Finastra Launched its Annual Global Hackathon in TVM

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
Finastra has celebrated the launch of its fourth annual global Hackathon at an event in Trivandrum, with speakers including T. K. Jose, Additional Chief Secretary of Kerala, and Dr. Rajasree M.S., Vice-Chancellor, APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (APJAKTU). Building on the success of Finastra’s previous Hackathons – to redefine finance for good and build an unbiased fintech future – this year’s launch coincides with International Women’s Day (IWD), aiming to inspire the fintech space to be open by default.

Submissions close on April 10, 2022. Winners will be announced at the end of that month. To help drive innovation and explore new ideas sign up to hack here #HackToTheFuture #HackingForGood #Openbydefault

This year the hackathon encourages engagement beyond the global fintech ecosystem with a focus on financial sustainability, inclusion, and empowerment. Participants are invited to submit projects under three key themes:

· Sustainable and inclusive finance: Financial inclusion and literacy, sustainable and green finance, circular economy, diversity, equity & inclusion, Sustainable Development Goals

· Embedded finance: Bringing financial services to other industries with Banking as a Service (BaaS)

· Decentralized Finance (DeFi): Digital assets, CBDCs, Decentralised Finance (DeFi), Cryptocurrencies, Non-Fungible Token(NFTs) and metaverses, Web3

ChirineBenZaied, Head of Innovation at Finastra said, “This is more than just a hackathon. It is a fintech movement and we want to ignite a world of financial sustainability, inclusion, and autonomy. We’re calling for fintechs, banks, students, and more to come forward with innovative ideas. The event is open to all. You don’t need to be a technical expert. We believe everyone has a role to play in redefining the future of finance. I‘m excited that we launched our hack on IWD, as it underlines our commitment to inspiring women and girls in the STEM space, breaking bias and encouraging equity for all.”

T. K. Jose, Additional Chief Secretary of Kerala, said: “Technology has a vital role to play in solving many of the problems we face as a society, and this important event gives our talented young developers a chance to produce innovative ideas that can drive positive change. In addition, this Hackathon will enable entrants to create solutions that could have a real-world impact in emerging areas such as Banking as a Service and DeFi. It’s important that we are able to compete on the global stage in these areas and I encourage our young developers to take part and help showcase our advanced capabilities.”

Finastra is making its open APIs available via its FusionFabric.cloud development platform for the hack. A number of partners are also supporting this innovation on a global scale. These include Hong Kong Cyberport Betacube, DeFi: Chainlink, DeFi Pulse, Google, Lloyds Banking Group, Mastercard, Microsoft, Scotia Bank, and SocieteGenerale – FORGE (for DeFi).

Dr. Rajasree M.S., Vice-Chancellor, APJAKTU, said, “Hack to the Future is an exciting opportunity for our students to use their technical and creative talents to help solve some of the biggest challenges faced here in India and around the world. We expect to see many innovative entries from across our engineering colleges, as well as some tough decisions for those of our academic experts who will be judging which entries progress to the final stages of a global hackathon. We are pleased to be the Academic Partner for this event and for our students to learn from the unique experience of professionals who work with some of the largest financial institutions in India and the rest of the world.”

Finastra is leading by example and has made strides over the last year towards its ambitious goals around Diversity, Equity &Inclusion.