Meet the 2023 Country Award Winners

The 2023 Innovation Awards program will put a spotlight on the financial service innovations and ideas that are resulting in faster, more efficient and customer-centric organizations, products and services. The following Fintech Americas’ proprietary “7 Pillars of Digital Transformation” will be used as the organizing principle of application category relevance.

If you have questions about the category you should nominate to, do not hesitate to contact us at info@fintechamericas.co with the subject line: Award category.

As the 7 Pillars are used as the category guide for applications, our judging panel will employ the seven criteria VERITAS rubric to gauge the merit of each application and determine both the Country Award, Disrupt Award and Fintech Award winners. 1 – 5 value is described below.

THE AWARDS APPLICATION INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING TEN QUESTIONS:

1. What problem does/did this innovation seek to solve? Why was it an important problem?
2. What customer needs (internal or external) does/did the innovation address? Why was/is this a material need? Please describe the customer in detail.
3. How well does the innovation solve the problem identified?
4. How long has the team been working on this innovation and what major steps have been taken?
5. How distinct or different is the innovation as compared with what is happening in the region, country or inside other financial institutions?
6. Where is the innovation in its implementation? How much traction has been achieved?
7. What is the financial impact of the innovation? What is the cost/benefit analysis? Are the economics sustainable?
8. How has the innovation transformed or propelled the overall innovative capacity of the financial institution?
9. What is the evidence of impact? Can you share quantitative data or qualitative evidence of success in any of the following ways: increases in revenue, customers, production/productivity, adoption, access, quality, balance sheet or decreases in risk, cost, fraud or inefficiencies, customer retention, etc.
10. How is this innovation scalable and its impact sustainable?

Who can nominate? Qualifying financial service providers can self-nominate or are eligible for nomination from industry analysts, public relations firms and solutions providers. If you have any questions about submitting a nomination, please reach out to us at info@fintechamericas.co.

Important: You will be redirected to our awards management platform. Create an account to begin the nomination process. 

How to submit your nomination

1. Enter our awards management platform.
2. At the start, the platform will ask you to create an account. Create an account to begin the nomination process.
3. Once you’ve entered, you will see a button that says “Apply now!”. Click it to start a new submission.
4. Answer all the questions in the nomination form.
5. Confirm the information in your answers.

Done! You have finished your submission

• If you need to exit the platform and interrupt your submission, don’t worry- the site will automatically save your progress!
• You may enter more than one submission. Before starting an additional submission, you first need to finish the one you started.
• To return to a submission you have already started, you just need to click on the “Apply now!” button again. 

Materials you will need to complete your application:

1. Contact details of the organization and the individual or team applying or being nominated.
2. Contact details of the person submitting the nomination if not the same.
3. Comprehensive answers to the ten application questions.
4. Any information that provides insight and understanding of the project, such as marketing materials or promotional or instructional videos and/or media articles that supports or explains the impact of the nominated innovation, is welcomed and encouraged.
5. The decision of the judges is final. The judges reserve the right to reject any entry that does not answer the application questions and/or comply with the requirements of the Fintech Americas Financial Innovators in the Americas Awards Program.
6. Entries will only be judged on the basis of the information provided to the judges on the entry form and additional supporting material submitted.
7. Judges are requested to declare an interest and remove themselves from the process if they are asked to judge an entry that poses a conflict of interest.
8. Judges’ VERITAS scoring, comments, feedback will not be provided.

Over 150 awards have been given out since 2015 to the most innovative banks, financial institutions and fintechs across the Americas. See the full 2022 Winners list here.

2022 Winners

All information and data submitted will only be viewed by select Fintech Americas staff and the judging panel and will be treated with respect and confidentiality. Specifically:

1 ACCEPTANCE BY ENTRANTS

a) By entering, entrants warrant that they are the original author(s) of their submission; b) They own the intellectual property rights, including copyright rights in and to all materials submitted and/or they are authorized to use these rights; c) The submission does not infringe any third party’s intellectual property rights or other proprietary rights, including copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, design; d) They agree to be bound by any subsequent reasonable instructions or decisions of Fintech Americas or the evaluators; e) By entering, all entrants agree that non-confidential information and material, such as names, photographs, images, videos or other material as disclosed to Fintech Americas may be reproduced, published and used by Fintech Americas in relation to this competition, including for promotional purposes ((including in print and on Fintech America’s website); f) Entrants warrant that they have the legal right to authorize Fintech Americas to use all disclosed information and material.

