FinTech Summit AsiaBerlin

As part of the Asia-Pacific Week Berlin, OAV in cooperation with CT Advisory held the Fintech Summit AsiaBerlin at the premises of the European School of Management and Technology in Berlin on April 24th 2018.

More than a dozen experts from Europe and Asia participated in the event to explore and discuss the state of Fintech, exchanging hands-on experiences and combining knowledge from financial hubs around the world. The event was opened by Georg Garlichs, CFO of the ESMT, who cordially welcomed the international lineup of speakers and the audience at the historical premises situated in the center of the German capital. Felicitas Kaupp, Regional Manager Greater China and Mongolia at OAV, and Christian Trumm, Fintech Advisor, guided the audience through the summit.

The first section of the event, which was dedicated to “Open Infrastructure and Ecosystems as a Groundwork for Innovation and Global Collaboration”, had four speakers presenting the most vibrant regions of Fintech Innovation. Emon Wang, General Manager at Tech Code Berlin, Luca Borella, Country Lead at Open Bank Project, Vikram Gupta, Founder & MD of IvyCap Ventures in Mumbai, and the Co-Founder of W Hub Hong Kong, Karena Belin, gave insights into what makes or breaks a location as a successful Hub for Fintech and how cooperation between startups, banks and governments can be facilitated and improved. The ignite speeches were followed by a panel discussion, including all speakers and Lars Markull, API evangelist at figo GmbH, who shared the view that there is a lot of untapped potential for further collaboration between Asia and Europe in Fintech.

How does customer centricity function as a driving force in Fintech? Four experts on customer focused financial technology joined forces to discuss possible answers in the second section of the event. Jerome Eger, CEO of Ginmon China, Perjan Duro, Founder of MoneyCoach, Oliver Berchtold, Co-Founder at YUKKA Lab, and Sanjeev Kumar, Research Director at Burnmark in Mumbai, showcased solutions, developments and shared their compelling experiences with Fintech in China and India. The following panel was completed by Robert Kilian, Chief representative at N26, and Malte Klussmann, Co-Founder and COO at Cringle GmbH.

The keynote speech of the summit, dedicated to the discussion of Blockchain-Technology and its potential, was delivered by the founder and director of True Global Ventures and a well-known figure in the Asian Fintech Scene, Dusan Stojanovic. Florian Glatz, President of the Blockchain Bundesverband, and Tobias Pfütze, Partner at Fintech China, brought the well-attended summit to a conclusion with their ignite speeches, before joining the panel together with Dr. Nina Luisa Siedler, Partner at DWF Germany, Andreas Schemm, CEO at Vreo, and Arnab Naskar, CEO of Sicos in Hamburg. The lively discussion on “Global Blockchain Trends and Potential for Collaboration between Asia and Germany” was moderated by Thorsten Terweiden, Deputy Head of Fintech at Invest Hong Kong.