Digital Bank Ng Technologies

BELGIAN DIGITAL BANK NG TECHNOLOGIES Editor: Fabienne L’Hoost Authors: Wouter Decoster & Nicolas Preillon Graphic design and layout: OskarD COPYRIGHT © Reproduction of the text is authorised provided the source is acknowledged Date of publication: August 2016 Printed on FSC-labelled paper This publication is also available to be consulted at the website of the Belgian Foreign Trade Agency: www.abh-ace.be BELGIAN DIGITAL BANK NG TECHNOLOGIES

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 PRESENTATION OF THE SECTOR 5

SECTION 1 FACTS & FIGURES ABOUT BANKING 6

SECTION 2 FACTS & FIGURES ABOUT DIGITAL 10

SECTION 3 BANKING GOES DIGITAL 13

SECTION 4 STAKEHOLDERS 16

CHAPTER 2 SUCCESS STORIES IN BELGIUM 23 category INFRASTRUCTURE INTIX 24 ISABEL GROUP 26 WIN 28 category PAYMENT SWALLOW TECH 30 TWIKEY 32 WORLDLINE 34 category FRONT-END AND BACK-END SOLUTIONS KOALABOOX 36 SOPRA BANKING SOFTWARE 38 THE GLUE 40 category CYBERSECURITY NVISO 42 O.D.S.C. 44 VASCO DATA SECURITY 46 category BIG DATA COLLIBRA 48 NGDATA 50 SIRIUS INSIGHT 52

CHAPTER 3 DIRECTORY OF COMPANIES 55

3 PRESENTATION OF THE SECTOR PRESENTATION OF THE SECTOR PRESENTATION OF THE SECTOR

SECTION 1 The indicators below, which are taken from the Febelfin website, provide an overview of the Belgian financial industry (www.febelfin.be). FACTS & FIGURES ABOUT BANKING SHARE OF THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY IN THE OVERALL ECONOMY

At the end of 2014 the financial industry accounted for 5.5% of the gross added value of the Belgian economy and 2.7% of all jobs in the country.

FIGURE 1: IMPORTANCE OF THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY IN THE BELGIAN ECONOMY (END OF 2014)

6.0% JOBS 3.4% 2.7% IN MARKET SERVICES AS A WHOLE 11.8% GROSS ADDED VALUE 8.0% IN THE SERVICE SECTOR AS A WHOLE

5.5% IN THE ECONOMY AS A WHOLE

0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14%

Source: Febelfin calculations on NBB data

BANK

99 banks were registered in Belgium at the end of 2015. 17 Belgium has the second highest international banking po- of them were banks under Belgian law with a majority Bel- pulation in Europe behind Luxembourg. Almost 60% of the gian holding. Of the rest, 20 were banks under Belgian law 82 subsidiaries and branches under foreign control are with a majority foreign holding and 62 were banks under originally from neighbouring countries, France, Luxem- foreign law. bourg and Netherlands.

6 BELGIAN DIGITAL BANK NG TECHNOLOGIES

FIGURE 2: NUMBER OF BANKS REGISTERED IN BELGIUM (END OF 2015)

BANKS UNDER FOREIGN LAW

BANKS UNDER BELGIAN LAW WITH A MAJORITY FOREIGN HOLDING 20 99 BANKS UNDER BELGIAN LAW WITH A MAJORITY BELGIAN HOLDING 62

Source: Febelfin

FIGURE 3: DISTRIBUTION OF 82 FOREIGN BANKS IN BELGIUM ACCORDING TO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN (END OF 2015)

OTHER COUNTRIES 11 JAPAN 3 SPAIN 3 GERMANY 3 INDIA 4 UNITED STATES 4 UNITED KINGDOM 7 NETHERLANDS 12 LUXEMBOURG 13 FRANCE 22

08412216 0 24

Source: Febelfin

FIGURE 4: INTERNATIONALISATION OF THE BANKING POPULATION (%, END OF 2014)

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0 84.5% ITALY SPAIN GREECE FRANCE SWEDEN IRELAND AUSTRIA FINLAND BELGIUM GERMANY PORTUGAL DENEMARK LUXEMBOURG NETHERLANDS UNITED KINGDOM

Source: Febelfin

7 PRESENTATION OF THE SECTOR

Belgian banks have 87 offices abroad, ranging from branches, banking and financial subsidiaries, representative offices and qualifying holdings in banks and banking institutions. 70% of them are based in the EU.

FIGURE 5: GEOGRAPHICAL SPREAD OF THE 87 FOREIGN OFFICES OF BELGIAN BANKS (END OF 2014)

2 1

3 7 EUROPEAN UNION

ASIA

13 NORTH AMERICA

87 OTHER EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

SOUTH AMERICA 61 AFRICA

Source: Febelfin

ATM

In Europe, only Portugal has a denser ATM network than Belgium, which has 1,304 ATMs per million inhabitants.

FIGURE 6: NUMBER OF ATMS PER MILLION INHABITANTS (END OF 2014)

AUSTRIA 1,021 GERMANY 1,037 EURO AREA 1,074 UNITED KINGDOM 1,074 SPAIN 1,086 BELGIUM 1,304 PORTUGAL 1,516

0 200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600

Source: Febelfin (Belgium) and ECB (other countries)

8 BELGIAN DIGITAL BANK NG TECHNOLOGIES

BANK BRANCHES

The number of bank branches in Belgium has halved over the past 15 years. There were 6,552 branches at the end of 2015, compared with 12,571 branches in 2000.

FIGURE 7: NUMBER OF BANK BRANCHES

14,000 12,000 10,000 8,000 6,000 4,000 2,000

0 12,571 6,552 2011 2015 2012 2014 2013 2001 2010 2007 2005 2002 2004 2003 2006 2009 2008 2000 PROVISIONAL

Source: Febelfin (Belgium) and ECB (other countries)

REGISTERED ONLINE BANKING AND MOBILE BANKING USERS

The number of registered online banking users has increased Mobile banking has increased exponentially over the past by a factor of 3.7 in ten years. There were 11.1 million regis- few years. There were 3.2 million registered mobile banking tered users in 2015, compared with 3.0 million in 2005. users in 2015.

FIGURE 8: NUMBER OF REGISTERED ONLINE BANKING AND MOBILE BANKING SUBSCRIPTIONS (IN MILLIONS)

12 10 8 6 4 INTERNET 2 MOBILE 0 2011 2015 2012 2014 2013 2010 2007 2005 2004 2003 2006 2009 2008

Source: Febelfin

To conclude, banks and clients increasingly have a digital relationship.

9 PRESENTATION OF THE SECTOR

SECTION 2 DIGITAL BELGIUM

According to a study carried out by consulting firm Roland FACTS & FIGURES Berger, the digital sector accounted for 3.2% of Belgian GDP in 2013. It generates added value of EUR 12.7 billion, em- ABOUT DIGITAL ploys more than 92,000 people and comprises around 17,000 businesses.

FIGURE 9: KEY FIGURES OF THE DIGITAL SECTOR IN BELGIUM (2013)

2.6% OF GDP FLANDERS

FLANDERS 47% 5,989

BRUSSELS 51% 47,153

63% 10,686

7.6% OF GDP BRUSSELS

43% 5,418

36% 33,530 WALLONIA 17% 2,893

3.2% OF GDP BELGIUM 1.4% OF GDP WALLONIA

12,707 10% 1,300

92,228 13% 11,615

17,087 21% 3,509

ADDED VALUE EUR MILLION JOBS FTE COMPANIES # X% SHARE OF THE NATIONAL TOTAL

Source: Roland Berger (2015)

In April 2015, Alexander de Croo, Belgium’s minister of the digital agenda, telecommunications and mail, presented the Digital Belgium action plan, which is available at www.digitalbelgium.be.

10 BELGIAN DIGITAL BANK NG TECHNOLOGIES

Digital Belgium defines Belgium’s long-term digital vision With a highly targeted strategy and sustained efforts, Belgium and sets clear targets to improve the country’s position in is expected to be able to achieve three goals by 2020: this field. • A place in the digital top 3 in the DESI classification (see below) Digital Belgium is based on five cornerstones: • Formation of 1,000 new start-ups • Digital economy • Creation of 50,000 new jobs in a range of industries. • Digital infrastructure • Digital skills and jobs • Confidence in digital and digital security • Digital public authorities

Digital technologies change our economy and our society at a steady pace. The digital revolution generates many opportunities and will be one of the main drivers of growth, job creation and wellbeing over the next few years.

Alexander de Croo (Source: www.digitalbelgium.be)

DIGITAL AGENDA FOR EUROPE (DAE) & DIGITAL ECONOMY AND SOCIETY INDEX (DESI)

Adopted in August 2010, Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE) is Denmark earns the best overall score, followed by the one of the seven flagship initiatives of the Europe 2020 Netherlands and Finland. For the second successive year, strategy implemented by the European Commission. It Belgium was fifth in the 2016 European classification of the identifies ITC, especially internet, as the main driver of in- most advanced countries in terms of the digital economy telligent, sustainable, inclusive growth in Europe. “The Dig- and the digital society. ital Agenda aims to deliver sustainable economic and social benefits from a digital single market, based on fast and Belgium’s best result came in connectivity (second best of ultra fast internet and interoperable applications.” 28 EU Member States). High-speed networks (at least 30 Mb/s) cover 99% of the territory of Belgium. 78% of Belgian The European Commission has developed the Digital Econ- households have a broadband subscription, three in four of omy and Society Index (DESI), a composite index to meas- those are fast broadband. ure the digital performance of 28 Member States. It is based on five criteria: Belgium is eleventh in terms of human capital. The report • Connectivity points to the low share of students studying science, tech- • Human capital nology or maths and laments the dearth of IT experts. • Use of internet • Integration of digital technology Belgian citizens are keen on internet services, searching • Digital public services for information, music, films, online games, video on de-

11 PRESENTATION OF THE SECTOR

mand, social networks, internet telephony and more. Here, Belgium is advancing in public services, climbing from thir- Belgium has climbed from seventh to third in one year. teenth to tenth. 85% of administrative processes linked to a major life event can be completed online and 39% of the Belgian rose one place to fourth with regard to integration international users do so. of digital technology in business. The private sector is second in digital information sharing using business manage- DAE and the Digital Agenda Scoreboard are available at: ment software. E-commerce is growing but is still under- ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/digital-agenda-scoreboard developed: a quarter of Belgian SMEs sell online, 13% to foreign customers.

FIGURE 10: CLASSIFICATION OF THE 28 EU COUNTRIES ACCORDING TO DESI (2016)

0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1

0 0.63 0.52 UE28 ITALY SPAIN MALTA LATVIA GREECE CYPRUS FRANCE POLAND SWEDEN IRELAND ESTONIA AUSTRIA FINLAND BELGIUM CROATIA ROMANIA HUNGARY DENMARK GERMANY SLOVENIA SLOVAKIA BULGARIA PORTUGAL LITHUANIA LUXEMBOURG NETHERLANDS CZECH REPUBLIC UNITED KINGDOM

Source: European Commission

FIGURE 11: BELGIUM’S PERFORMANCE BY DESI CRITERIA (2016)

1 CONNECTIVITY

5 DIGITAL 2 PUBLIC HUMAN SERVICES CAPITAL

0 0.10.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8

EU AVERAGE

AVERAGE OF COUNTRIES LAGGING AHAED

BELGIUM

4 INTEGRATION 3 USE OF DIGITAL OF TECHNOLOGY INTERNET

Source: European Commission

12 BELGIAN DIGITAL BANK NG TECHNOLOGIES

SECTION 3 ensure the same information is available across the various channels (computer, tablet, smartphone, branch), but nev- ertheless they work hard on their digital competitiveness BANKING and spend a considerable amount of money in this field.

