A Fintech Summit dedicated to the topic of financial technologies took place for the first time during the Astana Finance Days. Experts, investors and business representatives from around the world gathered to attend the Summit, including Evgeny Lesnyak (Fintech&Ventures, Visa), Anton Musin (Accenture), Sam Tidswell-Norrish (Motive Partners), Erez Shachar (Qumra Capital), Jochen Biedermann (WAIFC), and others. Participants of the panel sessions discussed Fintech trends affecting Central Asia, investment promotion conditions, blockchain and cybersecurity. Sam Tidswell-Norrish, founding member of Motive Partners and Group Head of Business Development, noted that “three ingredients are needed for the development of the fintech ecosystem: capital, concept and collaboration.”

Anton Musin, Accenture's Managing Director in Kazakhstan, mentioned the use of the Open Banking concept as an example of Fintech trend, when banks open up access to part of their information assets, and third parties get access to data. The representative of Accenture believes that banks and financial institutions that will not implement the Open Banking strategy will lose up to 30% of revenue. Also, within the framework of the summit, the presentation of the report “Review of the Financial Sector in the Region” took place, which AIFC in partnership with audit companies as Deloitte, KPMG, and PwC. The document provides information on the volume of banking and fintech industries, on measures of state support, tax regulation and investment climate in the post-Soviet countries. The report could help to understand the situation on the financial market and the impact of financial technologies on it.

One of the key moments of the Fintech Summit was the final of the global Visa Everywhere Initiative (VEI), which is held for the first time in Central Asia in partnership with the AIFC. The jury chose five winners.

AIFC Governor Kairat Kelimbetov mentioned, “Fintech Summit had a lot on the program. An event of this kind raises the level of awareness of financial technologies. AIFC pays special attention to the development of the fintech sector.”

Also from July 1 to July 4, the Digital Exhibition is held in the Fintech Hub, which presents the projects of the Hub and its partners as CrimsonLogic, «Sberbank», Transtelecom, BI.ZONE, as well as projects of finalists of the Visa Everywhere Initiative.