There is a lot of talk about the opportunity of blockchain to change the financial services sector but with the exception of the biggest banks in the US and globally, who are actively exploring the space and trialing use-cases, the vast majority of banks (there are over 6000 banks in the US alone) still do not yet fully understand what blockchain is (something we now plan to address at many of these conferences) and how it can be implemented for use in the financial services sector. Most banks are only now embracing APIs and Open Banking and many admitted services like blockchain and AI are on their radar, it is still a little way off and for many, dependent on how the big banks embrace it.
For the large banks, their thoughts on blockchain and cryptocurrency ranged from being against it the CTO of Bank of America said is much in her keynote; to carefully trialing in the European market Credit Suisse presented their recent lending transaction success and look forward to doing more; to fully embracing all aspects of fintech and blockchain JP Morgans MD of Technology, Alex Carson gave a surprisingly fintech positive presentation for such a large institution and are eager to trial a lot more fintech solutions.