On this Special Episode of Breaking Banks Europe we bring you the first installment of the segment "News from The FinTech Front", a collaborative effort to debate, resume and update the audience on different country perspectives regarding the current state of things during this crisis for the financial services sector and fintech in specific; given by a curated set of industry influencers resident in the space - our the European correspondents: Francesca Aliverti (Italy), Marco Nigris (Portugal), Lázaro Campos (Spain), Don Ginsel (Benelux), Matthias Kroner (Germany) and Nina Mohanty (UK).

On this Special Episode of Breaking Banks Europe we bring you the first installment of the segment "News from The FinTech Front", a collaborative effort to debate, resume and update the audience on different country perspectives regarding the current state of things during this crisis for the financial services sector and fintech in specific; given by a curated set of industry influencers resident in the space - our the European correspondents: Francesca Aliverti (Italy), Marco Nigris (Portugal), Lázaro Campos (Spain), Don Ginsel (Benelux), Matthias Kroner (Germany) and Nina Mohanty (UK).

In this episode, we host Todd McDonald, head of product at R3, the enterprise blockchain company that recently won the next phase of the Swedish Central Bank e-króna project and Makoto Takemiya, whose Soramitsu partnered with the central bank of Cambodia to build a retail CBDC. We are also joined by Lynn McConnell, an ex regulator, to shed light on the risk and compliance challenges associated with central bank digital currencies.

From ROOM to ZOOM is your special edition of Breaking Banks Europe with Matteo Rizzi, Paolo Sironi and featuring Jason Henrichs (Co-Host of Breaking Banks U.S.), on the during coronavirus outbreak and the acceleration of our digital life to stay connected. You will learn from EBS Business School in Germany, which converted all classrooms to digital lectures. We also invited Newired's CEO to ponder about the “digital divide” as not everyone has digital means and resources. You will also be hearing from Financial Health Network and their call for action to all banks and governments worldwide. All this and more in this Special Episode of our podcast.

In this new series episode of Ecosystem Zoom In, we land in the innovative central European country of Luxembourg. And who better than Nasir Zubairi to introduces to this ecosystem - being a pioneer himself, and the CEO of The LhOFT - The Luxembourg House of Financial Technology. He opens the doors to understanding how stakeholders interact and make business in such a small territory. He is followed by Jonathan Prince, an established pioneer and 4 times co-founder of companies as Nvision, Mpulse, Digicash and currently showcasing Finologee - that focus on building modern high-performance transactional platforms from scratch, while operating a one-stop shop for FinTech building blocks in full compliance with financial industry regulation. These guests - joined by co-hosts Matteo Rizzi and Spiros Margaris.

In this new series episode of Ecosystem Zoom In, we land in the innovative central European country of Luxembourg. And who better than Nasir Zubairi to introduces to this ecosystem - being a pioneer himself, and the CEO of The LhOFT - The Luxembourg House of Financial Technology. He opens the doors to understanding how stakeholders interact and make business in such a small territory. He is followed by Jonathan Prince, an established pioneer and 4 times co-founder of companies as Nvision, Mpulse, Digicash and currently showcasing Finologee - that focus on building modern high-performance transactional platforms from scratch, while operating a one-stop shop for FinTech building blocks in full compliance with financial industry regulation. These guests - joined by co-hosts Matteo Rizzi and Spiros Margaris.

In our first installment of Breaking Banks EU's sub-series "Where does the money go?," Meaghan Johnson interviews Nicholas Sando of Octopus Ventures. Meaghan and Nick discuss early-stage FinTech startups, the start of 2020's trends toward consolidation, and even the role of operators. Later, Nina Mohanty interviews Natasha Foster, co-founder and COO of Paid to discuss servicing SMEs. They discuss the notorious problem of procurement processes in large organizations and how Paid is making it easier for SMEs and large organizations to work together.

In our first installment of Breaking Banks EU's sub-series "Where does the money go?," Meaghan Johnson interviews Nicholas Sando of Octopus Ventures. Meaghan and Nick discuss early-stage FinTech startups, the start of 2020's trends toward consolidation, and even the role of operators. Later, Nina Mohanty interviews Natasha Foster, co-founder and COO of Paid to discuss servicing SMEs. They discuss the notorious problem of procurement processes in large organizations and how Paid is making it easier for SMEs and large organizations to work together.

Episode 17 is the second in our Ecosystem Zoom In Series - this time showcasing the Portuguese case, it's rise and intensity within the European scheme. João Freire de Andrade is one of its biggest motors of this evolution and joins us to talk all about fintech in Portugal and its change of mentality that new startups, incumbents and big spotlights like the WebSummit, have brought to the country. The second part of the episode introduces us to Marta Palmeiro another key figure of the Portugal ecosystem that pioneered the way the country moved forward new investments, partnerships and even guidelines for new regulations under the wing of Portugal FinTech (and FinLab program). All and more hosted by Matteo Rizzi, resident in the country for the past 5 years.

Episode 16 is all about that super important, yet under-discussed topic of customer experience. In this episode we feature two leading traditional banks, coming from opposite sides of Europe. We welcome Mahyad Gilani, Product Owner and Innovator at Rabobank in the Netherlands and Giorgi Kapandze, Head of Product and UX at Space Bank in Georgia. Girogi shares the story of Space, the digital off-shoot of TBC Bank, and sheds light on how they take control of the first user interaction with…. E-scooters! Mahyad deep dives on how Rabobank became the first bank to launch Google Assistant, and the challenges with implementing the banks expectations against the customer needs. And everyone talks about what a great customer experience means personally to them.