Highlights from my 8th Digital Finance Summit in Brussels.

Here's what I learned on the main stage when not waving our glossy FinTech magazine or announcing speakers.

I dear to claim this was our best edition based on the positive feedback and incredible experiences engaging with brilliant minds about the future of finance from the heart of Europe. Grateful for my favorite side-kick activity of the year as Master of Ceremony for this 8th Digital Finance Summit. Together with speakers, panelists and attendees, we dived into innovative solutions, frameworks, regulatory challenges, opportunities and best practices that are (re)defining the financial industry. Here are some key insights from the first row (and stage).

CEO of FebelFin: Karel Baert

Focus on Belgium as a thriving data-driven innovation hub. Top-notch knowledge centers and universities, the presence of key financial players, and close proximity to European policymakers are the driving forces shaping the course of the financial landscape.

President of Fintech Belgium: Jean Louis Van Houwe

Taking inspiration from global fintech hubs like Singapore, the Fintech Belgium vision for Belgium's financial innovation hub is all about unity and collaboration. With strong resilience in fintech investment, Brussels plays a pivotal role in shaping continental fintech, backed by key partners like Visa, MasterCard, and Microsoft, but lacking support from our policymakers and government.

Opening keynotes by EU Commissioner for Justice / European Commission Didier Reynders

Reynders highlighted a game-changing perspective on regulation – it's not just a hurdle but a catalyst for innovation. He focussed on areas like open banking and payment services underlining the transformative power of regulations in fostering innovation. While backstage he kept receiving updates on his phone about the ongoing EU triloque to reach an agreement on the upcoming AI act.

Audrey Chabin Head of Business Development FBL gave the outlook on the financial industry from the perspective of Visa.

Finance Everywhere: Shaping the Future of Cities

Keynote by Magali Van Bulck (Wise): Belgium's upcoming EU presidency sets the stage for new opportunities. The focus is on speed, safety, growth, and low-cost international transactions. The challenge? Overcoming regulatory hurdles for frictionless services.

Keynote by Richard Campion (Visa): Urban mobility intersects with smart cities. Electrification is key to reducing carbon emissions. Making payment options accessible is crucial during the transition to sustainability.

Keynote by Thierry Chilosi (SWIFT) and Christian Sarafidis (Microsoft): Embedded finance emphasizes connecting parties over direct client service. While sharing know-how benefits the ecosystem, backend fragmentation challenges call for innovative data-sharing solutions.  Data is a solution for reaching G20 goals.

Panel on "Challenge: Distribution Channel to Get Reach": Data travels, minimizing paper friction. Harmonizing European legislation is vital and enables proper scaling. Partnerships foster innovation, a win-win for larger entities and innovative companies. Kamile S. (mod) Marie Logé , Jean-Charles Velge , Geert Van Kerckhoven , Maria DeCock and Benny Lanoizelé

B2B Heaven: Belgium's B2B Paradise?

Keynote by Alexander L.C. Stevens (Greenomy): 89% of Belgian fintechs are B2B, thriving in a small but complex landscape. Openness and collaboration drive accelerated innovation and he experienced great support from the Luxembourg hub. An open call to finally get a Belgian Finance Hub (joining the call by Jean-Louis Van Houwe from his opening keynote.

Keynote by Jan Peeters (Portima): shedded light on Portima's innovative ecosystem, outlining collaborative steps in reshaping the insurance landscape through partnerships with InsurTechs. No longer trying to build it all in-house, but to open their platform to complimentary niche players who have found "product-market fit", but looking to reach towards insurance brokers.

Keynote by Tom Van Den Bosch (Itsme) and how Belgium's most used authentication application is moving towards a Digital Wallet.

Panel Discussion: Building trust takes time. Solutions crafted in-house by banks are losing appeal. Payments are evolving beyond just a transaction. Understanding the regulatory environment is crucial when pitching to banks. Eliad Saporta (mod) Kathleen (Cassy) Ramsey , Nadim Takchi , Petros Sekouris and Guillaume Flies

Fireside Chat on "CBDC" led by Petra Krizan & Atze Faas

Afternoon Opening Session: Insights on Navigating the Dynamic Landscape *

Opening Keynote by Henri Dewaerheijd (MasterCard): Leveraging technology for financial and political freedom. Overcoming hurdles of access and capacity/infrastructure is crucial.

Mr. Leopoldo López Mendoza (Freedom Activist) from Venezuela: Having witnessed firsthand the injustices taking place in his country, Leopoldo, a freedom activist at the World Liberty Congress, delved into the impactful role of technology and digital assets in fostering positive global change and as a catalyst for economic and political freedom.

