Seeking a way to boost Spain's fintech sector,
The Barcelona Engagement Program calls for Plug and Play to work with fintechs through programs that CaixaBank promotes, including work at the bank's Payment Innovation Hub. The partners say it is the first fintech program in the country in which Plug and Play shares its innovation platform.
"The aim of the project is to strengthen innovation in key areas for the financial sector today, such as enhancing user experience or driving new business models," Juan Antonio Alcaraz, chief business officer at CaixaBank, said in a Monday press release.
CaixaBank wants to strengthen its technology business model of co-creation with third parties through the Plug and Play agreement, with a focus on successful startups offering "disruptive proposals, both in mobile sphere and in payment services," Alcaraz added.
A committee of specialists in the Barcelona Engagement Program will identify and select innovative businesses in early phases of fintech projects. Those companies would be supported by experts to develop proof of concept and work with Plug and Play, CaixaBank Payments and Consumer division, as well as Caixa's mobile banking network of imaginBank, to create products.
As part of the agreement, the partners would collaborate to locate innovative payments projects being set up in other parts of the world as a way to explore potential alliances. Since its creation in 2009, Plug and Play says it has established an innovation platform in which 400 corporations and 25,000 startups collaborate to design future products in 17 different sectors, including fintech, mobility and retail.
The alliance with Plug and Play brings that platform to CaixaBank's innovation model to help detect and further develop trends in Spain through initiatives at the Payment Innovation Hub, and the multi-sector alliance of businesses that include CaixaBank, Global Payments, Samsung, Visa, Arval and Caixa's zone2boost program that identifies retail technology advancements.
