The Race to Perform

Last October, I journeyed to Austin, Texas, to watch my first Formula One race. Like many, Netflix’s wildly popular Formula 1: Drive to Survive drew me in. That docuseries dramatically increased the popularity of the sport in the United States, with plenty of drama on track and off.

Inevitably, the show takes viewers inside a showdown between two cars jostling for points, separated by mere milliseconds. While being out front has its advantages, so too does drafting your competition, waiting for the chance to pull ahead. Indeed, the “push-to-pass” mechanism on a race car provides a temporary jolt of speed, allowing the hunter to quickly become the hunted. Speed, competition and risk-taking is on my mind as we prepare to host Bank Director’s Experience FinXTech event May 5 and 6 in the same city as the Circuit of The Americas.

Much like Formula One brings some of the most ambitious and creative teams together for a race, Experience FinXTech attracts some of the most inspiring minds from the deeply competitive financial services space.

Now in its seventh year, the event connects a hugely influential audience of U.S. bank leaders with technology partners at the forefront of growth and innovation. Today, as banks continue to transition towards virtual or digital strategies, fintechs become partners rather than just competitors in the race to succeed.

We’ll look not only at fintechs offering efficiencies for banks, but at fintechs offering growth and improved performance as well. As fintech guru Chris Skinner recently noted, “If you only look at technology as a cost reduction process, you never get the market opportunities. If you look at technology as a market opportunity, you get the cost savings naturally as a by-product.”

We’ll consider investor appetites, debate the pros and cons of decentralized finance and share experiences in peer exchanges.

Throughout, we’ll help participants gauge technology companies at a time when new competitors continue to target financial services.

Most Formula One races are won on the margins, with dedicated teams working tirelessly to improve performance. So too are the banks that excel – many of them with dedicated teams working with exceptional partners.