Profiling the winners of the Financial Services Innovation Awards 2021

The financial services industry can trace its origins back centuries, but that tradition doesn’t stand in the way of continued innovation. Technology continues to make new services and features possible and to create new opportunities for winning customers. To recognise this progress, Deloitte created the Financial Services Innovation Awards, to highlight companies and individuals that are breaking new ground right here in Ireland. Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) and Financial Services Ireland (FSI) are supporters of the awards programme. 

First held in 2019, the awards were postponed in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This year, the winners were revealed at a virtual ceremony. Entries came before a six-person judging panel comprising Brian Hayes, CEO, BPFI; Furio Pietribiasi, Chairman, FSI, and CEO, Mediolanum International Funds Limited; Carol Gibbons, Head of ICT & International Services, Enterprise Ireland; Ciaran Hancock, Business Editor, The Irish Times; Gulru Atak, Head of Innovation, Citi; and David Dalton, Head of Financial Services, Deloitte.

Speaking at the virtual ceremony, David Dalton said the awards celebrated continued innovation in the financial sector during a challenging time, even as many businesses still count the cost of the pandemic. “Innovation in financial services has never been more important, so we are very pleased to announce the winners of this year’s awards, after having to postpone last year’s ceremony,” he said.

“If businesses can take away one learning from the last year, it is that digital adoption is no longer an optional extra – it must become a core principle of all business offerings as we emerge into a post-pandemic Ireland. Financial services companies are at the heart of this change.” 

David Dalton, Head of Financial Services, Deloitte

In this article, we take a closer look at the winners in each category and hear directly from them about what made their ideas resonate not only with the judges, but with the market and their customers. We also cover how each of them responded to the operational challenges of continuing to scale and grow during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Read the full article.