Technology
Another Big Bank Gets Into The Fintech Innovation Game

A large, European-based bank operating in regions including Asia has launched an innovation hub for fintech.
ABN AMRO is the
latest financial institution to enter the fray of creating
“innovation” centres, designed to fire up new ideas around
financial technology. Yesterday, the Netherlands-headquartered
bank opened the “Econic” innovation hub in Eindhoven.
Day-to-day management of the hub is handled by external
innovation experts. Econic will start out by developing seven
innovations and four participating companies, the bank said in a
statement yesterday. The Econic process, which will now be
applied to fintech ideas, involves continuous monitoring of the
innovation teams, workshops and master classes to achieve a
ready-to-market proposition in six months.
Across the world, the trend of creating “innovation labs” or
facilities to encourage new ideas has seen examples from Standard
Chartered, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Aviva. The labs are designed
to spawn ideas in areas such as security, client reporting, apps,
use of big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and
other fields. Last week, IBM, the consultancy, opened an
innovation lab in Singapore and South Korea’s Seoul.
The ABN AMRO innovation hub is not just focused on fintech,
however. “Besides fintechs, other companies with new ideas for
business banking are also welcome at Econic,” the bank said.
(Editor's note: There is a lot of noise about the rise of the fintech "innovation lab" and the editorial team at this news service is keen for any updates and information from industry figures about how effective these centres are. It may only be possible to measure the value of such investments over the long term, but shareholders and owners of banks are entitled to have an idea of whether this will be money that is wisely spent, given the rapid changes in technology under way. Do please let us know and contact the editor at tom.burroughes@wealthbriefing.com)