Money 20/20 – Day 3 Wrap Up
Money 20/20 Day 3 proved to be a calmer affair with people winding down after three days of discussion and debate on the biggest trends in fintech. However, there was still time for some of the most important conversations of the conference around the future of ESG in fintech, the evolution of crypto, and (you guessed it) one more look at how fintech can embrace AI.
A few final reflections from this year’s edition of the fintech festival below…
Speaker of the Day: Monica Long , President at Ripple
In the midst of a battle with the SEC over Ripple’s native token XRP, the crypto firm’s President Monica Long took to the stage to provide an insightful health check on the state of the sector. Long was bullish about the future of crypto, pointing to BlackRock ’s and Deutsche Bank ’s entrance into the market as a clear sign of continued interest from some of the biggest traditional players, which she described as “falling like dominos” to the lure of using blockchain tech in financial services. Long also gave an update on Ripple’s stablecoin development. Potentially with an eye on how the SEC could respond, she described Ripple’s approach as “simple, straight-laced, down the fairway”: their stablecoin will be tied 1-to-1 with the US dollar. Ripple aren’t looking to reinvent the wheel with their offer but improve upon it.
A focus on climate: driving fintech towards a sustainable future
For all the talk to innovation at the conference, attendees were hit with a warning that much of this is not being done with ESG in mind. Celia Knipper , Associate Director of Reporter Services at CDP , gave a rundown of some stark figures, including notably that only 40% of companies are engaging their suppliers on ESG. Arguing that this figure was far too low, Knipper issued a call for “better and more robust data from companies” if the sector is to stand play its rightful role in the transition to net zero.
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On a more optimistic note, during her panel on partnering with green fintechs, Cogo CEO Emma Kisby , noted the opportunity that the net zero challenge presents for the sector. “The power of data. When we’re dealing with something like the climate crisis the opportunity will grow” were Kisby’s closing remarks which set the stage for further investment, debate, and innovation in green fintech. With sustainable finance targets being set at COP29 this year, we look forward to even more discussion and debate on this topic at next year’s Money20/20 conference.
One area of the net zero landscape that is innovating at a pace which matches that of the fintech sector is carbon removals. This was evident during a panel featuring CUR8 Co-Founder and CEO Marta Krupinska , who boldly stated “This is the space race of the 21st century”. This is a view clearly shared by co-panellist Standard Chartered who have clearly invested capital, time and effort in the project with Cur8. Standard Chartered European Lead for Financing Solutions Simon Derrick said it was “hard not to sound like a banker” which the fintech crowd enjoyed, but what is clear is that there needs to be significant investment if we are to reach ten gigatons of carbon removal by 2050.
Final thought: AI rules the roost
As expected, AI was the dominant topic of conversation throughout the week. So much so that even the stage MCs were calling it out, and by Day 3 panellists were starting to roll their eyes at the very mention of the technology.
It’s become a ubiquitous term, but not without reason. The revolutionary potential of AI in fintech was discussed at length throughout, however it was hammered home by Anu Widyalankara , Director at EY , on the final day through a series of eye-opening demonstrations of how generative AI can be put into practice.
In our look ahead for Money 20/20, we highlighted that the underlying sentiment of this year’s conference was that those who are slow to adopt AI into everyday use will be left by the wayside. Widyalankara’s session was the best illustration of this: if your competitors are already using AI to personalise their customer journey and understand regulatory compliance, then they’re ahead. Finance firms are doing this; Widyalankara highlighted data that 45% of banks are investing in generative AI. Some might already be sick of hearing about it, but AI is here to stay in fintech, and it will dominate discussion at events like Money 20/20 for years to come.