A foreword from Finovate

We’re a long way from a new status quo, and things are going to keep moving quickly.

It’s hard to believe that we’ve now done a full calendar year of digital events! FinovateSpring will be our fifth completely digital event, and while we’re excited about the return to in-person events later this year, it’s already clear that things aren’t going to return to the same “normal” that existed in 2019.

This same pattern holds for the larger banking ecosystem as well. We’re in a place now where we can begin to see a future that’s not dominated by case-counts, distancing mandates, or lockdown orders. While that’s undoubtedly good news, it’s also clear that we are entering a new, substantially more digital era in finance and banking. Customer behavior has changed forever (and so have customer expectations), and it’s already clear that it’s not going to change back.

The good news, though, is that the fintech industry has been preparing for this change for years now. While nobody could have predicted the circumstances in which this large-scale transformation came about, a lot of the innovations and new technologies that we’ve seen on stage at Finovate have anticipated the shift we’re seeing now. And needless to say, the financial institutions that engaged with that technology early fared much better as the pandemic unfolded. When it comes right down to it, the fintech industry does a pretty good job of anticipating what financial institutions will need in the future, and we saw that theory validated in the face of a significant disruption.

Over the past year, the industry has (understandably) been focused on dealing with immediate challenges, but now it’s time to start looking at fintech more broadly again. A lot of good innovations and technologies have been put on the back burner because they didn’t directly relate to the pandemic. Those technologies could well be vital when it comes to the next big challenge we’ll face, though, and it’s important that we don’t get sucked into a false sense of security simply because the immediate outlook is rosier than it has been in more than a year.

You’ll see a wide variety of solutions on display at FinovateSpring this week, as well as a strong lineup of informative speakers. I’d urge you all to approach both groups with an open mind and allow yourselves to look further upstream than you’ve been able to for a little while.

We’re a long way from a new status quo, and things are going to keep moving quickly. It’s up to all of us to decide if we’re willing to move quickly too.

The world is changing, and at Finovate, we remain committed to giving you the tools and insights you need to change with it. I hope you enjoy the event this week, and I hope you leave feeling inspired and energized by the new connections you make, ideas you leave with, and technologies you see.

Thanks, as always, for joining us!

Sincerely, Greg Palmer

It’s clear that we are entering a new, substantially more digital era in finance and banking. Customer behavior has changed forever and it’s already clear that it’s not going to change back.