GOES DIGITAL A McKinsey study shows that 40% of retail banking business could be wiped out by 2025. Banking networks will have to create a closer relationship with clients. The number of branches in Belgium has halved over the past 15 years. The number of contacts between branches and clients has also fallen. Clients only visit branches for emer- DEVELOPMENT OF gencies, technical problems or a special service. But they THE BANKING SECTOR do still turn to advisors for important decisions, like taking out a mortgage or managing their assets. It has become The banking and financial landscape is changing, as shown clear from the Febelfin study on “Digital banking and priva- by many recent events in the news. cy: a matter of mutual confidence” that the vast majority of bank customers have a dual relationship with their bank: Since the 2008 global financial crisis, increased market on the one hand, they rely on digital applications and on the regulation has put pressure on banks. Belgian banks have other hand they also drop in at a bank office from time to been going through a process of transformation. Banks time. Another conclusion in this study is that citizens have have been made more resilient and stable, and play a vital confidence in the way banks deal with the processing of role for the financing of the economy. Rules have been ad- personal data. justed and made more stringent, and a new supervisory architecture was created on national and European level

The European Central Bank (ECB) pursues an accommo- THE WORLD OF FINTECH dating monetary policy aimed at countering deflationary pressures in the euro area and kick-starting the economy. So which parties are involved in digitising the banking in- On the one hand, it regularly lowers its three key interest dustry? The first names that come to mind are the four US rates (rate on the deposit facility, rate on the main refinanc- giants that dominate the digital industry: Google, Apple, ing operations and rate on the marginal lending facility). As Facebook and Amazon, aka GAFA. Backed by billions of us- a consequence, all market interest rates are at a historic ers and successes in music, press and commerce, they are rock bottom. On the other hand, it has launched a huge fi- now getting involved in banking. nancial asset purchase programme. Since March 2015 it has flooded the financial system with liquidity. The end of Fintech also plays a role in the digital banking revolution. this programme has been put back to March 2017 and the Fintech, an abbreviation of financial technology, has amount of its monthly bond purchases has increased from spawned numerous innovative start-ups harnessing new 60 to 80 billion euros. technology to create new banking services. Their aim is to gain a better understanding of the end users and prioritise Another striking trend is digitisation. After the music indus- the quality of the client experience. try, the press and commerce, digital is now coming to banking. There are said to be more than 10,000 fintech firms worldwide encroaching on the territory of financial institutions in The client profile has changed considerably: clients are in- a wide sense (banks, but also insurers and asset manag- creasingly connected, informed and prepared to shop ers, say). Unlike traditional high-street banks, fintech firms around. They are switching from multichannel to om- specialise in a specific business segment. A good number nichannel behaviour. They access bank services in many of them develop payment technologies. In contrast to large more ways and use them in a complementary manner (see banking institutions, fintech firms are very flexible. For one, how online banking and mobile banking use is changing they are not faced with technological constraints due to above). This trend is expensive for the banks, which must past decisions. However, those fintech companies also

13 PRESENTATION OF THE SECTOR

need a clear answer from the regulator FIGURE 12: SEGMENTATION OF FINTECH BY CUSTOMER TYPE AND ACTIVITY (2015) and supervisor about the legal delimitation of the scope of their activities.

In 2015 fintech firms raised USD 12.5 billion. The previous year global investment NUMBER OF FINTECH AS % OF DATABASE TOTAL was USD 12.2 billion. Growth has slowed down compared to the three-fold increase between 2013 and 2014. 860 fintech firms CUSTOMER shared this USD 12.5 billion in 2015, while TYPES

730 soaked up the USD 12.2 billion in 2014. 10% 14% 25% 13% RETAIL

3% 9% 12% 4% The United States take the lion’s share, COMMERCIAL claiming more than two in every three dol- 2% 1% 6% 2% lars invested and 502 of the 860 investment LARGE CORPORATE transactions. The United Kingdom has the second highest number of fintech firms. AND LENDING ACCOUNT San Francisco (Silicon Valley), London, PAYMENTS PRODUCTS/ CAPABILITIES MANAGEMENT New York and Tel Aviv are the four current AND FINANCING CAPITAL MARKETS FINANCIAL ASSETS fintech hubs.

Belgium has around thirty fintech firms, with the highest concentrations in Brus- Source: McKinsey Panorama FinTech database (2015) sels, Antwerp, Ghent and Leuven.

One of the strengths of Belgium’s fintech ecosystem is the presence of many established entrepreneurs who have bro- FIGURE 13: INVESTMENTS IN FINTECH (IN USD BILLIONS) ken new ground and formed successful firms, especially in payments, which they

have then sold. They have now formed in- US ASIAN PACIFIC

vestment funds and hubs together to sup- EUROPE OTHER port innovative businesses. The aim is to develop an ecosystem for the Belgian Fin- +205% tech community, a place where innovators, 14 investors and partners can meet each oth- 12.2 12 er. Belgium is home to a number of inter- +54% 10 +33% national companies such as Swift, Bank of +42% +6% +8% New York Mellon and Euroclear, which have 8 their headquarters in Brussels, and always 6 have been a pioneer in creating elaborate 4 4.0 2.4 2.6 international payment systems. Any exten- 2 1.2 1.7 1.8

sion of this kind of activities leads to in- 0 creased business opportunities for all parties concerned, including lawyers and 2011 2012 2014 2013 2010 2009 consultants, and to new in-company jobs. 2008 The highly qualified and multilingual Bel- gian workforce must be seen as an asset in comparison with our competitors. Source: CB Insights, McKinsey Panorama (2015)

14 BELGIAN DIGITAL BANK NG TECHNOLOGIES

COMPETITION AND COMPLEMENTARITY

The experts distinguish two big types of fintech firms, which Banks need fintech… differ in terms of their relationship with traditional industry players (banks). For various reasons (such as cost and the weight of regulation) working with fintech firms is a way for banks to out- On the one hand, the game changers want to disrupt and source research and develop their creativity. bypass the banks. They surf on a wave of dissatisfaction born of the crisis and attack the banks by posing as a Fintech firms focus on niches where traditional banks are cheaper, more convenient alternative. not found. This specialisation means they can work faster, more transparently, in a more practical and efficient way. On the other hand, the niche players try to make life easier The bank also basks in the satisfaction of end consumers for the consumers of financial services and play on comple- (be they individuals or businesses) with a high-quality ser- mentarity. They insert themselves between the client and vice provided by the fintech firm. the bank in very specific value-added niches and take the personal data of clients, which they then monetise. This Many of the fintech companies are complements to the complementarity is creating new services that complement current banking business rather than competitors. For the existing banking range to improve the client experience. many of them, their main objective is to team up with banks The typical example is the crowdfunding platform. so as to offer optimal services. Banks will make use of the opportunities created by new technology. In Belgium numerous partnerships have already been established between digital tech firms and traditional banks, a win-win strategy that benefits end consumers most of all. …and fintech needs banks

Fintech firms cannot develop and test their applications without the banks’ distribution networks and client data- bases. These are also key to security and risk management. Fintech firms actually rely on these partners to ensure that industry regulations are complied with and to take advantage of their licence.

This system of working together also entails restrictions for fintech firms. Each bank has its own project or its own incubator, which is difficult to share with competitors. In its growth phase, the start-up will want to address the banking industry as a whole rather than as a single institution.

We need banking, not banks.

Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, 1994

15 PRESENTATION OF THE SECTOR

SECTION 4

STAKEHOLDERS

INTERNATIONAL TRADE PROMOTION BODIES

FPS Foreign Affairs Economic diplomacy is one of the basic missions of the FPS Foreign Affairs, which – operating within the current constitutional framework and taking account of the other stakeholders in the field – strives to promote Belgian economic interests abroad. It does this in a number of ways. For example, the FPS Foreign Affairs supports Belgian businesses in their international activities, with e.g. the economic missions of HRH Princess Astrid as representative of His Majesty the King and, increasingly, visits by the King provide substantial support to Bel- gian economic interests abroad.

We also promote Belgium internationally as a good place to do business. By actively partici- pating in international forums such as the World Economic Forum, arranging bilateral visits and taking multilateral action in international organisations, the FPS Foreign Affairs aims to showcase the Belgian economy.

diplomatie.belgium.be/en

Regional agencies for export and investment Flanders Investment & Trade, AWEX and Brussels Invest & Export each promote their own region: Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels. Their main assignments are threefold, which they are each free to achieve in their own way:

• To support exporters from the region • To inform, prospect for and advise potential foreign investors • To promote the region abroad

Alongside tax incentives, Belgian regions also grant companies significant financial incentives for recruitment, training, R&D, investment, consultancy and environmental protection.

16 BELGIAN DIGITAL BANK NG TECHNOLOGIES

Flanders Investment & Trade FIT provides professional advice to all foreign companies that are looking to start up or expand operations in Flanders. To make things even easier, FIT has a network of over 90 branch offices abroad that are available to provide assistance and advice. Their presence on the ground means that they are best placed to know what foreign investors require. In a more general sense, FIT helps companies wishing to invest in Flanders find the best location, get the right information and make the right contacts. The FIT also offers assistance in applying for grants and other forms of aid, understanding Flemish and national regulations, etc.

www.flanderstrade.com I www.investinflanders.com

AWEX The Wallonia Export - Investment Agency (AWEX) offers general expertise in international economic relations. This expertise ranges from promoting Walloon exports through to seeking foreign investment (helping find suitable sites, explaining support measures and tax rules, and providing information on recruitment and staff training, project funding, etc). AWEX also provides a range of services to all Walloon businesses seeking to operate at international level. However it is also the partner of choice for all buyers, importers and foreign prospects who are looking for a partner in Wallonia and wanting to find products, equipment, technologies or services in the area.

Outside of Belgium, AWEX can rely on an international network of 109 financial and business attachés, covering more than 120 markets and some 20 international organisations. These representatives are the key contacts locally for any business or public body wishing to develop a business or a partnership relationship with Wallonia or simply wanting to find out about the economic potential of such a relationship.

At Walloon level, AWEX’s main partners are in particular the centres of competitiveness and the technological clusters.

www.awex.be I www.investinwallonia.be

Brussels Invest & Export Brussels Invest & Export works to promote foreign trade, assists Brussels companies, and attracts foreign investors to Brussels. It has built a database to help foreign investors with a specific project in mind find business partners in Brussels. Brussels Export has a foreign network of some 88 economic and trade attachés. Some of these are shared with FIT or AWEX. Invest in Brussels specifically offers companies the opportunity to test Brussels as a business location for three months, providing them with free office space, secretarial services, facilities and professional advice from experts on suitable locations, support facilities, sector-related issues and legislation at Brussels and federal level, etc.

www.brusselsinvestexport.be I www.investinbrussels.com

17 PRESENTATION OF THE SECTOR

BANKING AND DIGITAL INDUSTRY BODIES

Agence du Numérique The Agence du Numérique (AdN) is a limited liability company under public law, set up at the initiative of the Walloon Government to contribute to the definition, the implementation and the monitoring of the Walloon public policies on digital information. The AdN is a subsidiary of the Agence pour l’Entreprise & l’Innovation (AEI).

Open, innovative and independent, the AdN is a catalyst for the digital transformation of the region, a center of expertise and trusted advisor of the Walloon Government and Wallonia.

The AdN is responsible for implementing the digital strategy for Wallonia, Digital Wallonia.

www.digitalwallonia.be

Agoria Banking Technology Club Agoria’s Banking Technology club brings together Belgian IT providers of both software and hardware solutions to the financial industry market. The Banking Technology Club increases the visibility of these companies and offers effective support in seizing new business opportunities abroad.

The objective of the Banking Technology Club is to identify and create new business opportunities for its members. These include a wide range of IT solution providers, such as software for e-banking or secure payments and hardware for authentication.

By increasing and improving the image and visibility of these companies, it shows global and national players in the financial industry how the technological expertise and knowhow of its members can contribute to their success. It provides access to small and large financial institutions, and put its members in contact with their key decision-makers at IT level.

www.bankingtechnologyclub.be

Belgian Finance Club The Belgian Finance Club, a non-profit organization, was constituted on the initiative of some persons active in various jobs of finance with a view to reinforcing the feeling of membership of the Belgian financial place.

The Belgian Finance Club has the following objectives: • develop communication and exchanges between its members, • favour, support and broadcast financial research and information, • create a feeling of membership of a local financial place.

www.belfinclub.be/en

18 BELGIAN DIGITAL BANK NG TECHNOLOGIES

Eggsplore Eggsplore is an independent and open organization, founded by seasoned entrepreneurs Jurgen Ingels (ex-Clear2Pay) and Wim De Waele (ex-iMinds). Eggsplore acts as catalyst for the European FinTech ecosystem. Their founding partners include the largest Belgian banks, Telco and financial infrastructure providers, all collaborating with the Fintech community to build the Fintech ecosystem in Europe.

This ecosystem is based on 4 pillars: • The community: Eggsplore brings together all relevant players within the fintech sector, from large financial corporates to small fintech startups to investment funds, from consultancy to technology companies, from universities to regulators,… They all are sharing experiences and information to grow the fintech landscape in Europe. • The coworking space: Eggsplore is hosting a state of the art co-working space in Brus- sels, offering our partners and members a strategic base of operations to serve Europe. • The strategic programs: Eggsplore is more than just a networking organization. They organize programs and work streams around the newest trends in Fintech (Distributed Ledger, Internet of Things, Cybersecurity, API & Platform Economy…). As such the ecosystem is actively co-creating the fintech landscape of the future. These programs deliver research, publications, but also proof of concepts and technology sandbox environ- ments. • The events: Eggsplore is organizing monthly events and meetups centered around specific fintech topics. They also organize a yearly conference where thought leaders in fintech and related industries discuss their vision on the future.

As such, Eggsplore actively supports the fintech community to expand internationally, and offers to be a gateway to Europe for the international fintech companies. Eggsplore connects the dots in Fintech.

eggsplore.eu/en

Febelfin Febelfin vzw/asbl (non-profit association) is the Belgian Financial Sector Federation. It tries to reconcile the interests of its members with those of the policy makers, supervisors, trade associations and pressure groups at the national and European level.

Febelfin vzw/asbl defends the interests of all its members: large banks, small and medium-sized banks, niche players, providers of infrastructure, etc. It speaks on behalf of the financial sector as a whole (except for the insurance companies).

Febelfin’s mission consists of the following: • defining positions held by and on behalf of its members • lobbying at the national and European level and taking part in social negotiations • providing services: providing information, comment and counsel as well as training via Febelfin Academy • communicating with its members and the public at large and taking part in the debate on professional, political, social and educative matters

www.febelfin.be/en

19 PRESENTATION OF THE SECTOR

FinTech Belgium FinTech Belgium, the first and biggest community of Fintechers in Belgium, was created at the beginning of 2015.

