Qorus-Infosys Finacle Banking Innovation Awards 2026
Created in 2013, the Banking Innovation Awards are now recognized as the global benchmark for banking innovation.
About the awards
Banking is being redefined by bold ideas and breakthrough innovations. From reimagining customer experiences and launching new products to harnessing modern technologies, transforming operations, and advancing sustainability, banks around the world are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.
Now in its 13th edition, the Qorus–Infosys Finacle Banking Innovation Awards celebrates the most impactful banking innovations emerging from across the globe. The program shines a spotlight on Next-Gen banking initiatives that push boundaries and set new benchmarks for what banking can achieve. Over the years, the awards have become a much-loved global platform for celebrating banking innovation—bringing together the industry’s brightest ideas, visionary innovators, and transformative initiatives that are shaping the next era of banking.
This year again, we would be pleased to recognize neobanks and fintech players with special awards across different categories. Submit for the next edition!
Our criteria
An innovation committee shortlists the best innovation in each category based on 4 criteria:
Originality: The uniqueness of the idea in the marketplace and its potential as a gamechanger.
Impact: The innovation’s capacity to generate a superior, long-term competitive edge. This includes KPIs such as RoI, NPS, cost reduction, churn rate, employee engagement score, customer lifetime value (CLV), time reduction, carbon footprint, etc.
Universality: The innovation’s potential to be relevant and/or adapted for use in other markets, or even industries.
Form quality: A detailed description of the project in its various phases, its results, and the addition of presentation slides, videos or images to visualize and better understand the project.
Key dates
Categories
Business Model Innovation
This category honors creative new strategies and initiatives that transform the bank’s business model to expand or redefine its role in the evolving ecosystem. This category aims to acknowledge banks that have spearheaded transformative efforts to compete in the realm of "new-age banking". This includes scaling novel models like a digital-first proposition, embracing embedded finance, marketplace banking, super apps, BaaS, API monetization, and alternate revenue models.
Customer Experience Innovation
This category showcases initiatives that leverage modern technologies and AI to reengineer customer experiences across digital and physical channels, including conversational banking, unified digital engagement, and seamless omnichannel journeys. It also recognizes impactful marketing, sales, and distribution innovations that create engaging brand experiences, optimize channels and advertising, and strengthen customer communication. Entries should demonstrate measurable impact on customer satisfaction, loyalty, retention, and advocacy.
Operational Transformation
This category awards banks that have successfully navigated complexities through process re-engineering and operational transformation, laying the foundation for profitable and resilient growth. Initiatives include scalable automation and process transformation that enhances efficiency, risk management, cybersecurity, and governance. The category also recognizes workforce transformation efforts that strengthen employee experience, reskilling, and organizational readiness for the future.
Social, Sustainable & Responsible Banking Innovation
This category honors banks that demonstrate leadership in ESG through responsible operations and innovative customer offerings. It recognizes initiatives that advance financial inclusion, rural banking, climate-linked financing, and measurable community impact. Entries should reflect a strong social purpose, commitment to sustainable growth, and meaningful support for customers and communities in their long-term journey.
Product and Service Innovation
This category showcases innovative products and offerings, developed independently or through collaborative partnerships, that match customers’ evolving digital lifestyles to foster sustainable growth. These include breakthrough concepts that dramatically enhance, transform, or tailor the banks’ offerings to specific market segments across products such as deposits, credit, payments, investments, and advice.
AI-led Value Creation
This category recognizes pioneering AI-driven banking initiatives leveraging predictive, generative, and agentic AI to deliver substantial business value. It honors solutions that enhance operational effectiveness, decision-making, and customer experiences at scale, supported by robust data foundations. Entries must demonstrate measurable ROI and reflect strong responsible AI practices, including governance frameworks that ensure ethical, secure, and sustainable AI deployment.
Modern Tech Innovation of the Year
This category recognizes banks leveraging modern technologies to architect the future of banking. It celebrates impactful use of Blockchain, Open APIs, IoT, Mixed Reality, stablecoins, and digital assets to unlock new possibilities. The award also honors contemporary core transformation initiatives, including composable architectures and “hollowing the core” strategies that modernize infrastructure while enabling agility, scalability, and innovation at speed.
Transformative Innovator of the Year Closed for submission & Jury member choice
The winner is a bank or banking group that has successfully achieved a best-in-class transformation approach to create and deliver tangible value. Their corporate vision also commits it to continuous innovation and a journey of digital transformation to ensure the organization remains relevant, agile, and capable of adapting to the ever-evolving business landscape.
Business Banking Innovation
This category recognizes banks that are driving breakthrough business banking innovation and digitization across channels, cash management, payments, treasury, trade and supply chain finance, and similar areas. It showcases banks driving such digital innovation to deliver tailored, efficient solutions enabling SMEs, mid-sized businesses, and large corporates.
