Categories
A completed entry will include:
1. Payment Form
2. Entry Form
3. 1000 Word Submission
4. Company Logo
5. UK contact details
2025 WINNERS & SHORTLISTED
Data, AI & Analytics
1. Best Use of Data Analytics
This award will recognise a company, solution or project that can demonstrate the innovative and large-scale use of data analytics to the benefit of a business, their customers or the financial industry’s infrastructure. The winning entry will demonstrate its successful implementation via KPIs such as delivered cost benefits, improved internal processes, enhanced customer service and future business opportunities. Enter Here
2. Best Use of Data
This award will recognise a solution or project that utilised data to deliver demonstrable benefits to the business, their customers or the financial industry’s infrastructure. The winning entry will demonstrate successful data management aligned to commercial strategy and underpinned by cutting-edge technology. Enter Here
3. Best Use of Artificial Intelligence in Financial Services
This award will recognise successful deployment of artificial intelligence within financial services to save time or money, improve customer service, security or compliance. Nominations may be for a single project or an overall strategy. The winning entry will demonstrate the business case for AI and how it has been implemented, supplemented by case studies and quantifiable success stories. Enter Here
4. GenAI Application in Financial Services (NEW)
This award recognises the most effective use of generative AI to improve operational efficiency, customer experience, or financial product innovation. Eligible entries may include automated customer service tools, AI-generated investment insights, or content personalisation engines. Entries should demonstrate responsible implementation, measurable impact, and alignment with regulatory and ethical standards. Enter Here
5. AI Ethics and Governance Initiative (NEW)
This award recognises financial institutions or vendors leading in the responsible development and use of artificial intelligence. Entries may highlight work in bias mitigation, model explainability, ethical frameworks, or compliance with emerging AI regulation. Demonstrable commitment to transparency and stakeholder trust is essential. Enter Here
Technology Leadership in Financial Services
6. Best Use of IT in Consumer Finance
This award recognises targeted innovation in consumer-facing financial services such as retail banking, insurance, wealth management, or personal lending. Nominations should focus on technology-led initiatives specific to consumer finance – such as automated lending platforms, robo-advisers, or personalised insurance solutions – demonstrating measurable improvements in customer engagement, financial accessibility, or cost efficiency. Enter Here
7. Best Use of IT in Investment Banking
This award will highlight the most effective use of IT to enhance business processes within wholesale banks, investment banks, and related financial institutions. Nominations may be for a single project or an overall strategy. The winning entry will demonstrate how the strategic implementation of technology has resulted in significant return on investment, streamlined internal processes, and, where applicable, elevated client services. Enter Here
8. Best Use of IT in Commercial Finance
This award will highlight the most effective use of IT in improving business processes within business-to-business commercial banks and other similar companies. Nominations may be for a single project or an overall strategy. The winning entry will demonstrate how the strategic use of technology has brought their company cost benefits, improved internal processes, or enhanced external service to clients (where applicable), in order to further opportunities for future business success. Enter Here
Customer Experience & Engagement
9. Best Customer Service and Experience Technology
This award will highlight technological innovation across the entire customer experience journey, including but not limited to customer service functions such as traditional call centres and AI chatbots. Eligible nominations may highlight a specific project or an overarching strategy. The winning entry will demonstrate how technology has enabled the organisation to anticipate customer needs, deliver timely and personalised responses, optimise business processes, and enhance overall operational efficiency. Enter Here
10. Consumer Finance Innovation of the Year
This category recognises the most impactful consumer-facing digital financial solution. Eligible entries include mobile apps, personal finance platforms, or embedded finance tools that simplify access to financial services. The winning entry will demonstrate widespread adoption, a seamless user experience, and quantifiable customer or business benefits. Enter Here
Innovation in Financial Products & Platforms
11. Most Innovative B2B Product of the Year (NEW)
This award recognises a standout technology product designed for enterprise use by financial institutions. Examples include RegTech platforms, core banking modules, fraud detection engines, institutional lending platforms, or Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) solutions. Entries must provide evidence of deployment, customer benefit, and technical sophistication. Enter Here
12. Most Innovative B2C Product of the Year (NEW)
This category highlights a breakthrough technology-driven product aimed at individual consumers, such as budgeting tools, robo-advisers, or on-demand insurance. Entries must demonstrate strong adoption metrics, user-centric design, and measurable financial empowerment or literacy outcomes. Enter Here
13. Retail Payments Innovation of the Year (NEW)
This award highlights innovation in consumer payment systems. Eligible entries include mobile wallets, BNPL platforms, loyalty-linked payments, or embedded retail checkout innovations. Entries must demonstrate clear benefits to consumers and merchants, and a positive impact on transaction efficiency and trust. Enter Here
