At the SWIFT Business Forum London, Harriett Baldwin, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, City Minister presented the Warwick Business School team with a 15,000 GBP prize and a trip to Sibos, SWIFT’s annual financial services event held in Geneva this September.

Tasked with identifying a solution to address the challenge of remittances via banks in the UK, the ‘HADU’ Warwick Business School team presented a solution that focuses on using near sound data technology to deliver mobile money and a network of branded high-security buses to deliver physical cash in Indonesia.

“We are very proud of the students,” said Dr. Markos Zachariadis, Assistant Professor of Information Systems Management & Innovation, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick. “This is a great win for the University that reflects the quality of the research and teaching at Warwick. The SWIFT Institute Challenge has provided a great opportunity for students to work on real issues from the financial industry. Congratulations to all the finalists and to the winning team.”

Commenting on the Challenge, Harriett Baldwin said: “Innovation in payments solves real-world problems and has the ability to change how we, as consumers, interact with our money. That’s why it’s so exciting to see the projects from today’s SWIFT competition teams looking at how we can make remittances easier, cheaper and more efficient for people in the UK and around the world.”

Baldwin added: “Financial technology plays a vital role in stimulating greater competition, improving access and helping to drive transaction costs down. That’s just one of the many reasons the Government is doing all it can to support the UK’s dynamic FinTech sector.”

The SWIFT Institute Challenge is a new competition for students to consider solutions to real-world challenges facing the financial services industry. The 2016 Challenge was open to any UK-based recognised university, or centre of learning, with an interest in banking and asked students for a solution that would enable someone to send money from their UK bank account to an individual in a country where there is little or no banking infrastructure.

Peter Ware, Director, SWIFT Institute said “This is the first year for the Challenge, and we have been very impressed by the quality of the submissions and presentations from the UK Universities involved. An interest in banking is important but equally, so is an enthusiasm for devising new and cutting-edge ideas that could really make a difference. They all understand important world issues and are able to think outside the barriers that can exist in a corporate mind set."