Its founding members are FinTech actors and people involved in the FinTech development in Belgium. FinTech Belgium is a community for financial professionals, startup entrepreneurs and investors, who are interested in discovering and discussing disruptive business models and new technology for the financial services industry.

FinTech Belgium aims to welcome as members and/or partners: every company directly or indirectly involved in the financial services industry (banking, insurance, asset management, payment, consulting, big data, technology interfaces, etc…) and that uses or develops operational, technological or commercial innovative models with a view to improve the functioning of the industry or to address its existing or emerging issues.

FinTech Belgium is a place of exchange allowing it to federate its members and represent them outside the community.

Its missions : • To be a platform for dialogue with regulators and other parties. • To actively and tangibly promote the FinTech sector in Belgium and Belgian FinTechs abroad. • To share the experience, knowledge and information within and outside the community.

fintechbelgium.be

Infopole INFOPOLE Cluster TIC is the Walloon business cluster that brings together and unites professionals from Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in order to promote business and innovation through partnership.

Through this mobilization of skills, INFOPOLE Cluster TIC aims to enhance the available regional expertises and to strengthen their positioning at local, regional, national and international levels.

Improve the visibility and attractiveness of the sector, strengthen its dynamic of development, capitalize the expertise from the research and open the doors of international development are all objectives of the INFOPOLE Cluster TIC contributing especially to stem the “ brain drain” out of Wallonia.

clusters.wallonie.be/infopole-en

software.brussels The cluster software.brussels gathers 250 Brussels based companies and aims to facilitate and reinforce drastically the economic development and the competitiveness of the Brus- sels-Capital region. It provides a unique business-oriented platform where members can share knowledge and best practices. It creates opportunities to foster local and international collaborations in which members can simultaneously find specific answers to their business needs and technological challenges.

www.softwareinbrussels.be

20 BELGIAN DIGITAL BANK NG TECHNOLOGIES

Did you know that:

Digipass is a Belgian invention? Digipass is a device that reads a user’s bankcard for online transactions. It’s a fast, secure and PRIVATE SECTOR profitable solution. The device generates a dynamic numerical passcode that can be used a Innovation in digital technology is now driving many banking services, including: single time, ensuring a secure transaction every • Payments time. No program needs to be installed on the • Cash management user’s computer. This also reduces administrative • Crowdfunding costs, as the passcode cannot be forgotten or lost • Peer-to-peer lending • Invoicing (no need to contact a helpdesk). • Asset management • Security and data protection • Reporting • Account management At all levels, the effectiveness of the information system de- • International transfers pends on its ability to process transactions in a secure and • Currency swaps automated way with a minimum of manual actions. One of • ... the watchwords is straight through processing (STP).

Belgian bank services providers offer a fairly wide range of activities. We have split them into five categories: Cybersecurity The digitisation of the banking industry inevitably raises the issue of data access and security. Infrastructure The financial crisis has shown the importance of high- Attacks on e-commerce websites, leaks of manufacturing quality infrastructure for the proper functioning of the and commercial secrets, theft or deletion of client data – financial markets. Belgium’s reputation as a strong location these are some of the threats facing many small and mid- on the global financial scene is due to renowned Belgian sized firms. The banking industry has not been spared. Cy- giants like Euroclear, which settles security transactions, bersecurity remains a big challenge for them. and Swift, for exchanging financial messages. Other firms provide banks with infrastructure that enables them to run their business. Big data Big data refers to the explosion in the volume of data and the new technologies that can make the most of them. Payment Belgium’s financial industry has always blazed a trail in the There has never been so much information available on in- development of innovative payment applications. Many dividual behaviour. Data sets have become so large that it is large institutions in the industry have set up their head of- hard to process them with traditional database or informa- fice or at least a subsidiary in the country. Belgian banks tion management tools. are also involved in the launch of products that orient consumers towards electronic and mobile payment. Today’s big data technologies give banking institutions the possibility to amass much more detailed information on their clients and enable them to offer products and services Front-end and back-end solutions tailored to their situation through the right channel. The in- Banking operations are naturally highly varied. High-per- creased power of big data often raises many ethical and formance software is needed for each step, from the front legal issues. office, where the bank meets the market (investment, position management, trading, arbitrage), to the back office, The banking industry must invest in big data to stop a gap which processes transactions post-market (confirmation, opening up with other players that collect and analyse data, payment, settlement, accounting). like GAFA (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon).

21 SUCCESS STORIES IN BELGIUM SUCCESS STORIES IN BELGIUM SUCCESS STORIES IN BELGIUM

INTERVIEW WITH Marc Braet, CEO

COMPANY

Intix Intix was formed in 2011 when Marc That means the data is shared in these Braet and Wouter Van Santvliet began silo systems, such as payments, Sin- CATEGORY developing software packages to ana- gle Euro Payments Area (SEPA) trans- lyse transactional data generated by actions and securities transactions. Infrastructure any system, in any format and from “We want to enable data intelligibility any channel, without transforming or for our clients,” says Marc Braet, CEO REGION converting it. After three years of R&D, of Intix. “With better insight into their the platform was launched commer- data our clients can offer better prod- Flanders cially at SIBOS in Dubai in close asso- ucts that are more focused on the end ciation with pilot client KBC Bank. consumer and so generate more revenue, but also meet all reporting de- Formation date: 2011 mands in a context of ever stricter ENABLING DATA regulation and compliance.” INTELLIGIBILITY Place: Mechelen ”All data together constitutes a gold- The Mechelen-based firm noted that mine, but getting to the valuable bits is Around 12 employees banks and international companies a complex matter,” says Marc Braet. with large financial departments often The company currently already pro- work in data silos that do not commu- vides four modules of its INTIX Mes- Turnover in 2015: EUR 800,000

Turnover in 2016 (projected): We want to enable data intelligibility EUR 1,6 million for our clients.

Export share: around 70% and rising

nicate much with each other. This sit- sage Suite. Regulatory compliance is Investment: ‘A’ series of uation is often the consequence of increasingly important. “We see that EUR 1 million at the end acquisitions or separate structures clients sometimes find it hard to ex- of 2015 that have been merged at some point. tract precisely the information the

24 BELGIAN DIGITAL BANK NG TECHNOLOGIES

regulator needs from the sometimes hundreds of systems they get their data from and bring it together in a uniform format. Now it can be done in real time across all data sources and formats.”

It also helps companies with their business insight (converting raw data into actionable insights), customer experience (for instance, giving access to all data through a helpdesk, with the guarantee that if data is not found it does not exist), audit & risk (monitoring transactions, such as all transactions from Belgium to France between EUR 10,000 and 20,000 for a certain Come what may, the head counterpart). office will remain in Belgium, where the quality of the workforce is the WORLDWIDE biggest asset. COLLABORATIVE

Rather than a trendy disruptive factor, Intix sees itself as a collaborative says Braet. Plus the financial risks are of the workforce is the biggest asset. company that actually makes the limited when you work with partners. “We are a small player, but we’ve man- banks stronger. It is just that particu- Intix works on the basis of non-exclu- aged to recruit a lot of quality and larly innovative technology is used to sive partner agreements and commis- knowledge. Fintech also has a prom- solve a longstanding problem in the sion systems to begin with. ising future in Belgium, with captivat- banking industry. In our country Intix ing initiatives like Eggsplore and in- has ongoing partnerships with KBC Even so, opening a branch in the Unit- creasing investments in companies Bank and Argenta Spaarbank among ed States alongside the current office like our own.” others. In the beginning, 60% of turno- is under consideration. First and fore- ver was generated in Belgium, but most, because there is a huge market There are ambitious plans in the offing with a targeted export strategy based on the other side of the Atlantic. for Intix itself, too. The company wants on partners and foreign offices, Intix “There are a massive number of big to offer its customers more and more now makes almost 70% of all its reve- banks and one big bank is equal to ten solutions that fit together like Lego nue abroad and both that percentage small ones.” The BelCham initiative is bricks and can be accessed with li- and the absolute revenues from export an ideal springboard for young Bel- cence keys. Combined with the grow- will continue to rise. gian companies, too. With regard to ing international presence, the future know-how, but also workspace. Other promises to be even more challeng- Partners have already been found for Belgian fintech companies, like NG ing. sales in Africa, Asia, Russia and Israel. Data, preceded Intix. “In a country like Russia you virtually have to work with a partner that knows intix.eu the local needs and is close to cus- BELGIAN tomers. And while it’s great doing FOUNDATIONS business in Africa, ‘tomorrow’ doesn’t mean the same thing as it goes here. Come what may, the head office will That can be exhausting over time,” remain in Belgium, where the quality

25 SUCCESS STORIES IN BELGIUM

INTERVIEW WITH Johan De Meyer, CEO

COMPANY

Isabel Group Isabel Group was established in 1995 30,000 businesses, self-employed by the current big four in Belgian people, organisations and govern- CATEGORY banking, KBC, ING, BNP Paribas For- ments conducted transactions through tis and Belfius. “Banks have always the platform amounting to more than Infrastructure worked well together in Belgium,” 2600 billion euros,” says De Meyer. says Johan De Meyer, CEO of Isabel REGION Group. “There is a kind of non-compet- To securely manage this flow of cash, Brussels

Place: Brussels Last year 30,000 businesses, self-employed people, organisations and 120 employees, plus around governments conducted transactions through 80 external consultants the platform amounting to more than

Turnover in 2015: 2600 billion euros. EUR 60 million

Investments: More than 30% of itive space in certain areas where the Isabel Group relies on its second cor- revenues are invested directly banks realise that partnership is pref- nerstone: security & authenticating. In in innovation. erable. Our shareholders continue to practice, that means the Isabel card create an environment in which we and reader, which enable private and Export: Active in Luxembourg have an opportunity to prepare for the public sector parties to securely con- and the United Kingdom. future.” duct transactions and sign documents. To stay ahead of the game in terms of security, Isabel Group uses revolution- Achievements: Fully A 2600-BILLION-EURO ary technology, often based on disrup- recognised ISO 20000 (the PLATFORM tive knowledge from the military world. 20 leading internal processes The software uses top-notch authenti- This future focuses on two corner- cation methods to identify who is sign- are documented and stones, which are interlinked but differ ing, what that person can or cannot do implemented) from each other fundamentally: the and which accounts he or she is au- multi-banking payment platform and thorised for. Their security knowhow is security & authenticating. also expressed in the hosting of the Malware Information Share Platform The multi-banking platform enables (MISP), which NATO also uses. corporates and governments to con- duct transactions between accounts at Isabel Group unequivocally targets different banks without the need for a mid-corps and large enterprises, a whole host of different readers and to- market segment that it virtually domi- kens. All banks that are active in Bel- nates. The biggest companies with in- gium, thirty in total, are connected to ternational accounts work with the the Isabel platform. Half of all Belgian much more expensive SWIFT. At this B2B transactions, as well as govern- moment in time, Isabel Group has no ment salaries, benefits and so on go competitors in its segment in Belgium. through the platform. “Last year Beyond Belgium, Isabel Group tech-

26 BELGIAN DIGITAL BANK NG TECHNOLOGIES

nology is used in the United Kingdom their core business in a secure envi- technologies that skip a generation and Luxemburg. But that could change ronment. and that will come on stream in 2025. in the foreseeable future. “We must respond to digitisation, As a major player in finance, Isabel which is intensifying all the time. By Group also feels the impact of the the end of 2019 no server or letter soft- PROVIDING liberalisation of the banking industry ware code will be the same as it is to- RESPONSES TO and the increasing presence of fintech day. The employees needed for that THE LATEST firms. “Fintech is booming to such a will be directed from Brussels, backed DEVELOPMENTS degree that parties that are not com- with a network of experts and part- petitors at the moment could be com- ners. Furthermore, as we prepare for The world of online payments is petitors tomorrow. We have actually the liberalisation we feel there is changing very fast and some big risks established a fintech marketing part- broad-based support for our project at are looming. The growing number of nership with the Solvay Business the National Bank of Belgium, the gov- cyber attacks, for instance, by hackers School,” says De Meyer. ernment, the public administration working in an increasingly sophisticat- and so on. Our government realises ed way, demands innovations and re- that it has a number of unique assets sponses in cyber security. As a market and wants to help protect them going leader in multi-bank payments, Isabel WORK LIKE IT’S 2025 forward. That’s pleasing to know.” Group invests fully in new security services and products. The company has Isabel Group is future-proof. Through high-level expertise when it comes to working relationships with partners, www.isabel.eu detecting and fighting existing and po- intensive work is being invested in new tential future threats, such as phish- ing, fraud or social engineering. Isabel Group works hard to fully reassure customers with concerns about cyber By the end of 2019 no server or security, so they are able to focus on letter software code will be the same as it is today.

27 SUCCESS STORIES IN BELGIUM

INTERVIEW WITH Philippe Naelten, CEO

COMPANY WIN

CATEGORY We are actively looking for partners to speed up our Infrastructure international growth, but always

REGION based on solutions developed and tried and tested in Belgium. Wallonia

Subsidiary of the Nethys group

Formation date: 1998

Place: Wierde

130 employees

Turnover in 2015: >EUR 40 million

Growth in 2015: >10%

Export share: around 5% The Namur-based company Win was Win’s reputation has been built in the formed in 1998 by the Walloon Region, public sector. Its Publiwin communica- before being taken over by Belgacom tion and connectivity services platform (now Proximus), then Tecteo (now Ne- is dedicated to towns and cities. Win thys) in 2009. Since then, as the has also deployed a city Wi-Fi network group’s B2B ICT centre, Win has regis- in Liège, Mons and Namur under Wal- tered annual double-digit growth. lonia’s Digital Cities plan.

