Finnie Awards 2018 officially launched

Entries are now open for the 2018 Finnie Awards, with Jobs for NSW and FinTech Australia coming together to launch the event.

The awards provide Australian FinTech companies with the opportunity to be recognised for their successes.

A total of 23 awards will be on offer this year, including FinTech Organisation of the Year, Outstanding FinTech Leader of the Year, Female FinTech Leader of the Year, Emerging FinTech Leader of the Year and Emerging FinTech Organisation of the Year.

In addition, FinTech companies will have the opportunity to be recognised for excellence in sectors such as lending, wealth management, payments, crowdfunding, blockchain, artificial intelligence and RegTech. For this year’s awards, a new award category has been introduced for the best FinTech customer experience/design outcome.

“Our Finnie awards are an important way to celebrate the best and brightest in our rapidly growing and exciting FinTech industry,” said FinTech Australia Chair Stuart Stoyan.

“The Finnies are the one night of the year when the entire FinTech community comes together to recognise the individuals and companies who are making a huge contribution to our industry.

“The award categories have also been specifically designed to help showcase companies which are tackling many of the barriers to our industry’s growth, as highlighted in our EY FinTech Australia Census.”

This includes FinTechs that are driving female leadership and participation, successfully collaborating with banks and other financial institutions, expanding internationally and creating great market awareness of their product.

It is the second year that the Finnies have been held, with last year’s awards attracting more than 150 entries which were examined by 40 judges.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Small Business John Barilaro said the NSW Government through Jobs for NSW will again be the presenting partner for the Finnies to demonstrate its support for advancing the sector.

“NSW is the capital of Australia’s FinTech industry and home to 54% of FinTech companies, so we are delighted to host and support the nation’s only FinTech industry-backed awards right here in Sydney,” Barilaro said.

“Technology is transforming financial services and we recognise the high potential to grow our FinTech industry to generate future economic returns and jobs for our state.”

The NSW Government is also investing $35 million in the Sydney Startup Hub, which is home to leading FinTech accelerator Stone & Chalk. Jobs for NSW has supported about 30 FinTechs by investing over $800,000 in their growth.

Nick Molnar, CEO of Afterpay, said his company’s FinTech Organisation of the Year award in last year’s Finnies had helped build Afterpay’s brand awareness and industry backing.

“The award gave Afterpay external appreciation for the hard work and effort our dedicated team puts into the business day in, day out,” Molnar said.

“Afterpay is proud to be able to offer a payment option that is fully aligned with the customer and resonates with Australian consumers, helping to stimulate sales and grow retail businesses.”

Award entries are open until Sunday, 18 March, with the gala award ceremony to be held Wednesday, 13 June.

Image caption: Winners from the 2017 Finnies.

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