• Welcome – Agenda for the day

One of the major pillars of an effective FinTech Hub is access to capital for new companies. Is capital hard to find in the Nordic region? Where can it be found now and what can be done to improve support and funding for startups? 

Speakers:

• Vesa Riihimäki, Head of Startup & Growth Business, Nordea Finland
• Anders Østensvig, Investment Manager – DNB Ventures at DNB
• Hannah Duncan, founder, Investment Content (moderator)  

The future of work has often been promoted as one where anyone can work anywhere, in any time zone, empowered by digital technologies that enable outcomes over inputs. This set up is no longer a choice, but how most of us work in 2020. What tools, strategies and procedures are needed to make sure your team works together when they are not together?  

Speakers:

• Christa Nielsen, Deputy Head of Banking Services, Dankse Bank 
• Joyce Sullivan, Founder & CEO, SocMediaFIn (moderator)  

In 1984, Olof Stenhammar founded Swedish derivatives exchange OM in 1984 and in doing so became a global pioneer in electronic trading. Is Nordic innovation still defined by the launch of OM? How influential has the initial team been within FinTech over the past 35 years? To understand the current state of Nordic FinTech – do we need to re-examine the Class of 1984. 

Speakers:

• Nils-Robert Persson, Chairman at Vermiculus Financial Technology and former CEO of OM 
• Sergej Smirnov, COO, Co-Founder at Njorda 
• Virginie O’Shea, Founder, Firebrand Research (moderator)  

Conventional wisdom regarding disruptive companies in the Nordic region will throw up tech giants like Skype, Spotify and even Rovio (home of Angry Birds). Others point to innovation in payments, with countries like Sweden publicly moving towards a cashless society, and names like iZettle, Klarna and Holvi are almost the elder statement of the FinTech ecosystem.  

However, if you dig deeper into twitter chats, blog posts and Zoom conversations a different FinTech reality emerges – one of incumbent bank complacency, an aversion to partnerships and lack of capital and support for startups.  

What is the reality? Is the Nordic region more open to innovation, is it a myth told through sycophantic press articles or is the Northern European financial services industry no more immune to the swings and roundabouts of any traditional industry dealing with disruptive technology and upstart new entrants?  

Our Nordics Leaders gather to answer the question – Is Nordic Innovation a Myth? 

Speakers:

• Kathy Chang, Head of Fintech Partnerships, Payments & Innovation, DNB 
• Søren Rode Jain Andreasen. Chief Digital Officer at Danske Bank 
• Johan Liedgren, Digitalization and Innovation at Handelsbanken 
• Liz Lumley, Director, VC Innovations (moderator)  

The Nordic, Scandinavian and even Baltic states have had much success with national identity schemes. How does it compare to the rest of the world? Will the Asian model dominate? How will ‘Big Tech’ play a role globally? How will culture and politics impact identity innovation and progress? 

Speakers:

• Christoffer O. Hernæs, CDO, Sbanken 
• Krista Korelin, Director, Head of Digital and Mobile Banking, OP Financial Group 
• Jonathan Williams, Principal Consultant, Mk2 Consulting Ltd
• Melissa Heng, Sr. Director, Identity Product Management, CapitalOne
• Laura Camplisson, product and content manager, VC Innovations (moderator)  

Once completed, P27 will provide a single payments infrastructure for almost 27 million people living in the Nordics region. The project is ambitious, wide in scope and involves the banks and payments ecosystem of Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland. What has been the journey so far, what else needs to be done and how will this pan-Nordic payment platform pave the way for additional innovation in the region? 

Speakers:

• Jenny Winther, Secretary General at the Nordic Payments Council (NPC) 
• Martin Georgzén, Director of Strategy at P27 
• Michael Busk–Jepsen. Executive Director of Digitisation, Finans Denmark 
• Liz Lumley, Director, VC Innovations (Moderator)

Open Banking initiatives are rife throughout Europe and the Nordics are no exception. While banks, PSPs and new entrants focus on open APIs, marketplaces and data – is anyone in the industry really looking at the needs of the consumer?  Is the true promise of Open Banking yet to come? 

Speakers:

• Rune Mai, CEO, Nordic API Gateway 
• Agnija Gailane, Open Banking Community, Nordea 
• Rūta Merkeviciute, Head of Division for E-money and Payment institution supervision, Bank of Lithuania
• Bill Roberts, Head of Open Banking, CMA
• Eelco-Jan Boonstra, MD, EMEA, Mambu
• Paul Loberman, Fintech and Banking Executive, ex – HSBC, Santander (moderator)

How does the Nordic region understand financial health? How can prosperity be enabled? Does the move towards a cashless society hinder of enable these efforts? What impact will COVID-19 have on the national and global economies – and does FinTech have an answer.  

Speakers:

• Kristian Luoma, Head of OP Lab OP Financial Group 
• Per Christian Goller, Founder & CGO at Aprila Bank ASA 
• Peter Sjöberg, Chief Operating Officer, Nordic region, Managing Director – Santander Finland 
• Mark Cousins, Head of Marketing, Europe at Marqeta
• Liz Lumley, Director, VC Innovations (moderator)