2 LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

Entrants warrant that they are eligible to participate in the competition and agree to release, indemnify and hold harmless Fintech Americas and all associated third parties in the competition and their respective directors and employees from and against any and all losses, claims, liability and damages of any kind, brought against any of them, as a result of their breach of any of these terms and conditions, their participation in the competition, or acceptance or usage of any prize or award.

3 GOVERNING LAW AND JURISDICTION

These terms and conditions are governed by and will be interpreted in accordance with the laws of the State of Florida, United States of America and the Courts of the State of Florida will have exclusive jurisdiction.

Where can I access the nomination form?

You can access the nomination form for the 8th Annual Financial Innovators in the Americas Award program here as of December 5th, 2022 until March 1st, 2023.

Can Financial Services organization submit more than one project?

Yes, as long as the innovation effort is separate and distinct from the other submission from the same institution.

What is the deadline to submit the nomination form?

All the nomination forms for the 8th Annual Financial Innovators in the Americas Awards must be completed by March 1st, 2023.

Who can fill out the nomination form?

Qualifying financial service providers can self-nominate or are elegible for nomination from industry analysts, public relations firms and solutions partners.

How much does it cost to submit a nomination?

Participation in the Fintech Americas’ Financial Innovators of the Americas Award Program is free.

How much information do I need to provide on the nomination form?

Materials you will need to complete your application:
1. Contact details of the Financial Services organization and the individual or team applying or being nominated.
2. Contact details of the person submitting the nomination if not the same.
3. Comprehensive answers to the ten application questions.
4. Any information that provides insight and understanding of the project, such as marketing materials or promotional or instructional videos and/or media articles that supports or explains the impact of the nominated innovation is welcomed and encouraged.

How are the Country Award and Disrupt Award winners selected?

The selection process involves a careful review of each submission by the Fintech Americas judging panel using the VERITAS scoring rubric. Nominee applications will first be grouped by country and judged against the VERITAS rubric. Any applications that score equal to or greater than 20 are automatically candidates for a country award. The top three application scores within a country will receive the following country awards in descending order: Platinum, Gold, Silver. The total number of award winners is tied to the number of countries submitting and the quality of the submissions. Should no application within a country score greater than 20 no awards will be given for that country.

The Disrupt Award winners will reflect the top three applications with the highest VERITAS scores across the region. The first place, second place and third place Disrupt Awards are country-blind, meaning that the three award winners can come from one country and are not announced prior to the Award Ceremony at MIAMI 2023!, the Fintech Americas Conference, May 4-5, 2023 at the Fontainebleau Hotel, Miami Beach.

What criteria will be used to assess nomination forms?

Judges will assess submissions using the VERITAS scoring rubric.

When will the award winners be announced?

The Country Award ceremony will be held during the Miami 2023! Fintech Americas Conference, May 4-5, at the Fontainebleau, Miami Beach. The Disrupt Award, which recognizes the top three applications with the highest VERITAS scores across the region, will also be announced during the Miami 2023! Fintech Americas Conference, May 4-5, at the Fontainebleau, Miami Beach. Note: The first place, second place and third place Disrupt Awards are country-blind, meaning that the three award winners can come from one country.

What do award winners receive?

• Winners will receive complimentary registrations to Fintech Americas Conference 2023 and recognition at the Award Ceremony.
• Valuable Recognition & Promotion: Participation in the Fintech Americas’ Financial Innovators of the Americas Awards offers an organization important affirmation of the significance of their work and an elevated status externally as a leader in banking transformation and innovation.
• Additional promotion will include:
- Press releases, video interviews, promotion through Fintech Americas digital channels, social media and the signature award.

Whom do I contact for more information?

For more information, contact us at info@fintechamericas.co with the subject "Award Submission".