Fintech Innovation Awards announced their winners under various categories such as Contactless Payment Initiative, Asset Management System, Data Solutions and others earlier this month.
While the winner for alternative finance debt funder of the year went to British Business Bank, ‘Nutmeg’ was declared the Fintech start-up of the year..
Yoyo took home the ‘mobile commerce and banking’ award for their payment platform. Upon each mobile payment at a participating retailer, Yoyo customers collect points within the app. The spending and behavioural data collected will then allow the retailer to target chosen customer segments with promotions. By going beyond payments, Yoyo has found a clever way of enriching both the customer experience and that of participating retailers.
Barclaycard, with their bPay wristband, won in the category for ‘contactless payment initiative’. This initiative is set apart from others by the fact that users do not have to be Barclaycard customers. The pre-paid account linked to the wristband can be topped up using any UK bank account and almost any credit card.
Rhydian Lewis, founder and CEO of RateSetter, was named “FinTech leader of the year”. RateSetter, currently the largest P2P lender in the UK, is a true disruptor. Known for having introduced the ‘Provision Fund’ concept, none of their 20,924 lenders have lost a penny to date.
The winner of “FinTech deal of the year” also relating to alternative lending was the arrangement between the P2P lending platform Funding Circle and RBS and Santander. The somewhat unconventional agreement sees the two banks proactively referring small business customers to the P2P lender.
The Fintech innovation of the year went to ‘Bought by Many’ and the emerging markets award went to MobiFin. Companies were also awarded under several other categories like Anti Fraud/ Security initiative, Data Solutions, asset management system and others.