Win was originally set up to provide network connectivity to its clients. It ITS SPECIALISM: MADE- has built a large number of networks TO-MEASURE of different types based on different technologies. It has since extended its Win’s portfolio comprises 1500 clients service portfolio to telephony, mobility of varying size in three categories: the and security, and more. Win now mar- private sector, including many banks, kets a set of cloud-based solutions. It accounting for 60% of turnover, the therefore has a full scope of services, health sector and the public sector. responding to the connectivity and communication needs of profession- Adaptability is one of Win’s strengths. als. With its integration in to Nethys, The company does not market stand- Win has also developed high value ardised packages, preferring person- added services that meet the very spe- alised solutions. “We listen to our cli- cific demands of certain industries. ents, basing ourselves on their needs

28 BELGIAN DIGITAL BANK NG TECHNOLOGIES

is simply to destroy the database, which can have disastrous conse- We listen to our clients, basing quences.” ourselves on their needs to create the most appropriate solutions. INTERNATIONALISA- TION AND VERTICALI- SATION to create the most appropriate solu- be led by the national operators,” he While Win’s centre of gravity is Wallon- tions,” says Philippe Naelten. Win also continues, in passing welcoming the ia, the company also works in Brussels works with its various partners on a creation in 2015 of the Digital Council and Flanders. Its ability to offer per- case-by-case basis rather than sys- on the initiative of Jean-Claude Mar- sonalised solutions that are reasonably tematically. court, the Walloon minister for the priced is attracting interest over the Economy, Industry, Innovation and the border too. Win already exports to the At the same time, Win is now in the Digital Sector, whose role is to struc- Netherlands, France and Luxembourg. process of setting up three cloud plat- ture the thinking on Wallonia’s digital Other countries in Europe and beyond forms with different functions to better strategy. are also being explored. “We are ac- meet the demands of the market. tively looking for partners to speed up Win’s development has followed this our international growth, but always logic of territoriality. The company now based on solutions developed and tried THE IMPORTANCE OF owns and operates its own network, and tested in Belgium,” says Philippe TERRITORIALITY uses a range of technologies and man- Naelten. ages its own cloud resources. Win is Big data and the cloud are two themes also one of the few operator-integra- He ends by stressing the verticalisation currently revolutionising the industry tors with its own data centre, the Wall- trend on the IT and telecoms market. Win works in. The consequences are onie Data Center (WDC) in Vil- Key is now extending Win’s expertise to the data security and continuity issues lers-le-Bouillet. This is used to host all layers of the model to be able to ful- facing private firms and public author- users’ IT systems and activities in opti- fil all the expectations of clients. “We’re ities in Belgium. “While the cloud, mal conditions, not least in terms of moving from the physical to the virtual. which by definition externalises IT ser- confidentiality. As a network company, Win has gradu- vices, offers many qualities such as ally incorporated infrastructure and flexibility, speed of deployment and re- To illustrate, Philippe Naelten men- then cloud into its range of services. sponsiveness, it is essential to retain tions cyber attacks, which are increas- Going forward, we must move towards the territoriality of data,” says Philippe ing all the time. “Intrusion used to be applications, be that in partnerships or Naelten. about taking control of a company’s on our own.” network for the purposes of industrial “Ideally, the whole value chain should espionage. Now, increasingly the aim www.win.be

29 SUCCESS STORIES IN BELGIUM

INTERVIEW WITH Mohammed Guerbaoui, sales director

COMPANY

Swallow Swallow Tech develops and markets MORE THAN A CLIENT, Tech software for the financial industry, A PARTNER particularly banks. There are more than 130 institutions in its client port- The main advantages of Swallow CATEGORY folio, including big names like BNP Tech’s solutions are quality, simplicity Payment Paribas (which holds a worldwide li- and convenience. This multilingual, cence) and ING Bank. multi-branch software can also be used in the various departments of a REGION The Swallow Tech brand is known in bank. more than 50 countries. “We now work Wallonia exclusively on the international mar- Despite tough competition, primarily ket,” says Mohammed Guerbaoui. The from North America, Swallow Tech is group exports its software to Europe, a leader in its field. The group particu- Formation date: 2005 North and East Africa, the Middle larly distinguishes itself through its (group: 1984) East, Asia and Latin America. policy of proximity to its clients.

Its solutions enable the various de- “Swallow Tech’s ties with its software Place: Waterloo partments of the bank, from front to users go beyond a simple client-sup- back office, to improve their productiv- plier relationship. It’s a genuine part- 8 employees (group: 35) ity through automation. It also pro- nership,” says Mohammed Guerbaoui. vides them with assistance in interna- “We want the banks to be satisfied tional standardisation and helps them with the solution we sell them but also Turnover in 2015: EUR 700,000 (group: EUR 2,670,000)

Growth in 2015: 10% Swallow Tech’s ties with its software users go beyond a simple Investments in 2015: client-supplier relationship. It’s a genuine 30% of turnover in R&D partnership. We want the banks to be Export share: 99% satisfied with the solution we sell them but also the service Presence abroad: that goes with it. London (central office), Portugal, Tunisia, Mauritius

comply with increasingly strict legal the service that goes with it.” As such, and regulatory demands. The array of Swallow Tech develops client loyalty by products developed by Swallow Tech visiting them frequently and offering includes dedicated modules for recon- them training. The group is also val- ciliation and management of cash ac- ued for its efficient after-sales service. counts, identifying duplicates, com- “Every issue raised by a user is given bating tax avoidance by US citizens, an ID number and is followed up me- combatting money laundering and ticulously.” managing SWIFT messages.

30 BELGIAN DIGITAL BANK NG TECHNOLOGIES

BELGIUM, THE PIED-À-TERRE FOR EXPORTS The success of a bank will be Based in London, Swallow Tech was set up in 1984 by former employees of determined by its ability to adapt to the SWIFT group, which remains a this three-fold evolution. preferred partner to this day. The choice of Waterloo as home for the Belgian entity Swallow Tech in 2005 was also justified by the geographical prospecting. It has also enabled us to promoting its new intraday liquidity proximity of SWIFT’s head office in La win contracts. Without this service, we management solution. This system of- Hulpe. In the heart of Europe, Belgium would have to devote several FTEs to fers control tools that provide an over- has general advantages in terms of study commercial opportunities.” view of all transfer and liquidity posi- connections and a qualified workforce. tions in real time. It analyses inflows and outflows, and runs stress tests. The country’s other strong points, says TOWARDS BASEL III Mohammed Guerbaoui, are the func- “Clients are increasingly demanding, tional, technical and financial assis- Companies in the banking industry the number of new technologies – tance Swallow Tech benefits from as it have to comply with different regulato- particularly communication tools – grows internationally. The company ry demands and anticipate how they continues to grow and the regulations maintains regular contacts with will change. The Basel III accords are subject to major upheaval,” con- chambers of commerce, AWEX and (BCBS 248 - Monitoring tools for Intr- cludes Mohammed Guerbaoui, touch- the Belgian Foreign Trade Agency. aday Liquidity Management) stipulate: ing on the future of the industry. “The Mohammed Guerbaoui takes part in “a bank should actively manage its in- success of a bank will be determined Belgian economic missions, “tremen- traday liquidity positions and risks to by its ability to adapt to this three-fold dous opportunities to beef up one’s meet payment and settlement obliga- evolution.” address book in a spirit of quid pro tions on a timely basis under both nor- quo,” he says. He also stresses how mal and stressed conditions and thus useful the Trade4U platform is, anoth- contribute to the smooth functioning www.swallowtech.com er Belgian Foreign Trade Agency ser- of payment and settlement systems”. vice. “The subscription to Trade4U is a must for any export company that To help its clients fulfil this obligation, wants to optimise its international Swallow Tech is currently refining and

31 SUCCESS STORIES IN BELGIUM

INTERVIEW WITH Dominique Adriansens, Founder and CEO

COMPANY

Twikey Twikey was formed in 2013, when that takes advantage of the Single Dominique Adriansens and Koen Euro Payments Area (SEPA) rules, CATEGORY Serry developed a platform to make it which apply to all EU countries,” says easier for businesses to sign online Adriansens. The solution offered by Payment direct debit agreements. In such Twikey is based on the legal frame- agreements customers give suppliers work for SEPA, so it can be applied to REGION permission to automatically debit the whole of the European Union, payments from their bank account. where more than a half a million busi- Flanders Direct debits improve a supplier’s nesses collect their revenue by direct cash flow situation; the costs are six to debit, with a couple of billion payments nine times lower than a bank transfer per year. Formation date: 2013 or credit card payment. Twikey estimates that administration is cut by The firm’s clients include international a third and loyalty improves by 50%. companies like De Persgroep, Weight- Location: Ghent Watchers, as well as other publishers, payroll service providers, leasing com- 6 employees SPECIALISED PARTNER panies and ISPs. In the Netherlands, FOR BANKS for instance Twikey works with Myorder, an app you can use to pay for Turnover in 2014: EUR 100,000 Twikey provides the technical founda- food and beverages in cafés. tion and helps banks offer their clients Export share: 20% a full range of direct debit agreements. “Banks see Twikey not as a CLIENT competitor but as a partner, because FAST-TRACKING Awards: Swift Innotribe we enter into the direct debit instruc- Startup Challenge finalist and tion on the account at the bank itself. With the Belgian market now covered Voka - Bryo Flanders Future And as a niche player Twikey Award winner can offer twice as many functions as the banks.” Twikey offers everything from processing instruc- tions through an online shop, face to face or a call centre to instruction management with audit trails and API integration with accounting software. It also helps clients to prepare and follow up collections by means of a simplified management system for instruc- tions and collections.

Twikey interacts with most of the the big banks in Bel- gium and the Netherlands. And it is getting attention from more and more international clients. “We have a typical European product

32 BELGIAN DIGITAL BANK NG TECHNOLOGIES

and first steps on the Dutch market with local sales managers bumping up turnover significantly, Twikey is setting its sights further afield. There are two options, says Adriansens. “On the one hand we work with leads that come in through the website, which we then convert. This is a simple process by which a company can very quickly be turned into a client. On the other hand, we also do active prospecting at companies that have the right profile for a direct debit solution. The prospecting The advantage is that when we is currently focused on the Nether- lands. The next target is Germany, fol- now go abroad we have a product lowed by France. Local representa- that is completely answering the tives will also be hired in those customer needs. countries to support and guide local firms in their own language.

BELGIAN QUALITY HURDLES that is completely answering the cus- Twikey who works on security full- “As a Belgian start-up you have to tomer needs.” time, which generates confidence. clear a lot of hurdles to convince po- “Plus, Belgium banks have always had tential clients, which helps us in that The Belgians’ knowledge of languages to innovate in fintech and have in- international growth. That means that also has a very important role in the creasingly come to understand that they have to work with external partners if they are to continue to do so,” says Adriansens.

Adriansens is sure that banks that are We have a typical European lacking in innovative solutions and product that takes advantage of the Single partnerships with companies like Twikey will run into problems sooner Euro Payments Area (SEPA) rules, which or later. That makes it important for apply to all EU countries. banks to create dynamic partnerships with specialists in certain niches of banking. And Twikey is certainly at the front of the line. your product has to be really good and international expansion. “We think in it has to be geared to needs. A Dutch various languages from the very be- www.twikey.com company will be quicker to experiment ginning here. For instance, our web- itself and give lots of feedback, while site is published in six languages.“ Belgian companies set out stringent And Twikey is also able to draw on the demands before they will do business huge fintech knowledge found in Bel- with us. The advantage is that when gium, especially where it concerns we now go abroad we have a product data security. There’s a person at

33 SUCCESS STORIES IN BELGIUM

INTERVIEW WITH Daniel Braeckman, general manager financial processing and software licensing

COMPANY Worldline In Belgium, we process transactions CATEGORY through most payment cards. It’s our Payment traditional business and it means we are involved in the digital transformation of the REGION banking environment. Brussels

Part of the Atos group skills hubs for digital payments and services serving different markets.

