-by guest author, Alessandra Guion,
General Manager, FinTech Belgium
Belgium is home to the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Council of the European Union: it’s the core of Europe. At its borders you find Germany, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. A high number of important companies settled their headquarters in the half-Flemish and half-French speaking country because of its central location at one of the cross-roads of Europe, and its flourishing commerce during the last centuries. The capital, Brussels, is a major base for fintech companies: FinTech Belgium is established at the heart of the city and it will be a great place to expand your business in Europe.
Why should you expand your business here?
Fintech Belgium is the association of Belgian fintechs. Created in 2015, it is the only federation representing all the Fintechs of the Belgian sector. With 120 members, the corporation brings together not just startups and scale-ups, but also more mature companies that are building technological products for the financial industry.
Our three missions are to provide a platform for dialogue with regulators and other stakeholders, to actively and concretely promote the fintech sector in Belgium, both locally and abroad, and to foster the exchange of best practices both within and outside the community.
With FinTech Belgium, you will have the opportunity to participate in networking events, for example, the Digital Finance Summit. Given the high number of members and partners within our network, working with us will open the doors to many new, fruitful partnerships and collaborations.
Many projects on our agenda
Despite the pandemic, we have had a year of achievements: in 2020, we founded the European Digital Finance Association (EDFA), together with 8 other European fintech hubs, and that has already grown to 13 members. This milestone has driven up visibility in the European market, providing a series of new contacts with relevant fintech stakeholders and companies. This has all resulted in exciting opportunities for our members and partners to expand and connect abroad.
With the idea of creating a fintech community, in August we moved our office to FIRe: the biggest hub dedicated to digital finance. It is the right place to meet like-minded people, ideate and collaborate for fintech innovations.
Your best networking opportunity – Digital Finance Summit
Now, we are getting ready for our biggest event: the Digital Finance Summit, on November 30. This is a platform for global innovators looking to boost and inspire the European fintech ecosystem. It is also one of the few places that allows corporations, startups and technology experts to come together, connect and explore syncing synergies, while learning more about the regulatory dimension.
The Summit’s speakers will talk about every last details of the latest developments, trends and dest practices in digital finance in the new, post-pandemic world. An important goal for the summit is to boost visibility of smaller fintech companies from everywhere, including Canada, and to create long-term partnerships and business opportunities within the multi-lingual and future-focussed environment that FinTech Belgium strives to achieve.
If you would like to include this summit into your business development plan, or would like more information or just have a conversation, we would love to hear from you. You can reach me directly at alessandra@fintechbelgium.be