Connecting Experiences in Austin

Citi FinTech participated in the interactive portion of the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in Austin, Texas for the first time this year, descending on this marquee technology conference to drive awareness of Citi's Open Banking strategy and socialize our platform, the Citi Developer Hub, among developers and the tech community.

The FastCompany panel, featuring Linda & Sima Gandhi from Plaid

Citi FinTech's mission is to redefine the DNA of the bank by creating products and platforms that enable new experiences, access and opportunities for consumers, institutions and communities. A key part of this strategy is open banking, which focuses on delivering innovative experiences in partnership with other companies and third-party developers. In keeping with this approach, we provide a full suite of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) globally, opening the door to new collaborations, better digital offerings and more differentiated customer experiences.

The annual conference and other events in Austin were a great fit for taking our message of open banking and connectivity to a larger audience. Citi FinTech participated in The Startup Village programming track, which covers topics ranging from business strategy, entrepreneurs, the future of money, and startups.

The Open Banking team preparing for demos

We kicked off the weekend with a co-networking event with Salesforce, hosting hundreds of guests interested in networking and hearing more about open banking.

Over the next two days, we showcased our APIs and met with potential partners at the Fast Company Grill, an interactive experience area set up for networking, live demos and presentations. We also hosted a FinTech panel entitled: "How Innovation in Tech is Enabling Surprise Collaborations", moderated by Fast Company and featuring myself and Sima Gandhi from Plaid, a leading data aggregator.

The trip culminated in a dual session with Yolande Piazza, Head of Citi FinTech, and Peter Schwartz, a senior exec and futurist from Salesforce. "The Future of Banking is Already Here: Fintegration" featured discussions of what it takes to create an innovation platform and transformcore banking systems. "APIs will continue to power growth for some of the world's leading startups, and banks have an important role in this ecosystem," said Yolande during the session.

Yolanda Piazza, CEO of Citi FinTech w/ Peter Schwartz of Salesforce discussing Fintegration in a dual session at SXSW

The focus on emerging technology in Austin provided Citi FinTech team with numerous opportunities to more deeply connect with the developer community and create momentum for open banking and Citi's API initiatives. Over the course of three days, we engaged with over 2,000 attendees, and held in-depth meetings with hundreds of developers and potential partners. By forging closer connections with this influential community, we're optimistic about the prospect of entering into future collaborations and the broader opportunity to introduce next-gen financial services, products and features to our clients and customers around the world.

To learn more about Citi Open Banking and the Citi Developer Hub, please visit https://developer.citi.com/.