Formation date: 1973 The Merchant Services & Terminals business line offers a full range of Present in 17 countries electronic payment acceptance services to merchants, including payment (including an office in Brussels) contracts, terminals and other added-value services. This covers the ma- 7,300 employees jority of existing payment options on (1,200 in Belgium) the market. “Worldline has more than 40 years’ experience in payments,” says Daniel Through its Mobility & eTransactional Turnover in 2015: EUR 1.22 Braeckman. The first historic contract Services division, Worldline provides billion for processing bank payments by card innovative digital payment-related ser- was signed in 1973. The first electronic vices to various industries, including Growth in 2015: +4.4% payment programmes (Bancontact e-ticketing, digital archiving, docu- and Mister Cash) were introduced in ment digitalisation, connected living Belgium at the end of the 1970s, and and connected vehicles. Listed on Euronext their merger in 1989 created Banksys. Formed in 2004, Atos Worldline inte- Financial Processing & Software Li- grated Banksys and Bank Card Com- censing is Worldline’s core processing pany (BCC) two years later. In 2013 the business. “In Belgium, we process Atos group transferred all payment transactions through most payment and transactional service activities to a cards,” says Daniel Braeckman. “It’s single entity under the Worldline our traditional business and it means name. Worldline was floated on Euron- we are involved in the digital transfor- ext in June 2014. mation of the banking environment. Financial institutions now expect a lot Present in 17 countries in Europe, Asia more from their provider than just pro- and South America, Worldline is now cessing transactions. They need a European leader and global reference partner able to strengthen their com- in electronic payments and transac- petitive advantages. Worldline helps tional services. them anticipate the big changes to regulations and take advantage of new technologies and actively supports 3 SKILLS HUBS them in their own digital transformation process by means of specialised Worldline’s portfolio is split into three mobile (contactless, e-wallet) and on-

34 BELGIAN DIGITAL BANK NG TECHNOLOGIES

Worldline has Belgian DNA. Belgium continues to be a major market in terms of turnover and innovation. line payment (SEPA direct debits, SEPA credit transfers) options, modular transaction security and authentication modules, and big data solutions.”

AT THE HEART OF THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

The banks modernise their product and service ranges and their internal organisation based on the demands of their clients, but also the European regulations, which disrupt existing models. These developments generate new challenges for the banks, includ- BELGIAN DNA can accumulate points for every trans- ing the emergence of new parties that action and get an immediate reduction can capitalise on novel opportunities to As heir to Banksys (specialised in pay- when using a merchant’s terminal, a insert themselves between the bank ment terminals and electronic trans- scheme made possible by Worldline’s and its clients. Faced with the ‘west- action processing) and BCC (special- proximity to both merchants and banks. coast giants’ like Apple and Google, ised in commercial acquiring), and a pack of innovation-hungry fin- Worldline has Belgian DNA. Belgium techs, the banks can choose between a continues to be a major market in FROM CARD TO strategy of defence or partnership, but, terms of turnover and innovation. ONLINE PAYMENT clearly, come what may they must Drawing on technology that has proven reposition themselves as innovative itself over 20 years, Worldline contin- Bankcards are changing: contactless parties on a market in the grip of digi- ues to invest heavily in its payment ter- payment is now possible, and even the tal transformation. minal range, which remains a key fac- card itself is going digital due to mobile tor for exports. Belgium is also apps. “Online payments, directly In digital banking, Worldline has part- renowned for its expertise in identify- through bank accounts, have long nered up with Belgian payment system ing fraudulent payment transactions. been possible on the basis of trans- Bancontact to blaze a trail with its fers, direct debits and standing orders, e-wallet technology, which authorises Worldline maintains contacts with but they have now been given a new smartphone payments, “a real Belgian most Belgian banks and with Febelfin, lease of life,” says Daniel Braeckman. success story,” says Daniel Braeck- which it is also a member of. At the end Worldline is adapting its strategy to man. Worldline has also developed a of 2015 it signed a service level agree- protect its position as one of the lead- complete mobile application that ena- ment with the various country-specific ers, which it was in card payments. bles banks to stay open for business trade federations; “a strong engage- 24/7 through their clients’ smartphone. ment with the Belgian market,” Daniel Payment is becoming a commodity. Braeckman stresses. Worldine now invests in technologies Banks are also innovating at branch that give users greater payment flexi- level. Among other things, Worldline The advantage of a small country like bility, transparency and convenience, harnesses its digital signage expertise Belgium is that the various parties can whatever channel they choose, while to facilitate the transformation of bank work together closely and go faster and guaranteeing an impeccable level of branches: clients are identified when further in the development of new security to banks, cardholders and they enter and are automatically given technologies and new business mod- merchants. information about products and ser- els. Daniel Braeckman gives the exam- vices likely to interest them or guided ple of the “Save & Win” loyalty pro- towards the appropriate advisor. gramme, in which credit card holders be.worldline.com

35 SUCCESS STORIES IN BELGIUM

INTERVIEW WITH Jean-Charles Dwelshauvers, partner

COMPANY Koalaboox

CATEGORY Front-end and back-end solutions

REGION Wallonia

FOR ENTREPRENEURS micro-entities of their accounts man- Formation date: 2012 agement and alleviating the pressure Formed in November 2012, Koalaboox on their cash flow, Koalaboox removes Place: Liège began by developing invoicing soft- two major obstacles to entrepreneur- ware. The original goal was to help ial success.” micro-entities manage their account- 15 employees ing on the basis of a simple, intuitive, The young company now employs efficient platform. Initially limited to around fifteen people, including sev- Turnover in 2015: sales invoices, the interface has since eral IT developers. The software was EUR 500,000 been upgraded to also manage pur- developed entirely in house. Koala- chase invoices and expense claim boox has leveraged online technolo- forms, too. gies to propose a solution to mi- Growth in 2015: 300% cro-entities that is tailored to their Koalaboox then got into factoring, of- needs, an alternative to spending fering an online invoice financing ser- hours filling out Word and Excel files vice that enables clients to resolve any or combing through account state- cash flow problems threatening their ments. business. In partnership with a credit insurance provider, it buys debts through its website, following up its OUR STRENGTH: invoice portfolio and taking debt col- THE COMBINATION lection steps when necessary. OF TWO SERVICES

“Managing invoices can sometimes The market is flooded with all kinds of be a nightmare for a self-employed invoicing software, some with extra carpenter or graphist,” says Jean- functions such as CRM and stock Charles Dwelshauvers. “By relieving management. Many companies also

By relieving micro-entities of their accounts management and alleviating the pressure on their cash flow, Koalaboox removes two major obstacles to entrepreneurial success.

36 BELGIAN DIGITAL BANK NG TECHNOLOGIES

provide various types of financing appreciated when you’re a little start- up its software by adding new func- service. up.” tions, driven by the desire to help SMEs with their day-to-day manage- “The original thing about Koalaboox is In 2014 Koalaboox benefited from a ment tasks. “We began with invoicing, the combination of an invoicing ser- cash injection from Meusinvest, a then bolted on financing. The users vice and a factoring service,” says public investor in Wallonia. Besides will steer us towards their needs and Jean-Charles Dwelshauvers. “These the financial aspect, Meusinvest has determine what type of service we of- complementary businesses offer our also opened lots of doors, which has fer going forward.” users a continuous service and major helped Koalaboox broaden its net- added value.” This synergy has ena- work. “Web 3.0 is the future of the banking bled Koalaboox to develop original industry,” says Jean-Charles credit rating and anti-fraud solutions. Koalaboox is also part of the E-invoic- Dwelshauvers. Artificial intelligence The information gathered enables the ing group set up by Agoria. “That ena- will also play a major role in banks’ firm to quickly identify risk profiles bles us to keep up with the latest data streams. Success will depend on and potential defrauders and take trends in the industry and make our the capacity to draw the right conclu- well-informed decisions. own contribution.” sions and develop supplementary services for customers. The synergy “Koalaboox pushes the solution to the between banking platforms and fin- user,” explains Jean-Charles WEB 3.0 tech innovations could prove profitable Dwelshauvers. “The software offers in this context. invoice financing to connected cus- Koalaboox expects to launch com- tomers before they need it or have mercial activities abroad soon, start- even thought about it. This is compa- ing in Spain. A new round of capital www.koalaboox.com rable to playlists on the music stream- raising is scheduled through to the ing service Spotify, which are put to- end of 2016. At the same time, the gether based on the user’s profile. young company will continue to beef Banking services will have to move towards this model, offering their customers loans or investments in a Koalaboox pushes the solution to proactive way.” the user. The software offers invoice financing to connected customers TEST MARKET BELGIUM before they need it or have even thought about it. Belgium is a small laboratory. It’s a market of limited size but highly frag- mented due to linguistic and cultural barriers, which does not make it easy to penetrate,” explains Jean-Charles Dwelshauvers. “Entrepreneurs in Wallonia, Flanders and Brussels do not have the same sensibilities.” Bol- stered by its success in Belgium, Koa- laboox now feels it is ready to move into the export market.

Since forming in 2012, it has benefited from an e-business grant and various job subsidies, “leg-ups that are highly

37 SUCCESS STORIES IN BELGIUM

INTERVIEW WITH Edouard Beauvois, Head of marketing & communications

COMPANY

Sopra Sopra Banking Software was formed in FROM SOFTWARE TO Banking 2012 by the merger of Sopra Group, SERVICES Delta Informatique, Tieto Financial Software Services UK and Belgian company Cal- Sopra Banking Software’s core busi- lataÿ & Wouters. ness is publishing and marketing bank- CATEGORY ing software, covering all front to back Combining the heritage of the four operations, from customer engage- Front-end founder companies, it is able to draw ment to reporting by way of production and back-end on more than a century of experience in chain management (loans, payments, solutions banking software publishing, with current accounts, transfers). more than 600 clients in 70 countries. “Sopra Banking Software is without The company also provides all the ser- REGION doubt one of the global elite, in the vices connected with its solutions. “We words of research companies Gartner provide business consulting, we inte- Brussels and Forrester, the ‘Michelin or Gault & grate our products into the client Millau of banking software’,” says bank’s existing system and provide af- Edouard Beauvois. ter-sales service as well as mainte- Subsidiary of the Sopra nance,” says Edouard Beauvois. Steria group It is now a subsidiary of Sopra Steria, European leader in digital transforma- “This comprehensive range is a factor tion. Of total turnover in 2015 of EUR that differentiates us from the compe- Formation date: 2012 3.5 billion banking accounts for EUR tition,” adds Edouard Beauvois. It ne- (Sopra Group in 1968) 760 million, including EUR 282 million gates the need to contract third parties from Sopra Banking Software. to install the software, with the con- comitant risks that has in terms of 25 offices, three in Belgium quality, follow-up and liability. “Sopra is (Brussels, Marche-en- considered to be not simply a software Famenne, Mechelen) vendor but rather a genuine partner with which clients can build a relationship of trust that in some cases can 3,000 employees last up to 20 years.” (Sopra Steria Group: 40,000 employees)

Turnover in 2015: EUR 282 million (Sopra Steria Group: EUR 3.5 billion) While some fields of banking are developing slowly at this time, digital is moving forward at a much faster pace. It’s the concept of the ‘multi-speed’ bank.

38 BELGIAN DIGITAL BANK NG TECHNOLOGIES

as loan management or interest calcu- lation, implemented with all the bank’s experience,” says Edouard Beauvois. Openness and agility are key concepts for Sopra Banking Software to be able integrate its software in to the following two layers, which banks are increasingly investing in.

The second layer is the relationship with the client. Among other things, So- pra Banking Software is evolving towards the next-best action philosophy. This mechanism is based on all the 600 CLIENTS, pre-integrated world, offering complete data associated with a particular client. 70 COUNTRIES packaged software solutions, and the Artificial intelligence is used to process modular world of separate units that them in order to determine its needs From this perspective, geographical proximity to clients is key. Headquar- tered in Paris, Sopra Banking Software has 25 offices around the globe, includ- Sopra is considered to be not simply ing five in Africa. In Belgium it is present in all three federal regions. a software vendor but rather a genuine partner with which clients can build Sopra Banking Software’s client portfo- a relationship of trust. lio is mainly made up of retail banks, direct banks and banks active in wealth management. Almost half of its turnover is generated in France and the Ben- can function on their own or together. and proactively suggest the next step in elux. Most big banking groups in France “This is a characteristic we owe to our its relationship with the bank. use its products and services; in Bel- multi-faceted heritage and it has be- gium, retail and direct banks constitute come a strategy. The need to offer these The third layer is innovation. Sopra the bulk of its clientele. Outside of Eu- two types of solution is justified by the Banking Software works on use cases rope, Sopra Banking Software has more evolution of the banking market,” says and, among other things, has devel- than 180 clients in Africa and the Mid- Edouard Beauvois. oped a digital wallet to manage credit dle East, and is also active in Asia. and loyalty cards as well as a virtual advisor to determine the optimal credit SERVING THE solution for a client based on a set of ‘MULTI-SPEED’ BANK questions and answers. The marketing INTEGRATED WORLD activities are based among other things AND MODULAR WORLD “While some fields of banking are de- on DigiLab, a showroom devoted to in- veloping slowly at this time, digital is novation. DigiLab presents the latest The company’s two flagship products moving forward at a much faster pace,” technologies developed by in-house ex- are Sopra Banking Platform, a flexible says Edouard Beauvois. “It’s the con- perts, made available to users as proto- modular open architecture solution, cept of the ‘multi-speed’ bank in which types. It is a space for sharing innova- and Sopra Banking Amplitude, a com- we identify three layers for which we tions with clients that helps Sopra plete, pre-integrated core-banking provide solutions.” Banking Software to anticipate their solution. Another factor differentiating needs and build optimised solutions. Sopra Banking Software from the com- The first is production systems. “That’s petition is the combination of the the industrialisation of processes such www.soprabanking.com

39 SUCCESS STORIES IN BELGIUM

INTERVIEW WITH Jürgen Ingels, CEO

COMPANY

The Glue “We are not there yet,” Jürgen Ingels ferent technology, implementation can stressed at various times during the intake up to two years. And there’s no CATEGORY terview. But the ambitions are not at all time for that,” says Ingels. humble. Ingels changed payment tech- Front-end nology worldwide with Clear2Pay. With That said, banks need to be able to inte- and back-end his new company, The Glue, he aims to grate as many useful apps as possible solutions do the same in infrastructure by offer- into their systems as quickly as possi- ing front-end applications that integrate ble. And The Glue has a solution for with the back-end. that, in the form of an intermediate lay- REGION er between front and back office. Com- Flanders plex transactional back-end processes NO MORE NIGHTMARES are detached from the interaction of the front-ends. And all necessary data is Banks are silo-based, which means the stored in this intermediate layer too. Formation date: 2015 division responsible for credit cards Once it is up and running, the front of- does not necessarily work the same way fice no longer refers to a tangle of wires Place: Diegem

40 employees For digital banks to be successful in the future you have to solve the back office problem first.

as the division responsible for domestic somewhere in the back office but to a payments, say. That means that the pro- structured intermediate layer. You can cesses can be duplicated at one and the efficiently build on that intermediate same bank and that data is scattered. layer, to implement apps, say. “If I develop a fantastic app for a bank and I want to integrate it with this bank’s “In this way we want to finally bring the back office it’s a nightmare as things fintech world completely in line with the stand. Because every silo can have a dif- banking world. Banks do not need to

40 BELGIAN DIGITAL BANK NG TECHNOLOGIES

have the technology themselves, but they do have to integrate the technology to steer their development. That’s why the intermediate layer is fully compliant with the specific demands of the banking sector, like the security rules, even though it’s also open through APIs. In- stead of fintech, we arrive in a world of tech for fin, where banking activities are not disrupted but strengthened by new integrated technology.

