SA’s Reserve Bank launches competition for fintechs from around the world

The SA Reserve Bank (Sarb) has launched a competition aimed at fintech firms that are developing innovative solutions to the challenges within the financial services industry.

The Reserve Bank said in a statement last Thursday (22 August) that the initiative — the Global Fintech Hackcelerator @Southern Africa — aims to create a platform for fintechs to demonstrate their innovative solutions to the complex financial challenges in the region.

The competition, managed by fintech acceleration programme KPMG Matchi, is open to firms from around the world.

Applications close on 8 September.

Winners of the Reserve Bank competition will receive a stipend to attend the 2019 Singapore Fintech Festival

Shortlisted fintechs will be invited to showcase their solutions at the Southern African demo day on 29 October in Johannesburg.

At the event, a panel of judges from the Reserve Bank and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) as well as local industry experts will select and announce two winning solutions.

Each of the competition’s winners will receive:

• A stipend towards travel expenses to attend the 2019 Singapore Fintech Festival
• An opportunity to pitch their solution live and engage with industry experts during the Hackcelerator Demo Day at the 2019 Singapore Fintech Festival where the top three winners will each receive a cash prize (the Reserve Bank did not specify how much this would be)
• Funding to develop a contextualised proof of concept, to be deployed within a year from the demo day

Featured image: Investment Zen (CC BY 2.0)