Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) has been announced as a ‘Corporate Champion’ for the second edition of the Innovation Challenge 2018 by Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) and KPMG Lower Gulf Limited (KPMG LG). This year’s Challenge will see ADCB and ADGM work directly with a selected FinTech firm to create a purpose-built, targeted solution to address a pressing business need. With a focus on efficiency, the task set by ADCB will challenge the selected FinTech firm to design and develop a seamless, paperless and secured platform for trade finance banks to provide account receivables/invoice factoring services for SMEs.

The resulting product solution will be presented at the 2018 FinTech Abu Dhabi Summit on 17 September to an audience of financial institutions, regulators, professional services firms and start-ups from local and global communities, as a showcase on how efficiencies and regulatory outcomes can be enhanced in the banking industry.

To deliver the most innovative and effective FinTech solution to each challenge, ADGM and KPMG LG issued a global call to action inviting local and global FinTech entrepreneurs to apply for the opportunity to work with the designated Corporate Champions to apply their solutions to specific business use cases.

Krishnakumar Duraiswamy, Head of Trade Finance at ADCB said: “Trade Finance Industry has been actively looking at areas for innovation to change the landscape of trade and supply chain finance.  Trade Finance specifically for SMEs in the UAE is core to our business and hence we chose domestic trade finance as an area to be selected for this challenge. We will work with FinTechs to create a platform that will not only digitalize the flow of documents but also create financing capability of these transactions which helps in driving working capital finance for corporates in the UAE”.

Mr Wai Lum Kwok, Executive Director (Capital Markets), Financial Services Regulatory Authority of ADGM, said, “The close collaboration between regulator, corporates and FinTech start-ups is the hallmark of a sustainable and effective approach to embracing innovation in the financial sector. ADCB has been an active champion and partner of ADGM in steering the innovation agenda.  This year’s Innovation Challenge is about promoting real adoption and business use cases of innovation, and we are excited to be working with ADCB to road-test a new solution which can be applied and adopted across the banking ecosystem.”

The FinTech Abu Dhabi Innovation Challenge is an initiative of ADGM in collaboration with KPMG to support the development of FinTech in Abu Dhabi and the wider MENA region. It is just one element of the overall FinTech Abu Dhabi event, which will also see a series of panel sessions, fireside chats, keynote speeches and networking sessions delivered for the burgeoning FinTech community.

This initiative serves as a catalyst for collaboration between corporate institutions and FinTech start-ups. A team of selected start-ups will be tasked to develop a prototype solution addressing real business issues identified by our UAE-based institutions (Corporate Champions). The selected Corporate Champions will be given the opportunity to tap into KPMG’s expertise in managing the innovation process.  In addition, ADGM will assist successful FinTech firms to tap market opportunities in Abu Dhabi, leveraging ADGM’s FinTech ecosystem and network.