The Glue’s solution meets a real, and in many cases pressing, need. Even so, the company does not have a lot of competition. “Most fintech firms are young Most employees have 15-20 companies focused on B2C or the front- years’ valuable experience in end,” says Ingels. “That’s also because banking and we supplement that a lot of banks tend to immediately work on the front-end. That makes it seem knowledge with younger people that things are advancing faster. But for who know the latest technologies. digital banks to be successful in the future you have to solve the back office problem first.” from there. That saves us a lot of time Valley.” setting things up, searching for compe- In Eggsplore (see also Chapter 1, Sec- THE LOGICAL STEP tent people and adapting to the culture. tion 4.2), Ingels, along with Wim De And if these local firms are also attrac- Waele, has set up an ecosystem in With Clear2Pay Ingels had 40 of the 50 tive from a technological perspective, which Belgian companies can ask each biggest banks as customers and he had we could integrate their activities into other for advice. “We saw that most 23 offices around the world. Although the rest of the group.” companies, both start-ups and scale- The Glue’s solution is not yet on the ups, have the same 200-300 questions market - a patent application is ongoing that always come up. When those ques- – there are already agreements in prin- THE BELGIAN tions are answered immediately it saves ciple with two Tier 1 banks. “It usually ECOSYSTEM a huge amount of time. And for disrup- takes around two years to sell to a big tors, time is precisely the key factor.” bank. But we are not a start-up trying to In its international expansion, The Glue disrupt. Most employees have 15-20 will market itself as a Belgian company. Additional Belgian assets are the pres- years’ valuable experience in banking Our country has a strong track record in ence of international head offices of and we supplement that knowledge with B2B back office infrastructure, with such companies as Swift, MasterCard younger people who know the latest companies like Clear2Pay, Capco and and Euroclear, as well as the presence technologies.” Vasco Data Securities. That means of regulators like the European Com- there are lots of experienced people mission. “So the future looks rosy,” ac- Going abroad is a logical step for a com- about. The intake of new talent is also cording to Ingels. Including for his own pany like The Glue; it is already prepar- going well. “The software engineers company. “Seeing an idea that starts in ing itself for this. The United States and coming out of our universities are the your head actually being implemented Asia will be targeted first. “We probably best in the world. We are in a region is the best thing there is.” won’t start from scratch, but rather buy where there is a lot of knowledge, in- a small company that is active on that cluding languages, and our employees part of the market. We can jump off cost a fraction of what they do in Silicon theglue.com

41 SUCCESS STORIES IN BELGIUM

INTERVIEW WITH Vincent Defrenne, cofounder

COMPANY NVISO

CATEGORY Cybersecurity

REGION Brussels

Formation date: 2013

Place: Brussels

Around 25 employees THE CYBERSECURITY been beefed up, as have their budgets. SPECIALIST NVISO helps its clients define priorities Turnover in 2015: and draw up their cybersecurity action EUR 1.8 million Brussels scale-up NVISO is a consul- plan. tancy specialised in cybersecurity. “In Investments in 2015: Belgium, lots of companies are not yet The second business unit - cyber resil- fully aware of the risks connected with ience – handles the tech part of cyber- EUR 436,000 cybercrime,” says Vincent Defrenne. security. NVISO offers services that aim “Most attacks recorded in Belgium are to prevent, identify and manage inci- Growth in 2015: 290% of a disconcerting simplicity. They can dents when they do occur. come in the form of an email with at- tachment, which can infect the whole Awareness and training is the third corporate network if opened by an em- business unit. The company draws at- ployee. NVISO’s mission is to help busi- tention to the importance of cybersecu- nesses protect themselves.” rity through the now well-established Cyber Security Challenge Belgium, The company comprises three business which is open to computer science stu- units. The first focuses on cyber strate- dents. The event is a way to raise gy, which is a full-fledged management awareness of the subject and encour- discipline these days. “Security is also a age certain participants to specialise in matter for management,” says Vincent this field. NVISO also offers its own Defrenne. In companies, teams in training curriculum in many fields, charge of security have sometimes such as secure software development,

In Belgium, lots of companies are not yet fully aware of the risks connected with cybercrime. Most attacks recorded in Belgium are of a disconcerting simplicity.

42 BELGIAN DIGITAL BANK NG TECHNOLOGIES

putting theory into practice on the basis panies in the centre of Brussels. BECOMING AN of exercises within dedicated web and INNOVATIVE DIGITAL mobile applications. The capital was selected as a place of PLAYER establishment due to its proximity to Clients in the financial industry, the potential clients and the high availa- NVISO has already exported its services public sector and defence, all of which bility of well-trained multilingual com- for some projects on a one-off basis. are especially sensitive to cyber securi- puter scientists, just the profile NVISO “Our ambition is to become a regional ty, account for 70% of NVISO’s turnover. needs to drive its growth. “As well as a player with a larger reach on specific However, NVISO serves both very large national and European hub, Brussels subjects,” says Vincent Defrenne. “The companies and medium-sized organi- is also a brand. It is a perfect fit for company will take on an international zations specialised in digital. start-ups.” dimension by following Belgian clients abroad and through partnerships.” During its short history, NVISO has ONE-STOP SHOP been able to rely on the effective sup- “The banking sector must adapt to the port of the Brussels-Capital Region growth of digital. The financial services A consistent part of the company’s through impulse.brussels and Inno- market is fragmenting, while new arriv- profits is devoted to NVISO Labs, its viris. Vincent Defrenne also cites the als are gnawing away at the margins of R&D programme. “We permanently in- help of Agoria, especially in developing long-established players. To survive, vest in the research and development of new contacts. they understand how consumer behav- new security technologies and solu- iour is changing, become digital inno- tions that support our services. This “Being Belgian gives us an edge in our vation centres and develop functional, enables us to stay in step with client approach, as we’re a local, inde- user-friendly applications. At the same fast-evolving threats and be innovative.” pendent company,” says Vincent De- time, they need to keep fulfilling their frenne. “On the security consultancy basic mission, which is key to the bal- NVISO has acquired very specialised market competences are very often anced economy.” knowledge in niche fields. Its expertise consolidated within multinationals, in ATM security can stand the compari- which does not inspire as much confi- son with established global actors. It dence.” www.nviso.be has also developed a probe to identify intrusions in its clients’ networks and ApkScan, an engine that scans Android applications and identifies malicious software.

Vincent Defrenne feels NVISO’s strength is that it has developed services that meet the cybersecurity challenges facing the banking industry: As well as a making the digital channel secure and national and raising awareness among staff and clients of the risks of cybercrime, which European hub, largely exploits human weakness. Brussels is also a brand. It is a BRUSSELS, A BRAND perfect fit for start-ups. The scale-up began life as a start-up at the ICAB incubator in Etterbeek and now works out of Co.Station, a post-ac- celerator site for innovative young com-

43 SUCCESS STORIES IN BELGIUM

INTERVIEW WITH David Crêteur, cofounder – manager

COMPANY

O.D.S.C. David Crêteur and Joséphine Russello A COMPREHENSIVE set up their own company in 2011 on VISION OF SECURITY CATEGORY the back of their experience at a computer security company. O.D.S.C. is “We have an original way of working Cybersecurity specialised in managing digital identi- compared to our competitors, be- ties and access to applications based cause we have a global vision of secu- REGION on user-defined rules. It also conducts rity,” explains David Crêteur. “We ob- vulnerability audits, identifies network serve that anti-virus and firewall Wallonia anomalies and analyses the behaviour solutions from different intermediar- of information systems. The company ies have been installed at many of our also provides cybersecurity consulting clients without taking any account of Formation date: 2011 services, which is rather rare in Wal- the network as a whole. This can be an lonia. expensive business, and yet there is no guarantee of optimal security.” Place: Loyers O.D.S.C. offers solutions for compa- O.D.S.C. provides a full service that nies of all sizes. “We want to give comprises an audit, implementation of 2 employees SMEs the same protection as big com- solutions, monitoring and consultan- panies,” says David Crêteur. O.D.S.C. cy, as well as staff training and aware- has clients in various industries, such ness. “People have a dominant place Turnover in 2015: as health, energy and banking, plus in a security system.” EUR 130,000 the public sector. BNP Paribas Fortis is one of the big names on the client O.D.S.C. solutions also have the ad- 1 registered brand: list in banking. Other companies have vantage of not being invasive, because already shown an interest in these they are bolted on to existing pro- Luxidentity services. grams, which enables fast response and implementation.

For its banking sector clients, O.D.S.C. works to make applications secure, for employees, clients and partners. David Crêteur explains that his vulner-

O.D.S.C .

44 BELGIAN DIGITAL BANK NG TECHNOLOGIES

ability scanners learn as they go: the Belgium has a good reputation in bank- The company has developed “Luxiden- more they run the more they get to ing security. It was one of the first coun- tity”, a box that clients connect to their know your network and the more they tries to introduce strong multi-factor network to protect it and manage are able to identify behavioural anom- authentication. “An organisation like identities company-wide. To that end, a second company is now being set up, registered on the advice of AWEX in Luxembourg, which is where the name “Luxidentity” comes from. O.D.S.C. is People have a dominant place in a also developing “LDAP-as-a-service”, a cloud-based directory of identities security system. exclusively for small companies.

“The banks must work to neutralise the never-ending security threats alies, such as hacking attempts or Agoria helps banks to quickly gather against both states and individuals. So known and unknown viruses. “It would information from the Belgian cyberse- knowing who has access to what is a be impossible for a person to spot curity sector,” says David Crêteur. “That major concern,” says David Crêteur, suspicion activities in such a flood of forges links between the various par- adding that security policies must be information.” ties and makes us much more respon- adapted to keep up with technological sive than our European neighbours developments or they will become in- have proven themselves to be.” effective. SOLID PARTNERS

O.D.S.C. does not develop solutions it- SIGHTS SET ON THE www.odsc.be self, but rather draws on the expertise GREATER REGION of renowned technology partners from around the world. It works with UK O.D.S.C. is currently working on two company Microfocus (formerly Novell) projects that could accelerate its in- and US giant Ping Identity, both leaders ternational breakthrough. Its priority in identity and access management target markets are the Greater Region technologies. For vulnerability scan- (an EU cooperation region that incor- ning, it has partnered up with the porates various parts of Germany, Bel- French firm ITrust. gium, France and Luxembourg) and Switzerland. David Crêteur emphasises the support O.D.S.C. has received from AWEX and BEP (the Province of Namur’s Econom- ic Agency) as it has grown and moved into foreign markets. It also maintains regular contacts with Agoria, Infopole ICT and the Cetic centre for research.

The banks must work to neutralise the never-ending security threats against both states and individuals. So knowing who has access to what is a major concern.

