The 11th Annual FinTech & Banking Awards 2026 will be held in Sydney on TUESDAY 17th November, at the Macquarie University City Campus on Pitt Street in Sydney’s CBD.

1. BEST INNOVATION with OPEN BANKING & Consumer Data Right (CDR)

This award category recognises innovation in the use of, and application for the creation of new services using Open Banking & CDR. The services can be either for B2B or B2C.

Sponsored by:

2. BEST INNOVATION in LENDING

This award recognises a consumer lending, residential home loans, commercial property, business lending and private credit which offers a new or significantly improved service that implements technology to bring benefits to either lenders and/or borrowers, or marketplaces. Examples could include an innovative use of credit modelling, data elements and/or an improved user experience, or volume growth.

Sponsored by:

3. BEST INNOVATION in INVESTMENT Platforms/App (Retail B2C)

bonds, digital currencies and more. The Judges are looking for innovation with tools, user experience, fees, customer service (eg live chat), app sign up time, biometric sign in, stock alerts and growth metrics. User ratings on the Apple and Google Play Stores are also considered.

4. BEST INNOVATION in INVESTMENT Platforms/App (B2B)

The award recognises Australian’s thirst for trading shares, ETFs, FX, funds, private credit, bonds, digital currencies and more. The Judges are looking for innovation for B2B, wholesale or Institutional level services.

5. BEST USE OF Ai in BANKING: INSTITUTIONAL

The Judges are looking for the best use of Artificial Intelligence (Ai) in a fintech and banking organisation for wholesale or institutional banking services; Ai can offer machine-learning human-like services at scale, and can include accurate and faster decision making, intelligent customer support, fraud detections, financial advice, and claims management, and more.

6. BEST USE OF Ai in BANKING: RETAIL

The Judges are looking for the best use of Artificial Intelligence (Ai) in a fintech and banking organisation for a retail or consumer service; Ai can offer machine-learning human-like services at scale, and can include accurate and faster decision making, intelligent customer support, fraud detections, financial advice, and claims management, and more.

7. BEST INNOVATION IN PAYMENTS

This award category recognises innovation in payments, including online payments (merchants and consumers), mobile payments, in-store terminals, embedded payment services, best use of Ai or Agentic commerce.

8. BEST FINTECH or Ai and BANK PARTNERSHIP

The Judges are looking for partnerships, specific projects, or products, that showcase how a bank (listed banks, ADIs, Customer Owned Banks) and a fintech or Ai firm are working together to deliver a product. Banks can include Privet Credit non-Banks involved in financial services and regulated by ASIC (or APRA).

9. YOUNG LEADER OF THE YEAR (Under 35)

The Judges are looking for an outstanding individual under 35 years of age who has consistently contributed to the advancement of the fintech and banking sectors.

Sponsored by:

10. LEADER OF THE YEAR

The Judges are looking for an outstanding individual who has consistently contributed to the advancement of the fintech and banking sectors.

11. STARTUP/SCALEUP of the Year (less than 3 years old, < $50m ARR)

The Judges are seeking a FinTech &/or neo-Bank start-up that has made a huge impression in the financial services sector with new and innovative services, creating competition and transforming the way we experience financial services.

12. BEST GROWTH STORY

This Award celebrates a fintech or neo-Bank that’s going gangbusters! This category is open to any Australian fintech/ADI that can demonstrate they are achieving great things in Australia and/or around the world (metrics could include new market growth, client growth, revenue, downloads etc).

1. Entrance is FREE.
2. Opening Date: Submissions open: OPEN NOW
3. You can enter a maximum of THREE (3) product Award categories for your company/organisation (eg Ai in Banking/FinTech, Best App etc) – and THREE (3) individual Award categories (eg Leader of the Year); so SIX (6) submissions in total per organisation (3 product category submissions, and 3 individual category submissions for Founders/Employees).
4. You can only enter one submission per Category. You cannot enter multiple submissions in the same category.
5. For each Award Category the Judges will select THREE finalists. Finalists will be invited to the FinTech & Banking Awards night, and the Winner will be announced on the night. Finalists will not need to buy a ticket to attend.
6. The project, product, research paper, campaign, or activity you are entering must have been created, developed or released by an Australian company in the past 5 years; we realise businesses take time to develop, launch and scale products.
7. The Judges decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
8. The FinTech & Banking Awards are open to Australian companies and Australian Entrepreneurs. Australian companies are defined as a Pty Ltd company with a minimum 51% ownership by Australian based entities, or ASX listed Ltd company. Australian registered companies that are foreign-owned companies are not eligible to apply in their name, but are permitted to apply as part of a Joint Venture (see clause 9). Nominations for Individual Awards (eg Leader of the Year) must be for Australian citizens and/or Australian Permanent Residents based in Australia.
9. The FinTech & Banking Awards are open to 50/50 Joint Ventures; JVs are permitted to enter the awards where one of the co-owners (with a min 50% ownership) is an Australian financial institution.
10. Please read the attached PDF for tips of writing Award submissions here
11. No attachments, links to videos/documents/websites or additional documents are permitted for any submission.
12. FamFi reserves the right to alter the number of Award categories and the names of the Award categories prior to the event; we undertake our best endeavors to communicate any changes via email to all parties submitting for an award. Every year we review all the award categories and may change categories and/or create new categories – this is in response to technological change, industry feedback and demand from fintechs/banks for specific categories.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE PART OF THIS EVENT
AND SPONSOR AN AWARD, PLEASE CONTACT :

Glen Frost, Founder, The FinTech & Banking Awards
Email: glen@famfi.com.au