Money Motion 2024 – The fintech conference you must attend!

More than 26 thousand startups worldwide are estimated to be conceptualizing, developing, and scaling financial and technological solutions. And that number will continue to grow along with user appetite for faster and more cost-effective solutions. Today, we are witnessing an easier way to transfer funds and make payments when everything is available at a click.

This is a crucial moment in the industry’s history when the strategic choices of companies in the market regarding investment and experimentation with new technological solutions for increasingly demanding user expectations will be decisive. The impact of younger consumers, such as Generation Z members who will soon dominate the market, is particularly pronounced. From the Nexi Group, a leading technology company for payment solutions in Europe, it is predicted that the consumer habits of the generation that has grown up with a smartphone in hand will be the catalyst for exponential growth in digital and completely invisible payments.

In line with this reality is the collaboration they achieved last year by opening the first cashierless store of a well-known Italian chain and a Croatian one in Zagreb. The customer enters the supermarket, selects products, places them in their bag or pocket, and an advanced system of infrared cameras and weight sensors tracks the customer during their time in the store and places items in a virtual basket. Upon exiting the store, integration with an invisible online payment system allows quick cashierless payment in a completely digital format.

Damir Čaušević, President of the Management Board of Monri Payments, agrees that the key lies in simplifying even the most basic everyday processes. Monri Payments has been collaborating with more than 25 banks in Croatia and the region for years to provide the end user with the best experience.

– It no longer makes sense to talk about payment security and reliability as innovation drivers because they are such basic needs that they are the foundation of every one of our services and solutions. In a dynamic and modern environment, users seek simplicity and adaptability to their needs. That’s why we focus on ensuring that our services encompass the entire process preceding payment and the payment itself, providing flexibility in accepting as many payment methods as possible and ensuring a consistent payment experience, whether online or offline.

To achieve all the ambitions of the industry, cooperation between all representatives of the FinTech industry will be crucial. From the OTP Group, it is stated that cooperation with other FinTech companies, startups, and other innovative companies whose business is based on advanced technology, as well as educational institutions, to revolutionize banking products and services for the future has formed as their path to success.

– Therefore, our current efforts include the implementation process of an artificial intelligence research and development project using one of the fastest supercomputers in Europe. With the help of this computer, we are building a large Hungarian-English language model at the GPT-3 level, which will be crucial for the OTP Group, especially when adding other languages ​​used within the OTP Group. Our completed English-Hungarian bilingual model with 1.5 billion parameters is unique in Hungary. We are already testing and improving our Hungarian-English bilingual model with 13 billion parameters – revealed Péter Csányi, Deputy CEO and Chief Digital Officer, and Member of the Board of Directors of the OTP Group, who will be attending Money Motion at the Zagreb Fair this March.

At the new edition of the Money Motion conference, which will be held on March 21 and 22, under the sponsorship of leading regional brands in the industry – Nexi, Mastercard, OTP Bank, Monri, and ASEE – there will be discussions on how blockchain technology, which is increasingly penetrating standard financial and technological processes, has found its place among traditional players. The market first encountered blockchain through cryptocurrencies, with Electrocoin being the first to officially trade them in our market, enabling citizens to pay for their daily needs with their crypto assets.

– As the largest domestic provider of cryptocurrency payment services, we witness a constant growth in entrepreneurs’ interest in introducing cryptocurrencies into their businesses. Since introducing the PayCek cryptocurrency payment processor in 2018, we have recorded a steady increase in transactions. For example, in 2022, despite unfavorable macroeconomic trends and the “crypto bear market,” cryptocurrency payments on our platform recorded a growth of 16 percent – confirmed Hrvoje Hrvatin, head of marketing at Electrocoin.

Blockchain technology is becoming an important participant in this dynamic, as evidenced by the digital euro project, i.e., the first centralized and European stablecoin currency, in which Nexi Group has been involved from the very beginning alongside other international institutions. Specifically, Nexi is active in creating the rule system on which the digital euro will be based, and it is one of the five companies chosen to create the front-end prototype of the digital euro at the point of sale, thus determining the final appearance of the currency, including the customer’s payment experience with the digital euro.

– The ease of use of the digital euro will be crucial in its acceptance as a new means of payment created for about 350 million European Union residents who are estimated to spend around 6 trillion euros annually by 2030. It is an absolute priority for the digital euro to be positioned as an inclusive, secure, and simple alternative for digital payments, thereby protecting the currency sovereignty of the European Union in the context of growing digitization of payment transactions – explained Irina Bručić, General Manager at Nexi Croatia and Nexi Slovenia.

The future of stablecoins in our society will be the topic of the closing point of the first day of Money Motion, between Nikola Škorić, CEO of Electrocoin and co-founder of the conference, and Nadiem Sissounoa, Head of Economics at Mento Labs.

–  Recent developments have brought us to a critical point in the evolution of digital financial structures. Our choice today will determine whether we perpetuate traditional financial paradigms, favoring opaque institutions and privileged access to the market, or we chart a course toward a future defined by transparency, accountability, and equal participation. Our decision has profound implications for the future of finance. Will we settle for digital replicas of outdated systems, exacerbating existing energy imbalances? Or will we seize the opportunity to build a new financial landscape – one characterized by openness, accountability, self-regulation, and fair empowerment? – Sissounoa emphasized.

Tickets for Money Motion 2024 are available for 249 euros on the conference’s official website and on the Entrio platform. If you plan to travel to Zagreb for the conference, visit the official conference website to take advantage of discounts provided in partner hotels.

For all young talents in FinTech and related industries or enthusiasts of good organizations, Money Motion has opened a call for volunteers. All interested parties are welcome to apply at the volunteer subpage.