Seven Pieces of Advice from Award-Winning Fintech Execs

On 22 October, the inaugural Global FinTech Awards took place, commemorating the inspirational companies, start-ups and individuals who are transforming the fintech industry.

Across the 12 categories, the awards recognised the importance of fintech practices in the success of businesses and helped to inspire future innovation and change. 

The fintech industry is pivotal to the future of financial services globally by driving greater innovation, efficiency and security. As we enter a digital age, advancements in technology and AI are transforming the field by unlocking a wealth of possibility. FinTech LIVE London Global Summit helped to enhance connections between leading fintech executives and equipped attendees with the knowledge they require to craft a better tomorrow. 

After the award ceremony, we spoke to some of the award winners as they shared some of their advice to those who want to break into the industry. 

1. Vladislavs Mironovs 

Organisation: Citadele Bank

Award: Digital Banking Award

His advice: “Listen to your customers. Try to understand what are the customer demands and work on the customer pain points. It's not only about digital work, it's a lot about customer service, too. By combining customer service, digital work and listening to customers, we can make a real impact.”

2. Kristina Chapleo

Organisation: Chaser

Award: AI in FinTech Award

Her advice: “Listen to your customer feedback. Within my role, I'm the advocate for our customers and help to drive customer feedback within the organisation. You want to make sure that you are staying ahead of the curve and using innovation, but also implementing some of the customer feedback along the way. By doing this, you can ensure that the feedback is tailored to what your clients are looking for.”

3. Alex Taylor

Organisation: Mangopay

Award: Fraud & ID Verification Award

His advice: “Make sure you concentrate on what the customers want. As well as this, ensure you are very customer-centric in the products that you bring to the market and how you deliver it to the customers. Keep the customer front of your mind the whole way.”

4. Pavan Cherlapelly

Organisation: Aiviq

Award: FinTech Consultancy Award

His advice: “The quality of the service always comes first and customer service is the number one thing that we need to focus on when we're serving something to the customer.”

5. Praveen TM

Organisation: Opus Technologies

Award: Future Leader Award

His advice: “FinTech is an evolving industry and you can see a lot of things that's going on primarily around AI. I think it's important to stay ahead of innovation and think differently.”

6. Henk Van Hulle

Organisation: Open Banking

Award: Executive of the Year Award

His advice: “Keep on believing in your project. Make sure you've got benefits for end users, consumers, businesses and citizens in the world. If you keep on believing and deliver your determination, you can achieve lots and be successful.”

7. Boudewijn Dierick

Organisation: auxmoney GmbH

Award: Financial Services Award

His advice: “Persistence is key. We have been in the business for nearly 15 years and we have discovered that success comes in phases. You have to grow over time and sometimes it takes longer to get there. But, over time we have been growing and now we are successful and people know us.”

Essential diary dates for 2025

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2025 diary dates:

• FinTech LIVE Singapore | 25 February 
• InsurTech LIVE | 1 May
• FinTech LIVE Dubai | 6 May
• FinTech LIVE New York | 17 June
• FinTech LIVE London | 7-8 October
• FinTech Awards | 7 October

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