Fintech and AI Take Center Stage at Founders Forum During London Tech Week

The future of financial services was a key theme at this year’s London Tech Week, UK’s main tech conference held on June 10-14 at London Olympia, one of London’s largest events spaces, bringing together over 45,000 attendees, more than 5,000 startups, and upwards of1,000 investors from across the globe.

As in previous years, London Tech Week’s invitation-only partner event, Founders Forum Global, also took place during the meetings-packed week, gathering top tech founders, influential investors, CEOs, and government officials on June 12at Soho Farmhouse, an exclusive membership club in the sleepy English countryside, away from London’s bustle.

“AI was the buzzword at both London Tech Week and Founders Forum this year, wherefrank discussions were held about how these and other advancements in tech are changingfinancial services and the digital payments ecosystem in particular around the world. A futurewhere AI not only optimizes our operations but also enhances the customer experience,increases security, and promotes financial inclusion is fast approaching,’’ said Yuno Co-founder and CEO Juan Pablo Ortegaafter attending Founders Forum.

The week-long tech bonanza kicked off with an opening keynote by Nicola Hodson, Chief Executive of IBM UK & Ireland, who highlighted the transformative potential of AI for modern business and focused on the application of AI with Copilot to illustrate how such technologies are poised to enhance productivity and operational efficiency.

Speaking about the fintech sector specifically, Ortega, added: “We are on the cusp of an AI-driven revolution thatis completely redefining how we interact with money and payments and with over 11,000fintech startups, Latin America is at the forefront of some of the most exciting developmentsin our industry.”

Others at London Tech Week also highlighted success stories from Latin America,crediting the lack of legacy systems as one aspect that has helped some countries in theregion to move faster than their developed-market peers when it comes to the adoption andimplementation of tech innovation.

“In Latin America, they can leapfrog, so they’re moving a lot faster,” said Helen Child,Founder and CEO at Open Banking Excellence, highlighting the rapid development andadoption of Pix, the central bank’s instant payment tool in Brazil that provides instant settlements and zero transaction fees for peer-to-peer transfers.

The Brazilian IP scheme enables its users — people, companies and governmental entities — to send or receive payment transfers in just a few seconds at any time, including non-business days.

Pix is among the 300 payment methods supported by Yuno, the world’s leading paymentorchestration platform, which enables companies like McDonald’s, Rappi, Avianca andinDriveto seamlesslytake and make payments in different geographies, and use features such as one-clickcheckout, anti-fraud tools and AI-enabled smart routing through a single, user-friendlyinterface across 60 countries.