ING today reported that it has signed a partnership with several actors to launch ING FinTech Village, the first Belgian accelerator dedicated to financial technologies.
ING stated that the formed partnership will unite certain associations with the aim of providing a collection of complementary qualities and skills, these being: the Deloitte consulting firm; SWIFT Innotribe, the innovation arm of the international messaging bank network SWIFT; several investment structures such as Belcube, SmartFin, Capital and Eggsplore; and the Startups.be support network.
The ING FinTech Village will be aimed at start-ups who have taken the initial step of the preparation and execution of their project and are therefore now ready to launch their products or services. The specific areas of expertise provided by the partners will allow start-ups to follow a coaching programme so that they can quickly validate the relevance of their concept and test their 'proof of concept' within a real banking framework.
ING cited the objective of the Village as to contribute to the provision of solutions that improve the client experience and enrich the FinTech sector by speeding up start-up innovation. The SmartFin Capital venture capital fund, which ING participated in for the amount of €7.5 million, will invest exclusively in the FinTech project.
ING also stated that FinTech is currently generating a lot of interest in Luxembourg, where it represents a key element of the government's strategy. Luxembourg was said to be a unique ecosystem focused on FinTech solutions with a rich environment of knowledge, expertise and know-how, due to the presence in the country of several financial and European institutions and payment infrastructure managers in close proximity to one another.
ING claimed it will not only contribute to this initiative but simultaneously benefit from it, citing innovation as the heart of the banking association's strategy. With the project it hopes to stay connected with technological dynamism whilst contributing to its digital banking strategy by being surrounded and advised by a network of experts.
ING has appointed a 'Head of FinTech' who will report directly to the Chief Innovation Officer, Brunon Bartkiewicz. Benoît Legrand, who is currently CEO of ING France, will assume this role from 1 October 2015, and will be speaking at the 'Luxembourg Finance Management Summit' in Luxembourg on 17 November 2015.
Photo by ING
