By Godson Umejiego, Bureau Chief, The Americas

Global financial technology leader FIS® has announced the launch of its 2024 FIS Fintech Hangout Series, an initiative that fosters and connects fintech startups, investors, financial institutions, FIS experts, and participants from the FIS Fintech Accelerator Programme. This series will spark meaningful conversations, share best practices, and showcase the amazing work of the participating fintechs.

The Fintech Hangouts supports FIS’ 9-year focus on identifying, mentoring and connecting innovative fintech startups with the broader financial services community. The program aligns with the FIS Fintech Accelerator Programme, which has seen 80 graduates help advance innovation in financial services. Consisting of monthly thematic events, the series kicked off in January with a deep dive into importance risk and compliance, one of the biggest barriers to entry for prospective fintechs. The event broke down these challenges and what’s involved in setting up the relevant frameworks for fintechs to address these important regulatory priorities.

Founder and CEO of Themis Neepa Patel, was the featured speaker at January’s inaugural event. A 2022 graduate of the FIS Accelerator, Themis is the first compliance collaboration tool to help companies accelerate partnerships with vendors, banks and fintechs. Patel shared her experience and insights on how to navigate the complex and evolving financial regulatory landscape and how to build trust and credibility with customers and regulators.

“We are thrilled by the reception of this new program and its role to inspire promising new fintechs and foster a deeper sense of community within the industry,” said  Head of Ecosystem Banking at FIS Annie Destefano. “As the company that advances the way the world pays, banks and invests, we embrace our role in creating opportunities that help early-stage scale emerging tech more quickly and safely, to help modernize banking, bolster the economy and bring consumers closer to financial empowerment.”

The FIS Fintech Accelerator Programme is a 12-week programme that helps fintechs refine their product models and scale their businesses. During the programme, bankers, subject matter experts, and financial service executives engage with pre-vetted, market-validated fintech companies. This provides financial institution leaders with the unique opportunity to work alongside each of the portfolio companies participating in the programme and help refine their product models to suit customer needs. Accelerator graduates have a track record of success with four members – Lama AI, Forage, Sardine and Array – just named to the GGCV US 2024 Fintech Innovation 50.

Applications for the FIS Fintech Accelerator Programme 2024, its ninth cohort, will open in March 2024. Fintechs that are interested in applying can visit https://www.fisglobal.com/en/fis-fintech-accelerator or reach out to accelerator@fisglobal.com for more information.

The next Fintech Hangout will be held on February 13 in Atlanta at the Atlanta Tech Village and registrations are welcomed from everyone launch, growing or working with fintechs.