Spring in Munich – it’s all about the FinTech/InsurTech industry

Two events with which Munich’s financial services industry are attracting international financial players to the state are currently showing how open the industry is. The FinTech/InsurTech Meetup, with prominent political figures for the second time, wants to establish regular exchange in the major city where the industry’s traditional players meet start-ups and partners. Straight afterwards, the international BlockShow Europe showed that Munich is also a financial and insurance business location that is also to be taken seriously internationally and is attracting the industry’s interest. Do start-ups have the potential to stir up the financial services industry? How are consumers disposed to the new possibilities offered by technology? What responsibilities arise from the new possibilities? And how are established players in the financial and insurance industry dealing with the new players? These were just some of the topics discussed at both events.
 

Artificial intelligence at the FinTech/InsurTech Meetup

Under the auspices of the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs and the City of Munich together with the partners Allianz, HypoVereinsbank, MunichRe, treefin, Wayra and WERK1, various players from the financial and insurance industry have already been meeting up since last year. They discuss the trends, challenges and cooperation opportunities for the banking and insurance business of tomorrow together. The main topic of the meetup in March was: “Artificial intelligence: an opportunity for the Bavarian FinTech & InsurTech industry?”

In In her keynote speech Minister Aigner provided an outlook on the industry’s future and the efforts that the State of Bavaria is making to continue to strengthen Munich as a FinTech/InsurTech business location. The main finding: FinTech/InsurTech firms have the potential to shake up the financial and insurance industry’s core business in conjunction with the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). This is precisely why AI is also going to be a focus in the further development of the Bayern.Digital strategy. Following three pitches in which Daniel Pumpe from Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, , Fabian Beringer and Xaver Lehmann from the chatbot developer Ebot7 and Dr. Rene Fassbender from data analyst OmegaLambdaTec presented their ideas and developments, the topic was debated in depth during a panel discussion. During this, the participants addressed numerous questions regarding artificial intelligence from consumer acceptance to its influence on the future workplace.
 

Blockchain focus at BlockShow Europe

Just one week later Munich once again proved what an important role the state plays in the international financial industry. The Alte Kongresshalle became the venue for BlockShow Europe 2017 on 6 April. It is not by chance that it was chosen as the location for Europe’s largest blockchain conference; the figures ultimately prove how important Munich Financial Centre is worldwide.

The blockchain concept is contributing considerably to the disruptive nature of the entire FinTech industry. Deeper insight into Bitcoin and company is therefore of huge interest to all stakeholders, one of the reasons why BlockShow Europe is becoming a major attraction for the professional audience. The content of the framework programme included implementation, security issues, insight into banks and company and last but not least examples of best practice. More than 500 participants, 26 exhibitors and 26 international speakers came together to exchange ideas, experiences and knowledge. In the opinion of FinTech researcher Paolo Tasca who teaches in London it is not a question of whether blockchain will change the world. But merely how, as one or two challenges still have to be overcome on the route to the blockchain future.

There appears to be the potential for more as the forecasts for the blockchain technology are promising. And multiple reasons are ensuring that young founders opt for Munich as their business location – if nothing else the proximity to global and established players in the financial and insurance industry should contribute to stakeholders being networked with each other and further advancing and promoting industry innovations for mutual benefit here in future too.