Crédit Agricole Egypt has announced the winner of its 1st hackathon for startups working in the field of financial technology during the "RiseUp Summit" held at the American University in Cairo (AUC) New Cairo Campus, during 5-7 December.
 
India-based startup, Infini Systems, was the winner in the competition launched by Crédit Agricole Egypt in response to the Central Bank of Egypt's initiatives to support SMEs and to achieve Crédit Agricole’s strategy fostering innovation aiming to increase client’s satisfaction and to serve the society. The purpose of this challenge is to revolutionize and digitalize the Bank’s SMEs’ supply chain finance, aiming to allow SMEs to override their financial hurdles to better drive and develop their business
 
Mr. Pierre Finas, Managing Director of Crédit Agricole Egypt, said: "Egypt is a country with huge potential, and the small and medium-sized enterprises play a vital role in advancing the economy and creating more job opportunities; so, the Central Bank called for more attention towards this sector”. About the bank’s appetite towards fintech solutions, “Mr. Finas added: "Crédit Agricole Egypt considers startups to be a new member in the market, which can play an effective role in the financial ecosystem, under the guidance of the Central Bank of Egypt, to fulfill the needs of clients and to provide support for national issues such as financial inclusion and SMEs. We also believe that these innovative solutions will help the Bank achieve its strategic goal, which is client satisfaction.”
 
Over 30 startups have applied in this hackathon launched in collaboration with Fintech Galaxy. The judging panel included Ms. Nivine Shokry, Head of Enterprises and Private Banking, and Ms. Maryam Greiss, Head of Digital and Transactional Banking. The accolade was presented by Mr. Antoine Paliard, Head of Development & Innovation. The chosen solution will help create an exhaustive digital solution comprising the companies, their clients and the Bank, in a way to complete the operations more efficiently and at a faster pace, taking into account compliance with banking and regulatory rules.
 
During the RiseUp Summit, Credit Agricole Egypt, represented by Eng. Tarek El Zoheiri – Head of Digital Channels IT Management has participated in the panel “towards a cashless economy”. Mr. Tarek evoked the role of the financial institutions in this national direction, the bank’s digital transformation and its readiness to embrace this direction in terms of infrastructure and the usage of data as well as artificial intelligence to better serve customer needs.
 
It is worth mentioning that Credit Agricole Egypt is also participating in the France Egypt startup platform launched this November. The platform includes different challenges, out of which one is dedicated to fintech. The bank will be looking forward to creative and innovative financial solutions that should help reaching the strategic objective of customer relationship excellence.