The event began at the Payment Innovation Hub, located in Barcelona Tech City’s Pier01, debating on the importance of establishing new alliances to face the challenges and opportunities in the field of payment systems. Esther Puigcercós, Managing Director of Andorran Banking, presented the Andorran financial centre. Afterwards, the CEO of the Payment Innovation Hub, Silvana Churruca, introduced the hub, the first multi-sector alliance in Spain of reference in the field of payment systems.
The Andorran Banking representative emphasized “we are aware of the importance of technological innovation in the banking business and that is why Andorran banks are committed to the application of innovative solutions”. Puigcercós added “our banks have been investing in technology for a long time, in fact, this year the institutions have presented a new technological functionality that facilitates access and usability of banking services to our customers, which is, after all, the main goal we have as a sector”.
The Andorran delegation met with Kantox CEO, Phillipe Gelis, who presented the his Start up, dedicated to currency management which, since its creation in 2010, and thanks to its innovative solutions, has facilitated its 2,000 customers to exchange almost 3,000 million dollars in 20 different countries.
Afterwards, attendees participated in a round table discussion with several companies from the Fintech sector, which apply technology to improve financial activities. CapitalCell, Prontopiso, Inbestme and Kantox participated in this round table.
In the afternoon, representatives of Actua, Andorran Banking, the five Andorran financial institutions, Fintech Scotland, Scottish Development Intl, the British companies Inbest, Revol and Dit Fintech Specialist, met at the UK Consulate General in Barcelona’s headquarters where new working sessions were held.
Andorra Desenvolupament i Inversió (ADI-Actua)’s director, Judit Hidalgo, highlighted that “our main goal is to help Andorran companies, in their innovation processes. The Andorran banking sector is an international reference in Fintech matters, but we must constantly bring ourselves up to date because changes in this sector are extraordinarily fast. For this reason, meetings of this kind with industry leaders are so necessary”.
Finally, Hidalgo and Puigcercós summarized at the end of the day “the importance of working together since it is a way of establishing new collaborations, knowing challenges and the main objectives to achieve better results for everyone”. They added “this is a first action and our idea is to go deeper into the needs of the sector and of each company”.