45 SUCCESS STORIES IN BELGIUM

INTERVIEW WITH Jan Valcke, President & COO

COMPANY VASCO Data Security

CATEGORY Cybersecurity

REGION Flanders

Listed company on Nasdaq

Formation date: 1997 as listed When US company VASCO Data Securi- VASCO Data Security manages to verify company ty acquired Belgian company Digipass/ the identity of an individual or, increas- Digiline in 1996, it laid the foundations ingly with the development of the inter- for what today is the global leader in net of things, a product. Consider the Place: Head offices in Chicago digital authentication and identifica- security that’s involved when you down- (corporate), Zurich (financial) tion. There is not much left of the niche load a banking app, say. The company and Wemmel (operational). 39 service – phone banking security with does not only ensure the log-in is se- DIGIPASS – that led to the company cure, but the messages too. Here mes- offices worldwide, including 3 listing on Nasdaq in 1997. On the other sage means remittances and orders, in Belgium hand, it has closely followed and even among other things. Just because the helped form an explosion of possibili- right individual is initiating the action 520 employees, approximately ties in digital security over the years. does not mean that the message cannot be altered by means of hacking. 40% in Belgium. WORLD LEADER Turnover in 2015: A CHANGING SEGMENT EUR 241 million, net profit In the meantime VASCO Data Security has created more than 250 million The company also takes advantage of around 20% hardware and software DIGIPASS au- the possibilities offered by digitisation thenticators. Using DIGIPASS as a in the public and private sector. When Average growth: springboard, the company now has citizens or consumers order docu- 22% over the past ten years four hundred products, mainly for the ments or other items digitally, VASCO banking industry. “There is no bank in Data Security facilitates this with digi- the world that does not know our solu- tal signatures. Valcke has plenty more Export: 92% of turnover tions,” says Jan Valcke, president and irons in the fire. “We are currently de- COO. “And if there is, that’s not our veloping an identity scoring system. fault.” Not to be too dependent on the Rather than the physical DIGIPASS banks, the company is now gradually reader, we certify an individual’s identi- expanding its activities into enterprise ty with our technological software, security (such as logging into a work such as the camera, fingerprint or lo- computer from home), igaming (such cation. In doing so, we are capitalising as lotteries), gaming, healthcare and on the burgeoning risk management the public sector. market. The next step is identity proof-

46 BELGIAN DIGITAL BANK NG TECHNOLOGIES

something in Europe, go to Belgium first. If you make it there, you’ll make it anywhere. “We are also lucky enough There is no bank in the world that to have a very progressive government does not know our solutions. with regard to the ID card. The federal government’s ICT service has enor- mous know-how and a long list of contacts, which we also benefit from.” ing – brokering an identity and attribut- VASCO Data Security also has sales of- ing a certificate.” fices around the world. Often the initial Early on, Valcke worked very closely contacts were made during Belgian with the regional representatives. They Across its product range VASCO Data trade missions. “Those events are at- were very important in terms of practi- Security currently has around a thou- tended by a lot of people you can put cal tips and planning business trips. sand partners, including companies questions to and you can learn a lot in a The company now primarily relies on that integrate its product into their solu- short space of time,” says Valcke. The the ambassadors. “We have already tions. Of its 10,000 clients, the 1700 or strategy is to work on the basis of hubs taken part in quite a few seminars in so banks catch the eye, but as time goes and develop remoter countries from of- embassies, which officially invite their by there is more differentiation between fices or through partners. contacts. They give us a lot of support. licence resellers, governments, compa- The trade missions are also of a high nies, brokers and so on. Brokers help standard and they have also given the with logistical aspects and ensure pay- IF YOU CAN MAKE IT IN company a great deal. There is a huge ment in dollars or euros by acting on BELGIUM… amount of goodwill in Belgium among behalf of international end clients. ambassadors, representatives, gov- While the company is globally oriented, ernment and ministers. We are grate- The Belgian firms won contracts in Belgium remains the operational home ful for that, because it’s an opportunity Sweden and the Netherlands straight market. This is where VASCO Data Se- to trade.” away in the early days and the interna- curity has to be creative and develop tional dimension has only increased in solutions that will subsequently be ex- importance. VASCO Data Security has ported. Valcke says that it is an estab- www.vasco.com now grown into a US company with an lished idea in IT: if you want to try operational decision-making centre in Belgium, activities in more than 120 countries and 39 offices worldwide. That is the consequence of a meticu- lous investment and expansion policy.

“If we see companies that are techno- logically important or that complement our services to banks we acquire them. There are one or two every year. It then takes about two years before these If you want to companies are integrated into the try something structure and customers are able to buy the technology,” says Valcke. Espe- in Europe, go to cially in prime locations, like the uni- Belgium first. If you versity city of Bordeaux or Vienna, where there is an upswing in the num- make it there, you’ll ber of Eastern European engineers, it make it anywhere. transforms the acquired companies into R&D centres.

47 SUCCESS STORIES IN BELGIUM

INTERVIEW WITH André van Zijdveld, CFO & Tom Dejonghe, Director Product Management

COMPANY Collibra

CATEGORY In a world where more and more data definitions. This ensures that analysts Big data is being generated, proper data gov- can clearly see what their colleagues ernance is vital. Collibra brings struc- have done with the data and so can do REGION ture based on strong traceability from their job faster. When data quality re- source to report, including the under- ports generated by other tools are Brussels lying flow. “Our vision is to make data mixed together with the information accessible, readable and easy-to-use provided by Collibra this can also ena- for everyone within organisations so ble automatically generated certifi- Formation date: June 2008 they can maximize the potential of cates or watermarks to be placed on their data,” says André van Zijdveld, reports based on high-quality param- CFO of Collibra. eters. Place: Neder-Over-Heembeek, offices in Wroclaw (Poland), New York, London and Paris. TRUST YOUR DATA WITH THE ZEITGEIST

Clarity is always the prime concern. In this emerging market Collibra is in 160 employees worldwide, When a bank reports to its national competition with two big multination- 50 in Belgium bank or the stock exchange it is im- als, alongside a growing number of portant for everyone to know exactly smaller players. Even so, the Belgian what data is required. Clear definitions firm can claim to be the market leader, Turnover in 2015: EUR 12 are needed to avoid discussions about not least because it was the first to of- million which figures have to be included in a fer a workable solution. “There is a given report. These are accompanied strong drive to produce new features Growth: 300% annually since by an internal scoring system showing and innovations to safeguard our lead 2013 the degree to which authorised em- going back over four years,” says Tom ployees have approved term, attrib- Dejonghe, director product manage- utes and everything else. ment. Export share: 75% of sales are now in the United States. Alongside this passive, objectivising The ever-stricter regulations banks role, Collibra also helps actively by at- must comply with are a blessing for taching texts of laws to a definition Collibra, Van Zijdveld admits. “Big in- Start-up of the year in Belgium and enabling internal employees to ternational banks, the so-called Tier 1 in 2012 tag their processed data with certain banks, must follow stricter compliance

48 BELGIAN DIGITAL BANK NG TECHNOLOGIES

Within eighteen months it opened offices in Paris and London, doubled rules by the end of 2016. We now have 60% of the big banks in our portfolio. the floor space in the Polish, Brussels By the end of 2018 the mid tiers will and NY office and the number of also have to comply with the stricter rules. We expect another wave here.” employees rose from 85 to 170. The business model does not have to be restricted to banks either. Regula- tions are getting tighter and tighter in for example healthcare too. “But many firms don’t need this pressure and feel data governance in itself is important enough. They see an opportunity to use it to their competitive advantage.”

EXPLOSIVE GROWTH

When you have a strong product in a growing market the most important thing is not to miss any opportunities. With that in mind, Collibra is investing at breakneck speed. Within eighteen able to sell, things will always go more business with a commercial head of- months it opened offices in Paris and smoothly when a local representative fice in New York and the primary Euro- London, doubled the floor space in the is involved.” pean sales force in London, Brussels Polish, Brussels and NY office and the continues to be the development and number of employees rose from 85 to Collibra currently works on the basis product management hub. Collibra 170. The next commercial goals are in- of direct sales, but Van Zijdveld ac- has received support from Innoviris creasing our presence in the global knowledges that with just 160 employ- and worked with VUB. “We started market and setting up a partner mode ees it is hard to be everywhere at once. here, the knowhow is here and the to further scale our business. So, Collibra is gradually trying to shift standard is high enough to keep inno- to indirect sales. Through partners, as vation in Belgium,” says Van Zijdveld. When opening offices Collibra opts for trialled in the Middle East and Asia-Pa- The fact that Brussels – and Belgium regions with a big concentration of cific, and through consultancy firms in general – is highly internationally banks. Practical and cultural factors that introduce Collibra to their clients. oriented makes the local presence also play a role in the development of Both of these are relatively new ways logical.” Ten different nationalities the office network. “Local presence is of working, but they have the potential work in Brussels, with English as the much more assertive, making it easier to growth quickly. medium of communication. to build a strong network. In Germany and France, while foreign firms are While Collibra is now an international Van Zijdveld and De Jonghe are opti- mistic about the future and Collibra’s ambitions are anything but modest. “We are growing fast. No one expected things to move at such a rapid pace. Our vision is to make data accessible, Based on constant innovation and new applications, in the cloud for instance, readable and easy-to-use for everyone our goal is to be the preferred supplier within organisations so they can maximize the in data governance.” potential of their data.

www.collibra.com

49 SUCCESS STORIES IN BELGIUM

INTERVIEW WITH Steven Noels, CTO

COMPANY

NGDATA NGDATA is big data. The firm has a big States. NGDATA’s thoroughgoing indi- technological lead over its competi- vidual targeting, which determines CATEGORY tors, with expertise going back eight who gets which vouchers when, has years. NGDATA is now converting this led to a four-fold increase in the re- Big data technological knowledge into a lucra- demption of vouchers. With the same tive business proposal for retail banks. technology NGDATA also helps im- REGION NGDATA’s software solution enables prove acquisition and minimise churn. banks to collect client data efficiently “The main goal is to enable our clients Flanders and automatically and convert it into to optimise their own service in every individual client profiles. The results way possible.” can then be used to optimize the bank Formation date: 2012 customer’s experience. NGDATA is not the only one looking to do this, but its USP compared to some big multinationals is that it works in a Place: Ghent and Mechelen NEXT BEST ACTION very targeted way. “What makes us in Belgium, New York, San JUST A FEW CLICKS unique is that we have a single coher- Francisco and Singapore AWAY ent solution built on state-of-the-art technology, which is also vertically fo- Banks have access to an incredible cused on retail banks. That makes us 70 employees, including amount of information, but managing different from a generic analytics or around 50 in Belgium this huge mountain of data is techni- marketing platform. Plus,” adds cally highly complex. The bank re- Noels, “many competitors get stuck in ceives notifications of all payments, all Investments: Venture capital the analytics phase and are not as fo- operations online, in mobile apps and cused on action as we are.” investment structure so on. NGDATA crunches all of this data. When this is combined with such Export: From day one, now factors as past behaviour, preferred BELGIAN active in ten countries channels and location, it gives the TRAILBLAZERS bank the opportunity to anticipate the future behaviour of its clients. Although the firm has a strong global mindset, Belgium is the epicentre of Steven Noels, CTO of NGDATA, ex- research and development. “The suc- plains that, until a few years ago, cess of our firm makes us attractive to banks had irregular but deep contacts both junior and senior profiles, who with their clients through their branch notice that we are building a topnotch network. They now have very regular technology product and want to grow but more shorter contacts through with us. We offer an inspiring, chal- apps and websites. To get the most lenging state-of-the-art work environ- out of those brief contacts, client data must be processed as quickly as possible and the next best action identified. “NGDATA helps to monetise cli- NGDATA helps to ent data through upselling, monetise client cross-selling and partnerships with insurers and utilities.” data through upselling, cross- An example of such an initiative is the discount voucher project linked to the selling and banking app marketed by Wells Fargo, partnerships the third biggest bank in the United with insurers and utilities.

50 BELGIAN DIGITAL BANK NG TECHNOLOGIES

sale and the implementation with Although the firm has a strong global partners as system integrators, large consultancies or local players. mindset, Belgium is the epicentre of research and development. In that context NGDATA has a clear roadmap for the future, with a growing international customer base and rising turnover at existing clients based on the development of its solutions, ment combined with a global vision fice, but a local office is on the way in with priorities set in consultation with and challenges, which makes us France, too. clients. “This is the second or third unique in Belgium.” In addition, in Bel- time that the founders have set up a gium NGDATA can also count on sup- “If you are cloud-based and provide a company. We are taking one step at a port measures for R&D, subsidies for service on the internet you can be time,” says Noels. Even so, it seems research through VLAIO (IWT) and everywhere at once, but if you work that international success is within partnerships with universities. As a big with a B2B model and have to inte- reach. data trailblazer, the firm also takes its grate with the bank’s own systems, responsibilities in initiatives like bigda- you need a well-considered export ta.be and brusselsdatascience.be. strategy,” says Noels. That’s why NG- www.ngdata.com DATA works with target accounts, Another initiative NGDATA hooks into takes a focused approach to market- is the Belgian-American Chamber of ing, building relationships with the Commerce (Belcham) in New York. press and opening a local office, with The Belcham Atelier is the operating the aim of eventually setting up the base for the Manhattan office, and a valuable tool for networking and recruitment. “Things would be easier if there was a Belcham in every country. Although it is important to quickly look beyond the Belgian context,” says Noels. The strong focus on the United States is now starting to pay off and the strategy will continue to target North America.

