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A man types on a computer keyboard.
The South African Reserve Bank and the Bank for International Settlements has launched the TechSprint initiative under South Africa’s G20 Presidency and the BIS Innovation Hub.
The initiative, which is in its sixth year, focuses on finding technological solutions that are scalable, while enhancing trust and integrity in the financial system.
Speakers at the G20 TechSpring conference in Sandton, Johannesburg, have emphasised the importance of innovative tech solutions that promote digital economic inclusion and cross border trade.
This year’s G20 TechSprint competition invites developers, fintechs and innovators to submit solutions that catalyse trust and integrity in scalable and open finance.
The event has been designed to reflect the themes of South Africa’s G20 Presidency — which include digital inclusion, small and medium-sized enterprise growth, and cross-border trade.
Reserve Bank Governor, Lesetja Kganyago, delivered an open statement at the conference.
“A secure and verified digital identity for consumers will also decrease the risks of fraud and make the financial system safer and more resilient. A secure consumer data exchange solution that facilitates seamless cross border sharing of credit information will unlock small and medium enterprises access to finance,” says Kganyago.
General Manager at the Bank for International Settlements, Augustin Carsten, says the bank remains committed to collaborating with innovators and central bank to find financial technologies that expand access and inclusion.
“We’re inviting digital identity solutions to enable verifiable prior serving data exchanges, support regulatory compliance and facilitate secure identification of trusted participants. It is also important to empower participants to adopt solutions unilaterally without compromising security or operational integrity. The second problem statement calls solutions in credit data portability,” says Carsten.
Innovators and fintech specialists participating at the 2025 G20 TechSprint competition stand a chance to win a grand prize of 30 000 US dollars for the most innovative solution that meets all the banks’ requirements by November.