14. Wholesale Payments Innovation of the Year (NEW)
This category recognises innovations in the B2B payments space, including real-time gross settlement systems, cross-border payment infrastructure, or treasury payment platforms. The entry should highlight operational efficiency, interoperability, regulatory alignment, and scalability. Enter Here
15. Digital Identity Innovation (NEW)
This award celebrates breakthroughs in digital identity management within financial services. Eligible entries include biometric authentication systems, decentralised identity protocols, or onboarding solutions that improve compliance with KYC/AML obligations. The winning solution should enhance both security and user convenience. Enter Here
16. Employee Experience Technology (NEW)
This category recognises internal technology tools that support workforce productivity, engagement, and well-being. Eligible entries may include HR platforms, virtual collaboration tools, or AI-powered knowledge systems deployed within financial services organisations. Entries should demonstrate clear benefits in staff performance, satisfaction, or retention. Enter Here
17. DeFi, Digital Asset and Cryptocurrency Innovation
This award recognises outstanding innovation across decentralised finance (DeFi), digital assets, cryptocurrencies, and stablecoins. It celebrates a product, platform, or initiative that leverages blockchain technologies – including smart contracts, tokenisation, or decentralised infrastructure – to deliver transformative financial services. Eligible entries may include decentralised lending protocols, digital asset management platforms, crypto payment solutions, or innovations involving stablecoins. The winning entry must demonstrate technical sophistication, scalability, strong security architecture, and clear impact in expanding access, efficiency, or transparency in financial ecosystems. Enter Here
18. Banking as a Service – Platform of the Year
This award recognises excellence in the development and deployment of a comprehensive Banking as a Service (BaaS) platform. The winning entry will showcase a cutting-edge platform that enables seamless integration of banking services into non-banking applications and ecosystems. The platform should demonstrate exceptional scalability, security, and compliance with regulatory frameworks while empowering businesses to embed banking capabilities seamlessly into their offerings. Enter Here
19. Most Disruptive Financial Sector Technology
This award will go to a company that has developed the most disruptive financial sector technology during the past 12 months. Nominations can be from any company operating in the financial sector. The winning entry will demonstrate the key industry issues the technology is looking to disrupt, with case studies to highlight its success. Enter Here
20. Financial Sector Innovation of the Year
This award will recognise a financial services organisation or technology provider which has created an innovative and successful new line of business, promotion, product, customer service or branch/mobile/online feature that has really set them apart from the competition. The winning entry will provide evidence that this innovation has created revenue and is sustainable. Enter Here
Digital Transformation & Core Infrastructure
21. Digital Transformation Project of the Year – Enterprise (NEW)
This category recognises large-scale digital transformation projects undertaken by financial institutions or major technology providers (defined as companies with annual revenue or £500 million or more, or over 1,000 employees). Projects should involve significant re-architecting of legacy infrastructure, major cloud migrations, or enterprise-wide system integrations. Entries must show clear alignment with strategic business goals, along with performance, cost and operational outcomes.
Enter Here
22. Digital Transformation Project of the Year – SME or Mid-Market (NEW)
This category recognises successful transformation initiatives led by mid-sized financial firms or FinTechs (defined as companies with annual revenues of between £10-500 million, and between 50-1,000 employees). Eligible entries include projects such as front-office digitisation, modular architecture adoption, or cloud-native product development. The winning entry should demonstrate agility, rapid execution, and measurable commercial outcomes. Enter Here
23. Cloud Innovation of the Year
This award recognises a financial services organisation that is using cloud technologies in a transformative, forward-looking manner to deliver measurable business or customer impact. The winning entry will highlight innovative use of cloud-native architectures, multi-cloud strategies, or advanced capabilities such as AI integration or real-time data processing. Judges will look for evidence of tangible benefits – such as enhanced agility, operational resilience, or customer experience – as well as leadership in cloud governance, scalability, and secure delivery. Enter Here
24. Best Use of Embedded Finance and Open Banking
This award recognises a financial services firm that has successfully embraced Open Banking initiatives or integrated embedded finance capabilities to deliver innovative products, services, or customer experiences. The winning entry should demonstrate how Open Banking – through API-driven data sharing, account aggregation, or payment initiation – or embedded finance solutions – through the integration of financial services within broader digital journeys – have enhanced customer value, improved accessibility, or enabled new business models. Judges will look for clear evidence of innovation, impact, and strategic use of these technologies to create seamless, secure, and contextual financial experiences.
