YEREVAN, November 11. /ARKA/. FINTECH360 international conference held in Yerevan earlier this month brought together over 200 representatives of leading banks, IT and telecommunication companies, payment systems and specialized associations from different countries.
The conference that became an international platform for discussions of current trends and innovations in fintech market, was held in Holiday Inn Yerevan Republic Square Hotel with the support of Unibank OJSC and Unistream international money transfer system, Unibank’s press service reported.
The importance of the event was highlighted by the Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia Hovhannes Khachatryan and the Deputy Minister of Hi-Tech Industry of Armenia David Sahakyan, who spoke at the opening of the event.
Expressing gratitude to Hovhannes Khachatryan and David Sahakyan for attention and support, Chairman of Unibank Board of Directors Gagik Zakaryan noted in his welcoming speech the high investment attractiveness of Armenia and the transparent and open economic policy.
The business program of the conference was opened by Viktor Dostov, Chairman of the Association of Electronic Money and Money Transfer Market Participants, who delivered a speech on the strategy and tactics of banks in the era of digital revolution.
Unibank Executive Board Chairman Mesrop Hakobyan shared his team’s successful experience in implementing AI-based scoring. Unibank was among the first in Armenia to automate the consideration of applications for unsecured consumer loans and eliminate the human factor when making decisions. With the introduction of artificial intelligence technology, Unibank has doubled the quality of its loan portfolio, approving more than 50% of applications received.
The topic of practical application of AI and neural networks in the banking sphere was continued by Robert Vasiliev, Vice President of the Association of Laboratories for Development of Artificial Intelligence. The founder and CEO of the DPP Group, Ex-CEO of Home Credit Bank Dmitry Peshnyov-Podolsky gave a talk on one of the most discussed topics – the installment payment services: “BNPL on the global market. First disappointments and uncertain future”.
Another hot topic was the prospects of using data arrays in the practice of banks and other credit organizations. The opportunities opened up by the use of Big Data in the analysis of behavioral characteristics of clients of financial institutions were discussed by Arsen Sultanyan, the founder of Digital Caramel, Julia Lokotkova, CEO and founder of OpenBusiness, and Simon Arakelyan, Financial Director of Ucom.
Figital, an innovative way of interacting with users of services, which implies the integration of physical and digital spaces, was not ignored either. The founder and director of Earlyone Gevorg Safaryan presented a report titled “Customer experience in the style of figitall: the future of retail banks.’
The important part of the business program of FINTECH360 were discussion panels. Great interest of the delegates was aroused by discussion, moderated by Viktor Dostov, and devoted to evolution of contactless payments and mobile services.
Director of ArCa payment system Ishkhan Mkhitaryan, Unibank OJSC Executive Board Chairman Mesrop Hakobyan, Unistream CB JSC Board Chairman Kairzhan Kudyarov and STAK Money Transfer Board Chairman Vakhtang Abrahamyan took part in the discussion.
Another panel discussion, moderated by Julia Lokotkova, CEO and founder of OpenBusiness, focused on the future of non-banks. Vladislavs Boroviks, director of Bedford Pay LTD, Alexey Veretenov, managing director of ECA countries and senior partner of Senteo Inc, and Dmitry Peshnev-Podolsky exchanged their opinions on this topic.
Also on the agenda was a global trend – the transformation of highly specialized mobile applications into financial marketplaces and banking ecosystems that integrate with external services popular among users. The prospects of integration and problems of adapting banks to the rapidly changing economic landscape were discussed in their reports by WaveAccess Presale Manager Sergey Ponomarenko, Managing Director of ECA countries, Senior Partner of Senteo Inc Alexey Veretenov, and Director of Skolkovo Fintech Hub Pavel Novikov.
Kairzhan Kudyarov, Chairman of the Board of CB Unistream JSC, shared his practical experience, describing how the needs of migrant workers are changing in the era of digitalization. He noted that if in 2021 the share of the online service in Unistream was 41%, in 2022 it will be 55%. This year, the number of downloads of the mobile app has increased eightfold.
“Green” fintech as part of the ESG agenda was the topic of another panel discussion moderated by Karen Zakaryan, director of the FINARM Association of Financial Market Participants. Alexey Rusanov, Managing Director of PwC Armenia, Tigran Sukiasyan, Senior Consultant at Climate Finance and Institutions, member of the Board of Directors of Unistream Bank and Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of the Bank, spoke about the rapid growth of the “green” investments market.
The discussion on “Investment Opportunities and Securities Markets” featured an intensive exchange of views. Secretary General of the Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges (FEAS) Konstantin Saroyan took the role of moderator. Philippe Delmotte, Director of POD Consulting FFF, Jerome Clausen, Special Advisor for Caucasus and Central Asia of BPIFRANCE, Hayk Yeganyan, General Director of AMX, Samson Avetyan, co-founder of AICA&CrowdVentures, Edgar Evoyan, Head of ARFI platform at ANIF, took part in the discussion.
Dmitry Dorofeyev, portfolio manager of Armbrok, shared his vision of the topic: he prepared a report titled “Portfolio Investments for Private Individuals: Time for Change.’
Svetlana Markova, chief consultant at ENFINT, spoke at the conference about the practice of implementing machine learning models in banks – from a pilot project to the creation of an industrial platform.
Sofia Donets, chief economist for Russia and the CIS at Renaissance Capital, delivered a report titled “The Global Flood and the Armenian Ark of Economic Growth.’
During the panel discussion moderated by Alma Obayeva, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Non-Commercial Partnership of Banks, the experts discussed approaches to the introduction of digital currencies and the role of central banks in this process.
The important issue of cybersecurity, closely related to popularization of the Open Banking concept, was also discussed at the conference. The discussion was moderated by founder and director of Earlyone Gevorg Safaryan, while expert opinions were voiced by co-founder of CyberHUB, Strategic Advisor of SoftConstruct Samvel Martirosyan, co-founder of Analytical Center for Strategic Research and Initiatives, media expert, information security expert Tigran Kocharyan, founder and director of InfoSec Karen Gasparyan and senior consultant of Armsoft, AUA lecturer Ara Chalabyan.
At the end of the conference Ilya Romanov, Commercial Director of VisionLabs, presented new trends in the application of human-centric and machine vision technologies in the financial industry.
After intensive discussions and diving into the trends of the near digital future, the participants of FINTECH360 plunged into the historical heritage of Armenia. A rich cultural program included excursions to Garni and Geghard. There was a lavash baking master class, tasting of traditional liquors, enjoying the sounds of the Armenian Duduk and a chamber choir performance in the acoustic hall of Geghard rock complex. -0-
