AFE25: Where Fintech Innovation Meets

In early October, The Amsterdam Fintech Event 2025 (#AFE25) brought together professionals, entrepreneurs, investors, and fintech enthusiasts from around the world for three dynamic days of engagement. Unlike traditional conferences, AFE25 focused on creating an informal and interactive atmosphere, encouraging participants to engage in meaningful conversations and explore innovative ideas shaping the future of financial technology. 

Jointly organized by the Holland Fintech Association and Cognito Amsterdam, AFE has become an annual flagship event offering the sector deep insights into the world of fintech. Leading the organizational efforts from Cognito Amsterdam was Bryan Verhage, Content Director/ Event Lead, who emphasized that "AFE is the place where innovation, insights, and connections come together. We are proud to offer the fintech community a platform to learn, grow, and collectively shape the future of financial technology." 

Check the photo gallery here: https://hollandfintechassociation.org/gallery/

Day One: Bridging banks and FinTechs

The event kicked off with inspiring startup pitches at the “Mastercard for Fintechs” competition, followed by a compelling panel discussion on "Bridging Strategies - Banks Powering Fintech Journeys" featuring representatives from ING Nederland, Rabobank, and ABN AMRO Bank. The session highlighted how collaboration between traditional banks and fintechs has become the norm, with panelists emphasizing that bank partnerships provide crucial reference cases that accelerate fintech growth. A standout moment came when Cense AG won the Dutch semi-finals of the Mastercard for Fintechs competition. 

Embedded Finance 

Next, Paul Koetsier, Director Fintech & Payments, KPMG, explored the rise of Embedded Finance across sectors, the rationale and what it means for financial services providers to deliver in an embedded manner. 

Responsible AI models 

The AI discussions continued with standout presentations from ARTIN, BBD, and Deloitte, bringing much-needed focus to responsible, ethical, and future-proof AI adoption in financial services. These sessions explored the journey from automation to true autonomy in fintech applications.

ARTIN showed how responsible AI models — proven in life-or-death industries like autonomous vehicles and medical diagnostics — can fundamentally change the way we approach AI adoption.

AI at Scale: From Hype to Hands-On

AI has quickly become everyone’s favorite boardroom topic for 2025—but how do organisations move from pilots and prototypes to real impact at scale? BBD and Deloitte explored the practical realities of scaling AI across complex organisations – AI at Scale: From Hype to Hands-On.

Navigating card scheme fees 

FinFlag, a proud member of FinTech Belgium represented by Luc Gillain, delivered a practical session on navigating card scheme fees—a perennial challenge for fintech companies and financial institutions alike.

Egyptian FinTech Landscape 2025

In the RVO & Embassy of Egypt session, key findings from the new report "Egyptian FinTech Landscape 2025", were unveiled, outlining market opportunities and expansion strategies tailored for Dutch FinTechs. From digital payments to alternative lending, Egypt’s FinTech sector is booming—with over 177 startups, a youthful, tech-savvy population, and rising financial inclusion. 

Day two: AI, Payments Innovation, and Regulatory Evolution

The second day opened with Visa's provocatively titled "What the F*ntech!" session at the WTC Auditorium, which unpacked stablecoins and their role within Europe's evolving regulatory landscape. The session explored how digital currencies are reshaping financial infrastructure and what this means for payments providers across the continent. Artificial Intelligence (AI) emerged as a dominant theme throughout the day.

Wealth tech

Bas Rapati, Chief Analytics Officer at Van Lanschot Kempen, took a practical deep dive into the technologies that earned Van Lanschot Kempen three European Wealth Tech Awards, including innovations in AI, big data analytics, and digitally empowering relationship managers, enabling clients to focus on what matters most. 

The banker’s paradox 

Akkuro's Jamie Burink addressed the banker's paradox: customers demand instant, effortless banking while compliance, risk, and cost considerations pull institutions in the opposite direction. Burink presented real-world AI solutions, including efficiency gains at Swiss bank Kamuno, Kuro (a conversational agent for product ideation, design, and launch), and an agentic model that adapts as regulations, markets, and expectations evolve.

Cybersecurity as a Service 

With Cybersecurity as a Service, OneXillium allows clients instant access to the right tools, knowledge and specialists to help financial organisations stay resilient, audit-ready and ahead of threats. The OneXillium team - Johan Peereboom, Jelmer de Reus, Roberto van den Heuvel and Robbert van Kooten definitely showed how to make DORA compliance effortless with Cybersecurity as a Service.

Wanted: Global Fintech Talent 

Instant payments, open banking, and new AI rules are reshaping fintech at speed. These shifts are driving urgent demand for talent in payments, compliance, and AI governance, with companies racing to build the right teams. Angela Ward from Global Fintech Talent explored where the opportunities are strongest, which skills matter most, and why hiring has never been more critical for the industry’s growth.

Bybit exploring the evolution of Europe’s crypto landscape 

In the plenary closing session, Meyade Curfs, Senior Business Development Manager, Bybit EU, explored the evolution of Europe’s crypto landscape, from early adoption to the current wave of regulation and mainstream interest under MiCAR. Meyade shared how its global experience and expansion into Europe reflects the broader trend of exchanges localizing for compliance and trust. A spotlight was given to the Bybit Card, launched in Europe to let users spend crypto at over 90 million Mastercard merchants with competitive cashback. 

Day three: Regulation, Embedded Finance, and the Customer Journey

The closing day at The Next Web brought together critical discussions around embedded finance and regulation. Conny Dorrestijn Prins moderated sessions that wove these themes into a cohesive narrative about where the industry is heading next. 

Bizcuit’s Hessel Kuik, showed how embedded finance will shape SME finance in 2026 enabling businesses to access smarter, faster, and more integrated solutions right where they need them.

Joeri Nanov, Marketing Director BeNeLux, Payhawk, highlighted real-world use cases of AI that streamline expense management, boost efficiency and empower finance teams to focus on growth.

Another highlight presentation came from EY's Jeroen van de Kroft, alongside Cassandra de Jong and Daphne Sweers, who explored transformative trends shaping EU payments and their impact on future customer journeys. The session delved into how regulatory changes like PSD3 and FiDA are modernizing payment systems, with particular attention to WERO and the potential of open data in streamlining processes such as mortgage applications. Panelists David Knap,Co-founder & CFO, Dyme, and Jeffrey Joosten, Co-founder, EnableNow, shared firsthand experiences and valuable insights on these regulatory developments. 

The final presentation highlighted the shared ambition of ING and the European Payments Initiative (EPI) to develop a sovereign European payment system. Together with 15 other shareholders, ING has invested in EPI to help bring this vision to life. The session, led by Ivo Broeren, Country Relationship Management Lead, EPI, and Anastasiya Panasyuk, Product Lead Online Paying, ING, Tribe Payments, explained how ING and EPI are working together to launch Wero, showcasing the collaboration in action and providing real-life examples from various European markets. 

The event concluded with a festive closing celebration, providing a final opportunity for networking and community building in a relaxed atmosphere.

Building the European Fintech Ecosystem

As the sector continues to evolve rapidly, with AI, digital assets, embedded finance, and new payment rails transforming how financial services are delivered, the Amsterdam Fintech Event has emerged as an essential annual gathering point for anyone involved in the future of financial technology—offering a unique blend of thought leadership, practical insights, and genuine community building that sets it apart in the European fintech calendar.

Amsterdam Fintech Event 2025 was made possible through the generous support of leading industry sponsors Akkuro, ARTIN, Bybit, FinFlag, KPMG, Mastercard, Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland (Netherlands Enterprise Agency/RVO), OneXillium and VISA.