Entries that demonstrate the embedding of financial services within non-financial platforms – such as e-commerce, mobility, travel, or logistics – via orchestration layers, APIs, or Banking-as-a-Service models will also be considered for this category. Enter Here
Security, Compliance & Resilience
25. Anti-fraud Solution of the Year
This award will recognise the best internal or external anti-fraud strategy implemented by a financial services company, or the best anti-fraud solution offered by a technology provider. The solution will protect customers from fraud including but not limited to APP scams, phishing, ID theft, or defend financial institutions against attacks such as chargebacks, money laundering, insider fraud, or TOAD. The winning entry will demonstrate how anti-fraud technology has helped protect the end user and comply with financial regulations, with the application of technology to create business benefits being of equal importance to the degree of protection and innovation present in the IT solution. Enter Here
26. Cyber Security Solution of the Year
This award will recognise the best internal or external cyber security strategy implemented by a financial services company, or the best cyber security solution offered by a technology provider. The system must be constantly evolving to deal with the online threat landscape, employing cutting edge technology to keep up with hackers. The winning entry will demonstrate how its approach has specifically helped the end user stay safe, or the company protect its data and comply with financial regulations, with the application of technology to create business benefits being of equal importance to the degree of protection and innovation present in the IT solution. Enter Here
27. Risk Management Solution of the Year
This award recognises success in the development, implementation and running of risk management solutions in the financial sector. The winning entry will demonstrate how the software solution has been developed, with evidence of ongoing performance, continued support and genuine business or customer benefit.
Enter Here
28. Operational Resilience Award
This award recognises a financial institution that has excelled in maintaining operational continuity in the face of internal or external disruption. Examples of eligible projects include crisis simulation frameworks, automated incident response systems, supply chain resilience initiatives, or third-party risk mitigation strategies or the successful rollout of an operational resilience regulatory strategy in response to new or evolving requirements. Entries should show how the organisation identifies critical business functions, tests disruption scenarios, and rapidly adapts operations while maintaining regulatory compliance. Enter Here
29. RegTech and Compliance Project of the Year
This award will recognise the most effective compliance project by either a financial services institution or technology provider. The winning entry will demonstrate how the strategic use of technology has enabled compliance with regulations and should show how the compliance strategy adds business benefits and furthers the organisation’s opportunities for future success. Enter Here
ESG, Inclusion & Societal Impact
30. ESG and Sustainability Solution of the Year
This award will recognise a solution which addresses the ESG concerns of the financial sector – such as carbon tracking, sustainable investment, climate risk identification, and e-waste. The winning entry will be the innovation, solution or overall strategy which can evidence real impact in support of a company’s ESG goals, providing data to demonstrate the effectiveness of the solution or strategy and how it is likely to lead to further improvements in making businesses more sustainable in the future. Enter Here
31. ESG Excellence in Banking
This award recognises banks that have demonstrated exceptional commitment and tangible progress in meeting their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals. The winning entry will showcase a comprehensive ESG strategy that has been successfully implemented across the organisation, resulting in measurable positive impacts. Initiatives may include sustainable financing, responsible investing, minimising environmental footprint, promoting diversity and inclusion, robust corporate governance practices, and active engagement with stakeholders. Enter Here
32. Financial Inclusion Award
This category will recognise a company that is using technology to support underbanked individuals and small businesses, providing them with greater financial access, security, or stability. The winning entry will be a project, product or service which helps people and communities who are typically underserved by financial services, with testimony from those who utilise it. Enter Here
Leadership, Teams & Organisational Impact
33. CTO/CIO of the Year Award
This award recognises a senior technology decision maker who has made a significant impact on the industry over the past year and has served as a consistent leader in the organisation’s deployment and support of cutting-edge technologies. The winning entry will have a track-record of outstanding performance and leadership in the industry, setting an example for C-Suite technology leaders and their teams, with clear examples of the individual’s inspiring leadership in financial services technology. Enter Here
34. Best Financial Services IT Team
This award will recognise the best IT team within any financial services firm, be it bank, insurer or investment business. The team will have to have proven their excellence in the delivery and/or support of IT services over the course of the last year and to have demonstrated good collaboration skills and a clear vision of how technology can be applied to ensure business benefits. The team can be nominated from within the financial institution itself or by partners and suppliers.
Enter Here
35. Technology Provider of the Year
This award will reward the tech vendor operating in financial services which has had an outstanding year with financial results, product innovations and customer testimonies being key factors. The winning entry will, with case studies, showcase the company’s past 12 months, its response to market pressures and future plans.
Enter Here
Startup & Collaboration
36. Startup of the Year
This award recognises a FinTech or InsurTech startup that is under three years old at the time of entry and has shown clear market traction. Eligibility includes demonstrable customer adoption, successful funding rounds, product-market fit, and a clearly articulated vision for sector impact. Entrants must also highlight unique technological, commercial, or operational advantages over competitors. Enter Here
37. Financial Institution and Technology Provider Project of the Year (NEW)
This award recognises the most impactful collaboration between an established financial institution and a technology provider. Examples may include co-developed products, open banking integrations, or joint ventures. The entry should highlight how both sides contributed expertise and how the outcome benefited customers or improved market reach. Enter Here
38. Best Technology Provider Collaboration (NEW)
This award celebrates a partnership between two or more technology providers to deliver a joint solution to the financial sector. This could include API integrations, platform interoperability, or joint innovation labs. The entry should outline the technical and commercial outcomes of the collaboration. Enter Here
