The 3rd marathon for the development of applications on innovative technologies in the field of financial transactions (fintech) was held in Nicosia earlier this month.
The hackathon which promotes technological and operational developments in the financial sector, is an initiative of the Bank of Cyprus and IDEAcy. Each year the hackathon brings together programmers and startups to create fintech innovative solutions up until the stage of Minimum Viable Product (MVP), with the prospect of these products to be further developed into fully operational applications.
Software engineers, analysts, designers, as well as professionals working in the areas of communication, marketing and customer service took part in this year’s hackathon #fintech 3.0. It also featured consultants, banking executives, college students, and individuals interested in developing apps for business and fintech.
With some 50 hours of coding and featuring more than 120 people, the competition showcased electronic and smart payments, KYC, micro loans, micro donations, APIs, analytics, robo-advisors, and more.
The 1st prize (€6,000) went to team #MrBill for their idea #Bank2Bank, a new method payment method for users paying their bills from any vendor. Vendors can get on board with zero technical configuration. Also, the platform can be used as an e-Banking integration product for charitable donations on uprising or serious causes
The 2nd prize (€4,000) was awarded to team #Vasilkoff for SmartWallet, is a system that links traditional banking and electronic contracts, providing a cheaper, faster way for businesses and individuals to get access to a wide variety of financial services. Most importantly, all this is absolutely consistent with the laws of Cyprus today
The 3rd prize (€2,000) went to team #FinRobot, a crowdfund-enabled asset management platform, that allows for increased liquidity and creation of cash-flow inflows from non-liquid assets of banks, addressed to micro-investors.
Lastly, team #Koshiaris was awarded with Best Implementation of Cyprus’ Public Data Sets in Combination with BoC APIs Prize and €1,000, for their platform of an online auction system with live account balance and live payments with the bank’s API for motors and real estate, eLoan, and PVS system.
Other than the awards, Bank of Cyprus will also explore possible business partnerships with the teams, giving them the opportunity to work with organisations and supporters of boc hackathon #fintech 3.0.
Demetris Papallis, Manager IT Governance & Strategy, Information Technology Services at Bank of Cyprus, said the Bank aims to leverage such innovative technologies in implementing specific actions geared at digital transformation.
As Papallis noted “As the largest financial entity in Cyprus, the Bank of Cyprus aims to build a dynamic ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship around fintech. This way the Bank supports new businesses and startups in their first steps in the fast-growing field of fintech. Developing a fintech ecosystem via the boc hackathon can yield direct and tangible benefits on a local, national and regional level. Amongst these is the creation of jobs for young people in new business fields. The endeavour likewise helps develop innovative and useful applications as well as business models generating value for users and businesses more broadly in the field of fintech.
Another major benefit for young people is the opportunity to network with experienced business executives and professionals.
This year’s boc hackathon #fintech 3.0 took place on October 18, 19 & 20 at the IDEAcy Innovation Centre in Nicosia.
