Successful conclusion of the III Fintech Hack&Disrupt! Meeting organized by Mondragon Unibertsitatea and Bolsas y Mercados Españoles
Successful conclusion of the III Fintech Hack&Disrupt! Meeting organized by Mondragon Unibertsitatea and Bolsas y Mercados Españoles
Successful conclusion of the III Fintech Hack&Disrupt! Meeting organized by Mondragon Unibertsitatea and Bolsas y Mercados Españoles
The event is supported by the City Council, the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, BBK Foundation, Bilbao Plaza Financiera and the Basque Government
After the success of the two previous editions, Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME) and Bilbao Berrikuntza Faktoria, BBF Fintech organized the III Encuentro Fintech Hack&Disrupt! on July 12 and 13 in Bilbao, the most important Fintech - Insurtech event in the Basque Country, coinciding with Spain's rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union. The meeting brought together companies, students, entrepreneurs and startups with the aim of promoting Bilbao as a center for innovation and entrepreneurship in the financial environment.
The event took place at the BAT Tower and combined the resolution of challenges by the Hackathon participants (July 12) with an institutional day (July 13) aimed at the financial and entrepreneurial ecosystem. The III Fintech Hack&Disrupt! Meeting was organized in collaboration with the City Council of Bilbao, the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, BBK Foundation and Bilbao Plaza Financiera.
The first day revolved around a challenge posed about the Basque Government's Sustainable Bonds. The Basque Government started its sustainable financing strategy in 2018 and today has 7 sustainable bond issues for €4.4 billion. "In Euskadi we need to reinforce our investment effort that is present in our social and political commitment, our annual budgets and a rational, adjusted and sustainable financial management model in the long term", stresses Arantza Larrauri, Director of Financial Policy of the Basque Government.
The program for the 13th kicked off with an opening speech by Javier Hernani, CEO of BME, and representatives of the Bilbao City Council and the Provincial Council of Bizkaia. José Manuel Marqués, Director of Financial Innovation at the Bank of Spain, continued with a speech on the challenges of digitalization in Spain. This was followed by a panel discussion with representatives from BME Inntech, Kutxabank and Norbolsa, moderated by the director of Torre BAT.
This was followed by Eva Popcheva, MEP and vice-chair of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, followed by a debate on innovation, technology and regulation with the participation of Kreab, FinReg360, BME Growth and Veltis Rating. After the participation of Asier Quesada, coordinator of BBF Fintech at Mondragon Unibertsitatea, Arantza Larrauri, director of financial policy of the Basque Government, took the floor. Afterwards, time was dedicated to analyze the success stories of the previous edition.
After the cocktail, the resolutions to the challenges were presented and the prizes were awarded. The challenges selected in first and second place received a prize of 1,500 and 500 euros, respectively.
"With this meeting, BME strengthens its collaboration with Mondragon Unibertsitatea to promote entrepreneurship and innovation in the Basque Country, one of the pillars of its sustainability strategy," said Manuel Ardanza, president of the Bilbao Stock Exchange.
Maitane Martín, Fintech coordinator at Mondragon Unibertsitatea, highlights "the importance of incubating new businesses around finance and technology, as well as accelerating existing companies, to strengthen the business fabric and offer new opportunities in the region".