Many regular Lend Academy readers are aware that our sister company, LendIt is hosting its next event in a few weeks. LendIt has been hosting events since 2013 which bring the fintech community together. Today, LendIt, now branded as LendIt Fintech is the leading event in financial services innovation. In April, we will host the largest ever fintech event in San Francisco.

From the very beginning we’ve thought of ourselves as a little bit different in the event business. By hosting events in New York and San Francisco we are closer to the innovative companies that make up the industry. And now, more than ever, we are seeing interest from incumbents in financial services who come to see how they can work with fintechs whether it be through partnerships, or through mergers and acquisitions. It is a fascinating time to be part of financial services and LendIt is in a unique position as the place where companies across the ecosystem connect.

Part of the job for the team who also write on Lend Academy is crafting the agenda. We have some exciting new names that we wanted to share for those who plan to attend our upcoming event. As we were thinking about broader topics we targeted the three areas that we feel are most important in fintech today: Lending, Digital Banking and Blockchain.

Lending

Lending has been the bread and butter of LendIt events from inception. As online lending has grown up, so too has LendIt. In the early days there were just a handful of early companies who were thinking very differently about how lending should be done. There is now a healthy ecosystem that has been built around the lending industry. At LendIt Fintech USA 2018 we’ll cover all verticals of lending. Many people are familiar with LendingClub CEO Scott Sanborn who will kick off the event. While we will cover every aspect of lending, here are a few other notable speakers:

• Jay Farner, CEO, Quicken Loans
• Max Levchin, Co-Founder & CEO, Affirm
• Anthony Noto, CEO, SoFi
• Renaud Laplanche, CEO, Upgrade

Digital Banking

Every bank needs to have a digital strategy these days. Consumers have more options than ever and companies need to check all of boxes no matter what size bank they are. We’ll hear a wide range of perspectives from startups to established banks looking to serve a younger customer base. This track will also cover mobile technology, banking infrastructure, data science, partnerships, wealth management and how banks can compete in the ever changing marketplace. Below are just a few names that we’ll hear from on digital banking:

• Yolande Piazza, CEO, Citi FinTech
• Suresh Ramamurthi, Chairman & CTO, CBW Bank
• Luvleen Sidhu President, Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer, BankMobile
• Jeremy K. Balkin, Head of Innovation, HSBC Bank USA
• Nicolas Kopp, U.S. CEO, N26 Inc.

Blockchain for Financial Services

For 2018 we looked at one of the biggest new trends in financial services, blockchain and decided to create an event within our event. We are debuting our new blockchain event Blockfin by LendIt. Blockfin is co-located within the LendIt Fintech event meaning attendees have access to both events. We teamed up and are co-hosting the event with CryptoOracle. BlockFin brings together the top innovators and experts from the entire blockchain ecosystem including technology platforms, crypto companies, investors and banks for 2 1/2 action-packed days of learning, networking and business development. The event will include: 1:1 investor meetings, a demo stage for crypto funds & ICOs and 40+ hours of cutting edge blockchain and cryptocurrency content. Some names we are excited to hear from include:

• Tim Draper Founder & Managing Director DFJ
• Richard Craib, CEO, Numerai
• Tom Ding, Co-founder & CEO, String Labs/Dfinity
• Vincent Wang, Chief Innovation Officer, China Wanxiang Group
• Kathleen Breitman, Co-Founder, Tezos
• Catherine Wood, CEO/CIO, ARK INVEST

This is just a taste of what you can expect out of LendIt Fintech USA 2018. You can learn more by visiting our speakers page or looking at sessions confirmed on our agenda. If you plan to attend the event, be sure to act soon as the price increases by $400 on Friday night. As a Lend Academy reader you can use our special discount code “LENDACADEMYVIP” for an additional 15% off.

We hope to see you in San Francisco in April.