Citi Ventures, Woodforest National Bank, and Fifth Third Bank among finalists of the BAI Global Innovation Awards

In a set of finalists dominated by foreign banks, a few American financial institutions made the final cut in BAI’s annual Innovation Awards list.  Elevate Credit of Fort Worth, Texas, Pelican State Credit Union of Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Fifth Third Bancorp based in Cincinnati were United States based finalists in the category of Innovation in Marketing.

Citi Ventures and Woodforest National Bank, based in Woodland, Texas were among the nominees for Innovative Accelerator or Incubator. In the category of RegTech Innovation, only Hummingbird Regtech Inc. of California made the final cut for United States based companies.

According to BAI, the judges weigh each innovation on originality and impact on consumers and the industry. As banks and credit unions continue to focus on providing special services driven by technology, innovation is in the front of minds of banking executives. Asian banks and financial institutions seemed to lead the way, and large U.S. banks were conspicuous by their absence in this year’s list.

BAI sent Banking Exchange the entire list. The 2019 BAI Global Innovation Awards finalists are:

Best Application of Advanced Technology in a Product or Service

• Emirates NBD, Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Emirates NBD Blockchain Center of Excellence for Payments
• ISBANK, Istanbul, Turkey: AI Personal Assistant “Maxi”
• Shenzhen OneConnect Smart Technology Co., Ltd, Shanghai, China: FiMAX Trade Finance Blockchain Network
• Yapı Kredi, Istanbul, Turkey: Financial Document Corrective Analysis

Business Model Innovation

• CaixaBank S.A., Barcelona, Spain: Travel Marketplace
• DenizBank, Istanbul, Turkey: DenizBank Banking as a Platform Initiative
• KASIKORNBANK PCL, Bangkok, Thailand: K PLUS Loyalty Card Platform
• Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Toronto, Canada: RBC Ventures

Human Capital Innovation

• Alior Bank S.A., Warsaw, Poland: Smartphonisation
• DenizBank, Istanbul, Turkey: Crowdfunding Platform, Fonosentez
• HDFC Bank, Mumbai, India: Recruitment Hackathon
• ISBANK, Istanbul, Turkey: Isbank Agile Atelier
• Ping An Insurance, Shenzhen, China: AI Interview System

Innovation in Customer Experience

• CaixaBank S.A., Barcelona, Spain: ATM Facial Recognition
• Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Sydney, Australia: Customer Experience Transformation via AI
• Emirates NBD, Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Customer Experience Month
• FNB Insurance, Johannesburg, South Africa: Claims Excellence
• The Bank of East Asia, Limited, Hong Kong: i-Planner

Innovation in Marketing

• CaixaBank S.A., Barcelona, Spain: imaginBank Agile Digital Marketing Room
• Elevate Credit, Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.: Elevate Credit Campaign 2019
• Fifth Third Bancorp, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.: Momentum Campaign
• ISBANK, Istanbul, Turkey: Maximum Gaming Esports Platform
• Pelican State Credit Union, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S.: Pelican State of Mind

Innovation in Societal and Community Impact

• Absa Group Limited, Johannesburg, South Africa: Kongola
• BMO Harris Bank and Springfour, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.: BMO Harris - SpringFour Partnership
• JUMO.WORLD, Cape Town, South Africa: JUMO.WORLD
• Union Bank of the Philippines, Pasig, Philippines: Project i2i

Innovative Accelerator or Incubator

• Alior Bank S.A., Warsaw, Poland: RBL_START
• Citi Ventures, D10X, San Francisco, California, U.S.: D10X
• ISBANK, Istanbul, Turkey: Workup Entrepreneurship Program
• Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Toronto, Canada: RBC Reach
• Woodforest National Bank, The Woodlands, Texas, U.S.: Woodforest Foundry

Innovative Touchpoints and Connected Experiences

• Aviva, Warsaw, Poland: Automated Claims Resolution Platform
• mBank S.A., Warsaw, Poland: Omni-channeling Asynchronous Chat
• Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Toronto, Canada: DRIVE by RBC Ventures

Internal Process Innovation

• Alior Bank S.A., Warsaw, Poland: Smart Operations
• CommunityAmerica Financial Solutions, LLC, Lenexa, Kansas, U.S.: Dash360
• D10X, Citi, London, United Kingdom: Proxymity
• HDFC Bank, Mumbai, India: AI as a Service
• PKO Bank Polski, Warsaw, Poland: x-Platform

RegTech Innovation

• Hummingbird Regtech Inc, Walnut, California, U.S.: Regtech Solution
• Moody’s Analytics, San Francisco, California, U.S.: RiskFoundation™ Suite Hosted and Banking Cloud Solution
• Shenzhen OneConnect Smart Technology Co., Ltd, Shanghai, China: GAMMA Voiceprint Anti-fraud
• TSYS, Columbus, Georgia, U.S.: Foresight Score
• Yapı Kredi, Istanbul, Turkey: Digital Onboarding via Video Assistants