The FinTech Poland Foundation has intensified its activities related to building and integrating the community of digital finance market participants in Poland. Following the recent news of BNP Paribas Bank Poland joining the Fintech Poland Ecosystem, BLIK, Kontomatik, Mastercard, WOO Network and Zonda are joining the initiative. As part of building the ecosystem, it was time for the first meet’up, a meeting attended by fintech representatives of mature financial institutions, technology companies, consulting firms, law firms and VC funds.
– Without integration, mutual inspiration, exchange of ideas and experiences, we won’t be able to develop, innovate and jointly create a modern financial center of the real world in Poland,” said Pawel Widawski, CEO of FinTech Poland, during his presentation. – Therefore, today, here, during the first meeting, we want to promise that this is the beginning of our journey together. We welcome on board those of you who have already decided to cooperate with us, and we invite those who have not yet done so officially, but see in this cooperation the potential for development.
The aim of the Fintech Poland Ecosystem is to increase the competitiveness and internationalization of the Polish financial innovation market by undertaking joint initiatives, creating market standards, conducting regulatory dialogue at the national and European levels, and jointly identifying barriers and opportunities for development. Interaction between market participants will be guaranteed by jointly organized seminars and conferences, meet’ups and work in working groups, two of which, dealing with the regulatory area, are starting soon.
– We have a lot of experience that has enriched us along the way in the Polish and now European market. This is the know-how that we want to share with the fintech market, hoping that it will be put to good use. This is, in our opinion, the only way to support and develop innovation in Poland,” Dariusz Mazurkiewicz, President of the Polish Payment Standard, said during the panel.
The question of why we need fintechs and why we need cooperation with them in this area was also answered by Tomasz Owczarek, Director of Sales and Strategy at the Polish branch of Mastercard Europe.
– Each cooperation with a new, innovative entity, working with a creative idea and people full of energy is a test for us. Representatives of fintechs want our knowledge, experience and solutions, but tailored to their needs, so they ask questions, ask for changes. And for us, each such inquiry is a shattering of some internal standard, going beyond well-known boundaries and predetermined processes. These collaborations push us to improve our services, to look for new solutions. They push us to develop, without which there is no future, for any, even the largest player in the financial services market,” concluded Owczarek.
A representative of fintech Kontomatik also spoke during the panel.
– Our cooperation with the Fintech Poland Foundation and the fact that we belong to the ecosystem we are building together gave us a chance to speak out, to present ourselves and our position on the European forum during the consultations on the PSD2 directive. This is an incredible opportunity to share our experience and participate in the dialogue about the future of Open Finance in Poland, as well as Europe,” said Michal Lukasik, CEO of Kontomatik. I wish that next year, there will be more fintechs sitting on those chairs next to me, presenting new opportunities to their colleagues from mature institutions and companies,” he concluded.
The meet’up was attended by 80 representatives of financial institutions, fintechs, technology companies and public institutions specialized in the area of the financial sector.
Below is a video and photo gallery from the event.