BNP Paribas, the second largest bank in the world, will be organizing a financial technology Hackathon in Brussels this weekend. Over the course of two days, various coders and developers will try to come up with innovative and creative solutions linked to one of four different themes. Even though Bitcoin is not officially featured, some of the participating developers may try to implement blockchain technology in their solution.
Also read: Coinbase Announces Bitcoin Hackathon BitHack V2
BNP Paribas International Hackathon – Five Cities
As you would come to expect from BNP Paribas, their International Hackathon spans five different cities across different continents. All of these major cities have a reference to being the financial heart of their country, and the event spans historic places such as Brussels, San Francisco, Istanbul, Paris, and Rome.
The main goal of the BNP Paribas International Hackathon is to invite and empower technology entrepreneurs to revolutionize the financial world as we know it. Not just in the sense of transforming the banking system as we know it, but also focusing on improving the overall user experience for services such as personal finance and insurance.
Unlike most traditional Hackathons, these events are organized to identify startups who have the skill and desire to access and serve BNP Paribas clients around the world. While the International Hackathon sounds like tons of fun, it is only the beginning of the road. BNP Paribas is willing to offer opportunities – for prototyping, data, and expertise – to the most talented startups.
During each if these Hackathon sessions, there will be four themes to compete in. The first theme is called “Click & Mortar,” which aims to enhance the in-branch experience and connect online & offline touchpoints for a seamless banking experience. “Financial Literacy & Empowerment” is all about engaging customers to take matters into their hands and making financial education more engaging. This topic could be of particular interest to the Bitcoin community, as there needs to be more focus on those two exact issues as well.
The two remaining themes try to put a focus on simplifying customer’s finances, predicting customer needs, increasing customer satisfaction and creating context-aware shopping experiences. All of these topics are relevant to any form of payment in the financial world, and Bitcoin will be no exception to that.
What kind of innovation would you like to see from this Hackathon? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: BNP Paribas International Hackathon
Images courtesy of BNP Paribas