The Deloitte Financial Services Innovation Awards will showcase the strength and the success of the pioneering work in innovation by individuals and organisations within the industry across the island of Ireland.
“We see a financial services ecosystem in Ireland not seen before - with some very strong innovations, collaborations and technology applications that are transforming the industry, bringing customer centricity to the forefront of agendas, and showcasing our strength in the global marketplace,” says David Dalton, partner and head of Financial Services, Deloitte Ireland.
The inaugural programme, being run in partnership with Ibec’s Financial Services Ireland, Banking & Payments Federation Ireland, and The Irish Times, will recognise innovation in eight categories. An overall winner will also be selected by the judging panel.
Categories:
- Product or service: An innovative product or service with distinguishing features which benefits the end-user or the financial services industry.
- Operations: An innovation in middle and back office operations which improved organisational efficiencies and/or reduces operating costs.
- Customer experience: An innovation in UX/UI which benefits customers and/or financial services institutions.
- RegTech: A technological innovation which assists companies to overcome challenges and meet key regulatory compliance obligations.
- Social or sustainable entrepreneurship: A technological innovation within the financial services sector that enhances social responsibility or sustainable aspects of a business or community.
- Learning: An organisation which fosters a culture of innovation.
- Leadership: An individual who has significantly contributed to innovation in the financial services industry and advancement of the sector – e.g. their work could be related to establishing a new innovative product or setting new standards of excellence.
- Most disruptive FinTech: A small to medium sized organisation which has disrupted the financial services industry.
Who should enter?
Applications are open to all organisations that have developed an innovation within financial services, including areas such as banking, insurance, investment management, corporate aviation, RegTech and FinTech.
Eligible organisations are those which are operating on the island of Ireland (including Northern Ireland), have been in operation for a minimum of three years, and have annual turnover in excess of €1 million/£850,000.
Each category application features three specific questions, limited to 500 words per answer. Companies may enter into more than one category.
Where the scope of an individual innovation spans multiple categories, applicants are encouraged to select the most appropriate one. If the judging panel feel that your innovation is better suited to an alternative category, your application will be moved accordingly and you will be notified of the change.
What’s the judging process?
An expert panel of judges will assess applications in each category on the novelty of ideas, cost-benefit of the innovation, end-user benefits, and/or contribution to the financial services industry.
The judging panel includes Enterprise Ireland’s chief executive, Julie Sinnamon; Brian Hayes of Banking & Payments Federation Ireland; Joe Duffy of Ibec’s Financial Services Ireland; Mai Santamaria, senior financial advisor at the Department of Finance and Deloitte’s financial services leader, David Dalton.
The judging process for the programme consists three phases:
- Phase one: online applications to be submitted by Friday, August 16th
- Phase two: shortlisted applicants will be invited to attend an interview with the judging panel on Tuesday, September 3rd
- Phase three: a winner will be announced for each of the eight categories, along with an overall winner, at a lunch celebration on Friday, September 20th.
‘We look forward to meeting this year‘s applicants, who we are certain will continue to contribute to the growth of the financial services industry and be ambassadors for the industry in Ireland,” says David Dalton, partner and head of Financial Services, Deloitte Ireland.
The deadline for applications is Friday, August 16th. For further information and to apply, please visit deloitte.ie/fsia.