Throughout the months of June and July, BNP Paribas teams will be working on three new Open Innovation initiatives intended to help design the financial services of the future, based on three key themes: Customer Journeys, Financial Technology and Connected Shopping.

The BNP Paribas Group’s collaboration with the tech startup ecosystem consists of four main steps – sourcing, acceleration, pilot testing and full-scale rollout. The ultimate aim is to drive forward the digitisation of the Group’s businesses, enabling the rollout of innovative products and services in line with the changing needs and expectations of both Corporate and Individual Clients of the Bank.  

A major priority among BNP Paribas’ targets for the year 2020 is to create a digital bank that is able to offer a high-quality customer experience, both in terms of the customer journey and the security of operations.

      1.   The Customer Journey: the BNP Paribas International Hackathon in eight cities worldwide

Following the great success of the first-ever BNP Paribas International Hackathon, run simultaneously in five cities – Paris, Brussels, Rome, Istanbul and San Francisco – in 2015, BNP Paribas is planning to step up the pace during Season 2. This year around 100 tech startups in eight cities (San Francisco, London, Paris, Brussels, Rome, Berlin, Warsaw and Istanbul) will focus on improving the Customer Journey of BNP Paribas Group clients, relating to a range of basic needs including home purchase, consumer goods, Treasury services for small and medium-sized businesses, and online financial advisory. The startups will be working alongside a full array of BNP Paribas Group banks and businesses including French Retail Banking, BNP Paribas Fortis, Bank of the West, TEB, BNL, BGZ BNP Paribas, Consorsbank, BNP Paribas Corporate & Institutional Banking, BNP Paribas Personal Finance and BNP Paribas Cardif.

--> Happening on 17 - 19 June in San Francisco, London, Paris, Brussels, Rome, Berlin, Warsaw and Istanbul

      2.  Financial Technology: Fintech Accelerator by L’Atelier BNP Paribas

The Fintech Accelerator by L’Atelier BNP Paribas, the very first bank-run accelerator dedicated specifically to Fintech startups, has proved highly popular, with 142 young companies applying to join the programme in February this year. Over the last four months, eight Fintech companies have joined the accelerator. Working in tandem with one of the Bank’s businesses and coached by our innovation experts at the L’Atelier BNP Paribas Lab, each Fintech team is drawing on the rapidly-evolving information and communication technologies to explore fresh business opportunities and develop new products and services for customers. On 5 July, the Fintech startups and BNP Paribas Group businesses with which they are paired will together be taking stock of progress so far and setting out the parameters for their collaboration going forward.

--> Happening on 5 July at the BNP Paribas ‘We Are Innovation’ (WAI) space

      3.  Connected Shopping: the BNP Paribas ‘Financial Services Lab’ at the Viva Technology Paris event

Viva Technology will play host in Paris from 30 June to 2 July to a wide range of players involved in the digital transformation drive.  Some 5,000 startups will be seeking opportunities to collaborate with many thousands of company directors, investors, academics and opinion leaders from all over the world, with a view to working hand-in-hand with major companies on their transformation process. BNP Paribas, one of the main partners of the event, will be bringing together 50 startups in a special ‘Financial Services Lab’, where they will be focusing on a dozen or so challenges ranging from applications of blockchain technology to  Augmented Reality services, and connected shopping with the aim of expanding the services offered via Wa!, a mobile phone-based multi-service payment solution that is currently being tested out by BNP Paribas in tandem with leading retail specialist Carrefour.

--> Happening from 30 June to 2 July at the Paris Expo site, Porte de Versailles

We will bring you further information on these three events over the next few days.