BNP Paribas has signed letters of intent with nine of the eighteen startups who made it to the final stages of the French bank's annual innovation hackathon.
The first round of the contest, which attracted a field of 96 international competitors, was staged over a weekend in June in major international cities. Working to a theme of 'Streamlining the Customer Journey', eighteen teams were selected to attend a four-month digital bootcamp, working hand-in-hand with BNP staff from across the business, including IT, marketing and compliance to further develop their ideas.
Nine ofthose startups have now seen their efforts rewarded with a Letter of Intent from the bank to undergo an incubation process allowing them to develop their concepts into practical applications.
The applications selected cut across the full spectrum of the bank's retail portfolio, using data analytics, crowdfunding and robo-advisory technology to add a fresh twist to BNP's suite of customer services.
Over the next four months, the startup teams will be provided with dedicated workspaces, a tailor-made acceleration programme, and introductions to potential business partners as they work to craft a prototype for testing with the bank's clients.
In a statement explaining its approach to the fintech revolution, the bank says: "BNP Paribas is determined to draw on collective intelligence - benefiting from external resources by building products and services in conjunction with our customers and forging partnerships with startups and other innovative companies; as well as calling on our own in-house creativity."