Innovate Finance launches collaborative fintech innovation platform ‘B-Hive

UK fintech agency Innovate Finance announced the launch of B-Hive, a new collaborative innovation platform for fintech in Belgium, during the delegation of leading voices from the digital finance community of Belgium that was led by the country’s Minister of Finance Johan Van Overtveldt, held in London, CrowdfundInsider reported.

“I am very pleased to announce the launch of B-hive, a collaborative innovation platform where finance meets technology. The new platform is the result of a recommendation made by a high-level expert group on the future of finance in Belgium, which I put in place in 2015, and led by Johan Thijs, CEO of KBC Bank and Insurance Group,” Johan Van Overtveldt, Minister of Finance for Belgium stated.

The fintech platform B-Hive enables users to meet and explore the opportunities offered by digital transformation; jointly promote their digital platform know-how; provide the key elements of infrastructure, funding, and education; collaborate with broader initiatives supporting the start-up community; among others.

B-Hive is the descendant of fintech platform Eggsplore, led by CEO Wim De Waele, in which banking giants, insurers, and market infrastructure players have been working on common innovation challenges and building bridges to the fintech startup and scale-up community. The B-Hive fintech platform will further build on Eggsplore with support from the Belgian government, with the help of federal investment fund.

The cooperation agreement between Innovate Finance and B-Hive has also signed to strengthen and establish closer ties between the two fintech hubs. It also brings together key influencers to engage on issues such as regulation, investment, and cyber security, thus helping advance the sector.

“Today we are welcoming the Belgium hub B-Hive to build a new FinTech bridge with the UK. Many continental FinTechs continue to see London as an attractive destination and we are keen to support future collaborations for our members on the continent with B-Hive. Belgium is at the heart of the European investment management scene and has a number of global infrastructure partners such as SWIFT, Euroclear, BNYMellon and Mastercard,” Lawrence Wintermeyer, CEO of Innovate Finance, said, as reported by CrowdfundInsider.

In July 2016, the U.K. established a ‘Fintech Bridge’ along with the Republic of Korea that was aimed to support international expansion of the UK and Korean fintech companies.