Tony Greenberg, CEO & Founder @ RampRate

16:50 - 17:40
PANEL: NEW VALUATIONS: FUNDRAISING AND BUSINESS FINANCING DURING AND AFTER COVID-19 CRISIS

Alex Gibb (moderator) Partner at Katalista Ventures
Gytenis Galkis, Partner & Licensed Unicorn Hunter at 70Ventures
Kadeem Clarke, Founder of Clarke Global Marketing
Balder Bomans, CIO @ Maven 11 Capital

17:40 - 17:50
BREAK
17:50 - 18:45
LITHUANIAN FINTECH AWARDS
18:45 - 19:10
HOW LITHUANIA BECAME A MAJOR FINTECH HUB?

Rugilė Stonytė, Senior Investment Advisor for Fintech @ Invest Lithuania

19:10 - 19:55
PANEL: RE-SKILLING & CONTINUOUS EDUCATION FOR DIGITAL AGE

Inga Karulaitytė (moderator) Partner @ ECOVIS ProventusLaw
Shilpa Arora
, AML Director for the EMEA @ ACAMS
Dr. Saulius Masteika, Assoc. Professor of Computational Finance & Chair of Fintech study program @ Vilnius University
Dr. Marius Laurinaitis, Associate Professor @ Mykolas Romeris University
Prof. Marinos Themistocleous, Associate Dean, School of Business, Director Institute For the Future