AI & Data-Driven Innovations: Empowering Communities

Keynote by Mariana de la Roche Wills (Inatba): DeFi as a way to connect local communities and players. Democratizing the economic landscape is key.

Keynote by Frank Roessig (Proximus KYC): The financial sector's USP lies in real-time financial data. Unlocking the potential of the value chain requires talent, models, computing, and data. Establish KPIs, employ a feedback loop, and leverage user-reviewed data for continuous quality control. Banks, recognizing a 70% client demand for insights, find managing customer relationships in-house yields the highest margins.

Keynote by Pascal Guffens & Jonathan Burez (Belfius): AI as a stepping stone for future innovations. Ethical AI is crucial, addressing biases and ensuring accountability.

Panel Discussion: Generative AI transforms work processes. Education is crucial for adoption, with challenges centering on transparency and security. Use cases span from dynamic document processing to proactive risk identification. Success lies in prioritizing customer value over technology. Bernard Nicolay (mod) Frederic Lebeau , Jan Vanalphen , Sophia Wikander , Karin Van Hoecke and Kristian Klavenes

Regulation as an Opportunity: Navigating the Regulatory Landscape

Keynote by Joan Carette (Simont Braun): Regulations demand investment but promise significant ROI, fostering innovative business models, providing industry credibility, and reducing risks for businesses. Harmonization emerges as a key outcome. Joan managed to take our audience within 10 minutes through all the upcoming acronyms of regulation 'in the making' at the EU-level.

Keynote by Lorelien Hoet (Microsoft) - Was backstage to sort some tech issue, so need to check her slides for content.

Keynote by Lyudmyla Kozlovska (Open Dialogue Foundation): Regulation's double-edged nature can strip individuals of financial rights when misused by authorities in autocratic states. Her testimony left a deep impression on many compliance professionals in the audience. Without access to a bank account, Lyudmyla survived on cryptocurrencies—but life remains hard and unpractical without a bank account (pay rent), bank card, credit card, etc. Decentralized wallets are suggested, but regulators express safety concerns and are implementing more and more measures to broaden the issue for those who fell victim to a regime which put your name on a sanction list. No appeal procedures and banks are so risk averse, that they currently simply do not even want to investigate the underlying cause to justify it towards the regulator as a 'false flag'. This needs fixing with an escalation procedure.

Panel Discussion: Regulations offer benefits—creating a framework, certainty, and credibility. Far from stifling innovation, they prompt thoughtful reflection on future consequences. Practical information and guidelines are limited, which can result in gray areas and conflicts. Jimmie Franklin Kevin Johnson Nadia Manzari Yann Ranchere An Swalens GAO Bo

Closing & award ceremony:

Bravo for the last FireSide Chat between Amelie Breitburd (CEO Lloyd’s Europe) & Alessandra✨ Guion - Gambrill (FinTech Belgium)

Fast congrats and applause to the winners of the startup battle, whom all four delivered a perfect elevator pitch about their company:

• Best FinTech Start-up: Lupovis

• Best FinTech Scale-up: InvestSuite
• Coup de cœur award : AIDONIC
• Public vote: SOPIAD

Big thanks to my fellow masters of ceremony at the pitch battle with 60% foreign participants: Julie Foulon & Jean-Christophe Vercauteren

Our relentless event manager Ioana Duca deserves her own category and award ceremony!

Great content and program coordination were fully prepared by Xavier Corman & Wiktoria Weronika Lisowska (saved me tons of time on speaker preparation compared to previous editions).

FinTech Belgium is a truly typical SME, as we have Alessandra✨ Guion - Gambrill 's mother who takes care of all the admin and membership support: Regina Piffarerio .

Big thanks to all the volunteers and interns and especially to Claudia Ravaglia (who helped me backstage and made sure all the speakers showed up in time), Anik Mukherjee and Federica Siega .

Don't hesitate to make a job offer to these talented energy bombes as they're now actively looking for jobs in the FinTech or event industry.

Common predictions for 2024: 

• Continued need for more "cyber risk" education & AI education for the general public
• Preparing for disruptive innovations and personalised solutions powered by generative AI
• Need for more robust and accountable AI models (hello upcoming AI act)
• Growing importance of automating compliance procedures, while keeping a human in the loop (feel free to pull my sleeve for Belgian-focussed RegTech solutions by Data.be in KYC/KYB/AML/UBO and reducing Financial Risk).

Share your favorite Digital Finance Summit session(s) with memorable take-away or newest insight in the comments.