Many folks know the SXSW (South by Southwest) festival in Austin for the exceptional music that is featured there, but in fact, the event has really grown into an interesting amalgamation of music, film, gaming, tech and more. It's quite interesting what has evolved, and fintech is part of that mix and includes a fintech panel and a fintech silo within their ninth annual SXSW Accelerator® Pitch Event.

The panel was entitled :FinTech's Future: Banking & Beyond: and occurred on Saturday and included speakers from Finovate, Santander InnoVentures, FT Capital and CRMNXT.

It's description: "Banking and the larger financial services ecosystem have undergone major changes in the last few years—and this is just the beginning. New financial technologies and regulations are changing the way we interact with our money. This panel will bring together a few of the most connected leaders within the FinTech space to give the audience an inside look at what is occurring today and what tomorrow might bring. As connectors working with financial institutions and other buys of FinTech, these luminaries see some of the most interesting new financial technologies before they become mainstream, giving them a deep understanding of how emerging FinTech’s can prosper."

In addition, SXSW has a Startup Village and offers a pitch event in ten categories, one of which is fintech. The finalists for the fintech category were the following:

  • AssetVault, which allows customers to secure digital and physical assets together
  • CNote, which offers a savings product with a 2.5% yield, utilizing community development financial institutions (CDFIs).
  • Envudu, a budgeting app that employs digital envelopes — a mix of old-school and newfangled saving tech.
  • Hip Pocket, which offers Hip Money, a tool that lets savers to put money aside with a single click, and
  • Kickfurther, a crowdfunding play that allows users to invest in new businesses and help get their products to market.
Source: BankInnovation