North East FinTech stars to shine bright in Newcastle at upcoming FinTech North conference
FinTech North is returning to Newcastle for its fourth annual event on the Tyneside, which will take place on 17th July in the iconic Tyneside Cinema.
The event will spotlight numerous regional success stories – from start-ups all the way to unicorns – and focus on building the region’s growing reputation as a fantastic place to launch and expand a FinTech business.
Headline sponsored by regional unicorn Atom Bank, along with Mastercard and Invest North East England, the event aims to build upon the popularity of last year’s record-breaking Newcastle attendance.
Innovation and growth will be the order of the day, with the conference’s main themes addressing the North East’s role in the national and international FinTech ecosystem, funding opportunities, scaling and skills development.
Atom Bank’s Co-Founder Edward Twiddy will commence the day’s proceedings with a challenger’s perspective on success and scaling, and its “levelling up” agenda for banking and the North. The bank recently announced it has surpassed £1bn in commercial mortgage completions, in just its 11th year of existence.
Delegates will also hear from another shining light in the North East’s FinTech ecosystem, and one that has now gone on to global expansion: Kani Payments. Chief Commercial Officer Roger Binks will deliver a session on Kani’s successful transition from start-up to scale-up since the firm’s founding in 2018.
Focusing on how it’s supporting fellow FinTechs to do the same, Invest North East England’s Rachel Burdis will detail how the inward investment agency works to support further development of the blossoming FinTech ecosystem in the North East.
And, one year on from the launch of north-east growth initiative ‘FinPact’, Steven Kevan – FinPact’s CEO – will take the stage for a Q&A session examining its impact to date.
With the most recent Whitecap Consulting report detailing that FinTech will provide a GVA of £431m to the north-east by 2025, as well as providing a total of 7,700 jobs, the Q&A will provide insight into how ‘FinPact’ is helping the region to realise its FinTech potential, as well as celebrating the successes of the community to date.
Delegates can also expect to gain unrivalled insights into how people in the North East are spending their money. Mastercard’s Director of Data Science Mark Greenberg will take the stage with Keith Lai, the Office of National Statistics’ Deputy Director for Financial Transactions, for a fireside chat analysing spending behaviours in the region.
The day will conclude with FinTech North’s well-known showcase session. The quickfire pitching exercise will feature regional names like smart hospitality solutions provider SPARK EPoS, life admin tech firm Keepl, peer-to-peer transaction platform Transact Trail, and Durham-based GreenFin marketing agency Adopter.
Joe Roche, General Manager at FinTech North comments:
“It’s a privilege to return to Newcastle again to put a spotlight on some of the region’s many success stories. It’s clear that the talent rich North East region is already making a splash on the national and international FinTech stage, and we want to continue supporting other regional FinTechs to realise their growth goals too by demonstrating examples of best practice and development opportunities. We’ve already got 180+ attendees signed up to attend, and I’m confident that the day will see another record attendance for FinTech North.”
The Newcastle agenda and registration page can be accessed here. Attendance is free for students and virtual delegates.