Our judges
Jermaine Frue
Bank of America
VP EMEA AML
Kaushik Chowdhury
GXBank
CEO
Jiri Raska
Partners Banka
CTO & Co-Founder
Kalidas Ghose
UNO Digital Bank
Chairman
Masa Peura
OP Pohjola
SVP Everyday Banking and CEO of OP Retail Customers
Sherry Graziano
Truist
EVP, Head of Digital, Client Experience and Marketing
Arvy Rajasekaran
Ally
CIO - Architecture and Corporate Technology
Quang Nguyen
Cake Digital Bank
CEO
Guillermo Veiga
Standard Chartered
Group Chief Information and Operations Officer
Peter Daniels
First Bank of Nigeria
Chief Technology Officer
Fozia Amanulla
Boost Bank
CEO
Lina Maria Vergara
Bancolombia Group
Technical Leader – Payments and Insurance
Lukasz Opoka
UBS
Head of AI, Analytics and Sales Platform, Managing Director
Spyros Arsenis
National Bank of Greece
Head of Business Innovation Development
Rodolfo Diaz Dominguez
Banco W
Vice President of Innovation and Marketing
Iffat Alrowaithy
SAB
Innovation Centre & Corporate Innovation Unit Head
Pol Navarro
Banco Sabadell
Deputy General Manager, Chief Digital, Sales and Customer Success
Jay-Ann Gilfoy
Meridian Credit Union
CEO
Arne Damvin
DNB
EVP T&S Banking & Payments
Xele Olaizola
Kutxabank
Head of Innovation
Bruno Jivan
Novobanco
Head of Innovation & Research
Nikolas Casagrande
Citizens Bank
Vice President - Innovation, Corporate Strategy
Okay Yildirim
QNB Türkiye
QNB eSolutions CEO & QNB Türkiye Managing Director
Jakub Więcław
Magnetiq Bank
Chairman of the Board
Peter Poon
BMO Bank of Montreal
Head, Digital Service, Technology and AI Transformation
Santiago Jarrin
Diners Club del Ecuador
CEO
Cara Yick
Fubon Bank (Hong Kong)
Chief Information Officer
John Howard Medina
Philippine Bank of Communications (PBCOM)
Chief Operating Officer
Alberto Fernandez Tomé
Banco Santander
Head of Homes, Loans, New Services & Partnerships
João Filipe Falcão
Banco BPI
Executive Director of Customer Experience, Organizational Design and Innovation
Dominic Larivée
Desjardins
Vice-President, Marketing and Market Development Division
Bárbara Marques
Bison Bank
Head of Customer Service and Support
Oleg Balandin
Eldik Bank
Managing Director
Gabriel De La Bourdonnaye
POST Luxembourg
Financial Services Director & Legal Director
Isabella Frey
Erste Group
Managing Director at George Labs
Francis Andre De Los Santos
China Banking Corporation
Chief Technology Officer
Jeroen Vandevelde
Belfius Group
Manager Ecosystems - Beyond Banking Innovation
José Wolff
Banco de Bogotá
Vice President – Product & Digital Strategy
Sanjeev Mulay
Rakbank
Interim Group Chief Technology & Data Officer
Catherine Santamaria
Bank of the Philippine Islands
Chief Customer and Marketing Officer
Mangesh Jadhav
Emirates NBD
Head of Group Core Systems
Robin Silfverhielm
SBAB
Chief Digital and Information Officer
Ravi Pichan
RBL Bank
Chief Information Officer and Head - Digital Banking
Jamie Broadbent
National Bank of Canada
Vice President, Digital
Tuncay Tuncer
Kuwait Finance House Bahrain
Group Head of Digital Transformation Technology & Operations
Núria Rocamora
MyInvestor
CEO
Joaquim Leal
Millennium BCP
Head of Digital Banking & Innovation
Alvin Eng
UOB
Managing Director & Head of Enterprise AI, Innovation Group
Khatija Iffath
Kuwait International Bank
Head of Business & Performance Excellence - Retail Banking
Maha Madain
Synchrony Bank
Chief Markeing Officer
Domokos Takács
OTP Bank
Head of International Retail Directorate
Petar Jovanovic
AikBank
CEO
Jeff Kreisler
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Managing Director, Head of Behavioral Science
Kalyani Nair
Maybank
Group Chief Digital Officer
Jolandé Duvenage
FNB South Africa
Chief Imagineer: Value Ecosystems and CX
Danhong Zhang
Agricultural Bank of China
Deputy Head of Treasury (DIFC Branch)
Laura Furlan
Poste Italiane
CEO Poste Vita Insurance Group
Derek Vernon
BMO Bank of Montreal
Head, North American Treasury & Payment Solutions
Jérémy Lambot
Ageas
Group Technology for Business Manager
Kenneth Farrugia
Bank of Valletta
CEO
Ivan Tomic
NLB Group
Group Head of Strategy & Business Development
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Archana Shetty
QNB
Vice President – IT Projects
Peter Vickery
First Abu Dhabi Bank
EVP, Head of Distribution
Erkut Baloglu
Aktif Bank
COO
Jarkko Mäensivu
Saldo Bank
Bank President and Board Advisor
Johnny Wijaya
BNY
Head of Structure Finance Product, Corporate Trust
Gerard Albà Soler
MoraBanc
Chief Investment Officer
Borys Pastusiak
Bank Pekao
Managing Director, Head of Retail Customer Segments & Products
Diogo Mateus
Emirates NBD
Group Marketing, Customer Intelligence and RBWM Strategy
Tatyana Ivanova
UBB United Bulgarian Bank
Executive Director Digital Channels, Data and Operations
Sahar Waheed
Bank of Maldives
Deputy CEO and Chief Operating Officer
Matt Taylor
SBS Bank
Head of Transformation
Tornike Kuprashvili
Bank of Georgia
Head of SME
Dhiraj Kunwar
Commercial Bank of Dubai
General Manager, Retail & Business Banking
Olga Ceja
Banorte
Executive Director of Artificial Intelligence and Innovation
Rajesh Nair
Axis Bank
Executive Vice President, Group Head, Platforms & Operations- Information Technology
Boutaina Kadry
Attijariwafa Bank
Head of Innovation
Artur Callau
CaixaBank
Head of Innovation
Parag Gupta
Zand
Chief Operating Officer
Mirela Iovu
CEC Bank
Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Member Board of Directors
Stéphane Hannache
BPCE
Innovation Ecosystem Partnerships Manager
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