NDRC and Bank of Ireland to help finance professionals get into fintech
NDRC commercial director Gary Leyden with Bank of Ireland head of open enterprise and innovation, David Tighe. Image: Shane O’Neill

Bank of Ireland and NDRC to help finance professionals get into fintech

27 Sep 2017

Professionals in the financial services sector are being given a chance to get in on the fintech action.

Fintech represents the biggest upheaval in finance as we know it and, to help financial services professionals get into the game, Bank of Ireland and NDRC are creating an early-stage, part-time programme.

With the sector attracting record levels of investment in Europe and the US, and growing here at a rapid rate, the potential for Irish start-ups to create transformative new digital technologies and generate jobs remains high.

‘We want to catch people who have deep domain knowledge of financial services, know the industry, and may have ideas as to how technologies such as blockchain, data analytics and artificial intelligence can be leveraged to change it’
– GARY LEYDEN

“NDRC has a strong record in finding some great companies in the fintech sector – the money messaging app Plynk and trading performance firm Chasing Returns being good examples,” said NDRC commercial director Gary Leyden.

Take a dip into the fintech ocean

Leyden continued: “However, despite having such a strong international financial services sector, we are not seeing enough fintech start-up disruption emerging. NDRC believes Ireland needs to do more in this space, and this programme is a way to bring our tech industry and financial services industries closer together.

“Fintech is transforming how financial services are managed and delivered across multiple sectors. It’s an exciting space and moving fast, with new innovations emerging in areas such as how money is transferred; regulation and compliance; security and insurance; how credit risks are scored; and in payments generally.

“With this programme, we want to catch people who have deep domain knowledge of financial services, know the industry, and may have ideas as to how technologies such as blockchain, data analytics and artificial intelligence can be leveraged to change it.”

The initiative will be held at NDRC and is designed for individuals at the ideas stage who aren’t yet ready to take the full step towards formally starting a business.

With the support of expert advisers from Bank of Ireland and NDRC, as well as a panel of volunteers with specialist skills, individuals will have the opportunity to test their idea and assess potential.

The programme will take place over three weeks on Friday afternoons and Saturdays, starting in early November. Applications can be made at www.ndrc.ie.

“We believe our team can bring their significant expertise to bear for start-up entrepreneurs in the fintech sector,” said Bank of Ireland’s head of open enterprise and innovation, David Tighe.

“Bank of Ireland has pioneered the development of spaces in branches which support start-up fintech companies and entrepreneurs, with our Workbench spaces now open in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway. We also support fintech growth in StartLab – a start-up incubator – also based in Galway, Dublin and New York, and designed to incubate high-potential start-ups to scale rapidly.

“Supporting early-stage fintech in Ireland is pivotal to supporting business growth and we look forward to working with this new cohort of fintech innovators.”

John Kennedy
By John Kennedy

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years. His interests include all things technological, music, movies, reading, history, gaming and losing the occasional game of poker.

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