CALCULATED EXPORT STRATEGY

An office was opened in Singapore in early 2016 with the aim of getting a toehold in the Asian market. “Although we know that if we want four clients in India we’ll have to open an office locally there as well.“ Exports to Europe are currently limited to France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Spain. At the moment everything comes through the Belgian head of-

51 SUCCESS STORIES IN BELGIUM

INTERVIEW WITH Raphaël Amory, partner

COMPANY

Sirius RECRUIT, BUILD CLIENTS, LOCATION Insight LOYALTY, DEVELOP AND OMNICHANNEL: A UNIQUE COMBINATION Sirius Insight has been providing deci- CATEGORY sion-making tools to optimise their Sirius Insight applies its data analysis Big data clients’ marketing strategy for more and modelling techniques in three than 25 years now. Its analytical con- main areas: clients, location and om- sultancy services help clients define nichannel. The various solutions it REGION their own customer profiles and as- proposes to its clients may be descrip- sess how effective their sales and tive, predictive or prescriptive. Wallonia communication channels are. Raphaël Amory sums up Sirius Insight’s busi- By comparing the data provided by its ness as “data and analytics to opti- clients with what it has accumulated, Place: Mont-Saint-Guibert mise marketing and develop sales via built or modelled over time, Sirius In- knowledge of customers and chan- sight can generate a better under- nels”. standing of the behaviour of end con- 6 employees sumers and improve their value. It can Most of Sirius Insight’s clients are ac- then create client segments. By Turnover in 2015: EUR tive in one of three industries: distri- cross-referencing the available infor- 1,060,000 bution, automotive or financial servic- mation on consumers and their loca- es (banking and insurance). They tion, Sirius Insight can help optimise include some of the country’s biggest marketing campaigns. It can also esti- Growth: >30 % companies, like Carrefour, D’Ieteren, mate the potential of a new point of ING and Partenamut. “Whatever its contact (such as an agency, broker or Export share: 4-8% business, the challenge every compa- machine). It can analyse network per- ny faces is not only how to attract new formances and propose improve- clients but also how to retain them ments. It can also make recommen- and grow them by offering products dations to take advantage of an and services to maximise their value.” omnichannel approach.

WATERMAEL-BOITSFORT WATERMAEL-BOITSFORT UCCLE UCCLE

Analyed branch

" ^"

Analyed branch

^" "

olume of local olume of local customers visiting olume of local customers visiting other branches customers visiting the analysed olume of local the analysed branch customers visiting branch other branches ase artenamut

Analysing the customers’ choice of branch in order to model customer behaviour etermine otimal future branch netor

Design the best future branch network Profiling Partenamut and Euromut OptimalOptimalProfiling master masterPartenamut plan plan for forand new new Euromut branch branch to meet strategical objectives: customers using Mosaic Belgium. networknetworkcustomers meeting meeting using brand’sMosaic brand’s strategicBelgium. strategic objectives,objectives, while: while: • Integration of Partenamut and Analysing and modelling consumer Analysing and modelling consumer Euromut networks behaviour by identifying key factors in • •behaviourOfferingOffering byoptimal optimal identifying coverage coverage key factorsof of in Benefits Solution choice of mutual brand and branch. choicemarketmarket of mutualpotential; potential; brand and branch. • Retain existing customers while Challenge maintaining service level Determining optimal branch locations • •DeterminingKeepingKeeping cannibalisation cannibalisation optimal branch between between locations using unique spatial optimisation usingbranchesbranches unique to tospatial a aminimum; minimum; optimisation • Recruit new customers in order to techniques. techniques. achieve the expected growth • • OptimisingOptimising proximity proximity to to customers.customers. • Move to omnichannel strategy

WATERMAEL-BOITSFORT WATERMAEL-BOITSFORT UCCLE UCCLE

" ^"

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tarting oint aing of customers and Analysing the customers’ choice of branch in order ecommended otimal and uantified master lan eisting branch netor to model customer behaviour fictive data

52 BELGIAN DIGITAL BANK NG TECHNOLOGIES

The banking world is increasingly competitive, with a growing number of players alongside the lands, the UK and France.”

traditional banks. “When taking part in an international project, we deploy our own analytical and modelling techniques and pair them with our partner’s expert knowledge of the local market, which is always highly enriching,” says Raphaël Amory.

Most of the firm’s experience in exports thus far has been in banking. Sirius Insight has been involved in optimising several branch and ATM networks in France and Romania.

THE BANKING CHAL- Raphaël Amory distinguishes two which can be used for international LENGE: OPTIMISING competitor profiles: on the one hand, comparisons. THE CHANNELS geomarketing companies, which offer little analysis and few client or con- “It’s essential that companies that sumer data, and, on the other, data- PARTNERS THAT OPEN make use of new technologies and base management companies, which UP THE WORLD data analytics take up a leading posi- do not take any account of location. tion,” says Raphaël Amory. With that in Sirius Insight stands out due to the As a small company, Sirius Insight mind, Sirius Insight constantly seeks unique combination of the client, loca- bases its development strategy on to innovate in order to offer its clients tion and omnichannel dimensions. partnerships with global leaders. “The the best tools. complementarity of the partners im- To remain competitive, the company proves the quality of the solutions,” “The banking world is increasingly endeavours to provide the most com- says Raphaël Amory. Among others, competitive, with a growing number of plete and precise data possible. Sirius Sirius Insight works with software players alongside the traditional Insight’s Mosaic Belgium offers a publisher Alteryx and location data banks. Clients have an account at unique segmentation of Belgian con- TomTom. Its history is also entwined multiple banks and, above all are mul- sumers spread over 33 types and 8 with Experian, an international infor- ti- or omnichannel users. They go to groups. This enables the identification mation and CRM specialist that it in- their branch to meet their advisor or of categories of like clients and the es- corporated in 2006 until a manage- for certain types of transaction. For all tablishment of demographic, econom- ment buyout in 2013. “Our special ties other needs they go to an ATM or use ic and social profiles. Mosaic data is with Experian facilitate our access to their computer or smartphone. Their calculated in thirty or so countries, certain markets, such as the Nether- multifaceted behaviour entails risks for the industry, but also opportunities.” Raphaël Amory ends by making it clear that “maintaining a contact Whatever its business, the challenge every network is expensive, it is essential for the bank to constantly optimise the company faces is not only how to attract new deployment of all its dedicated sales clients but also how to retain them and and marketing resources.” grow them.

www.siriusinsight.be

53 DIRECTORY OF COMPANIES DIRECTORY OF COMPANIES DIRECTORY OF COMPANIES

This directory is not exhaustive.

For more information please contact Flanders Investment & Trade (FIT), Brussels Invest & Export, Wallonia Export - Investment Agency (AWEX) or the Belgian federations (see Chapter 1, Section 4).

TITLE ZIP CITY REGION SITE INFRASTRUCTURE PAYMENT CYBERSECURITY BIG DATA FRONT-END & BACK-END SOLUTIONS BACK-END & FRONT-END

AB NETWORK 4530 Villers-le-Bouillet Wallonia www.abnetwork.be •

ABSI - ADVANCED BUSINESS SYSTEM 1190 Brussels Brussels www.absi.be • INTEGRATION

ADDOCTED 1702 Dilbeek Flanders letspom.be/en • ADIX 5590 Ciney Wallonia www.adix.be • ADVENSYS 1030 Brussels Brussels www.advensys.be • AETHIS 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve Wallonia www.aethis.com • AKACIO 4342 Awans Wallonia www.akacio.com • ALLEGRO SOFTWARE 1380 Grez-Doiceau Wallonia allegro.be • ANGEL.ME 3500 Hasselt Flanders www.angel.me • APPROACH BELGIUM 1435 Mont-Saint-Guibert Wallonia www.approach.be • BABELWAY 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve Wallonia www.babelway.com • BANCONTACT MISTERCASH 1040 Brussels Brussels www.bancontact.com • BANKSOFT 1180 Brussels Brussels www.banksoft.be • BE.WAN 1410 Waterloo Wallonia www.bewan.be •

BELGACOM INTERNATIONAL 1000 Brussels Brussels www.bics.com • CARRIER SERVICES

BELGIUM SATELLITE SERVICES 1050 Brussels Brussels www.bssteleport.com • BETASYSTEMS 1348 Louvain-La-Neuve Wallonia www.betasystems.com v

BSB (BUSINESS SOLUTIONS 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve Wallonia www.vermeg.com • BUILDERS)

BTR SERVICES 1070 Brussels Brussels www.btr-services.be •

BUREAU VAN DIJK - EDITIONS ELEC- 1050 Brussels Brussels www.bvdep.com • TRONIQUES

BUSINESS & DECISION BENELUX 1200 Brussels Brussels www.businessdecision.be • BUY WAY PERSONAL FINANCE 1000 Brussels Brussels www.buyway.be • CAPCO 1831 Machelen Flanders www.capco.com • CASHFORCE 2200 Herentals Flanders www.cashforce.com •

56 BELGIAN DIGITAL BANK NG TECHNOLOGIES

TITLE ZIP CITY REGION SITE INFRASTRUCTURE PAYMENT CYBERSECURITY BIG DATA FRONT-END & BACK-END SOLUTIONS BACK-END & FRONT-END

CATALYST CONSULTING 1150 Brussels Brussels www.connectsquare.com • CHIVEO 4053 Chaudfontaine Wallonia www.chiveo.be • CINCOM SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL 1170 Brussels Brussels www.cincom.com • CLUSTEO 1050 Brussels Brussels www.clusteo.com • COFELY QUENTRIS 1130 Brussels Brussels www.quentris.com •

COGIA 1150 Brussels Brussels - •

CO-LINK 1050 Brussels Brussels - • • COLLIBRA 1120 Brussels Brussels www.collibra.com • COMEXIS PARTNERS 1300 Wavre Wallonia www.comexis.net • COMODIT 4031 Angleur Wallonia www.comodit.com • COMPUTERLAND 4432 Alleur Wallonia www.computerland.be • CONNECT-ON 4020 Liège Wallonia www.connect-on.com • CORES-SYS 1300 Limal Wallonia cores-sys.com • CPBI 1150 Brussels Brussels www.cpbi.be • CUSTY 6530 Thuin Wallonia www.custy.com • DATATHLON 1400 Nivelles Wallonia datathlon.com • DINEC 1420 Braine-l’Alleud Wallonia www.dinec.be • DJPN 1190 Brussels Brussels - • DOCCLE 1020 Brussels Brussels doccle.be • EASI 4460 Grâce-Hollogne Wallonia www.easi.net • EAST WEST CONSULTING 1170 Brussels Brussels www.ewc.be • ECOSOFT 1180 Brussels Brussels www.ecosoft.be • EDEBEX 1160 Brussels Brussels www.edebex.be • EFFICY 1140 Brussels Brussels www.efficy.com • E-MAIL BROKERS 1000 Brussels Brussels www.email-brokers.com • E-QUAL 1360 Perwez Wallonia www.e-qual.be • ESCAUX 1300 Wavre Wallonia www.escaux.com • EUROCLEAR 1210 Brussels Brussels www.euroclear.com • EXCESS RETURN 1040 Brussels Brussels www.xsreturn.com • FINOPSOFT 1070 Brussels Brussels www.finopsoft.be • FLEXINA 4000 Liège Wallonia www.myflexina.com • FX4BIZ 1050 Brussels Brussels www.fx4biz.com • GAMBIT 4000 Liège Wallonia gambit-finance.com • GFI 1300 Wavre Wallonia www.gfi.be • GUARDIS 4031 Angleur Wallonia www.guardis.com • GUARDSQUARE 3001 Leuven Flanders www.guardsquare.com •

57 DIRECTORY OF COMPANIES

TITLE ZIP CITY REGION SITE INFRASTRUCTURE PAYMENT CYBERSECURITY BIG DATA FRONT-END & BACK-END SOLUTIONS BACK-END & FRONT-END

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES (BELGIUM) 1150 Brussels Brussels www.huawei.com/be • I.G.M.S. CONSULTING 1090 Brussels Brussels www.igms.be • IMAGINE IT 1082 Brussels Brussels www.imagine-it.be • • IMATIX CORPORATION 1080 Brussels Brussels www.imatix.com • • INGENICO E-COMMERCE SOLUTIONS 1200 Brussels Brussels payment-services.ingenico.com/be • •

INNOVATIVE DECISION FOR 1050 Brussels Brussels - • MANAGEMENT - ULB

INSILICO GENOMICS 1180 Brussels Brussels www.insilicodb.org • INSIS AND T 1190 Brussels Brussels www.insist.be • INTIX 2800 Mechelen Flanders intix.eu • ISABEL GROUP 1000 Brussels Brussels www.isabel.eu • • • • IT BRAIN 4280 Abolens Wallonia www.it-brain.be • IXPERTISE DEVELOPMENT 1190 Brussels Brussels www.ixpertise.com • KOALABOOX 4000 Liège Wallonia www.koalaboox.com • LINKID 9000 Gent Flanders www.linkid.be • LISTEN 4342 Hognoul Wallonia listen.eu •

LODESTONE MANAGEMENT 1130 Brussels Brussels www.infosys.com • CONSULTANTS

LOYALTEK INTERNATIONAL 1060 Brussels Brussels www.loyaltek.com • MAEHDROS 4537 Verlaine Wallonia www.maehdros.be • MAINSYS ENGINEERING 1050 Brussels Brussels www.mainsysgroup.com • MASTERCARD EUROPE 1410 Waterloo Wallonia www.mastercard.com • • MEDIBRIDGE 1050 Brussels Brussels www.medibridge.be • • MENTIS 1000 Brussels Brussels www.mentis-consulting.be • MERIDIES 1180 Brussels Brussels www.acodev.be/ong/aquadev • MONIZZE 1150 Brussels Brussels www.monizze.be • MT-CONSULTING 4000 Liège Wallonia www.mt-consulting.com • MYMICROINVEST 1301 Wavre Wallonia www.mymicroinvest.com • NET7 1420 Braine-l'Alleud Wallonia www.net7.eu •

NETAXIS SOLUTIONS 1050 Brussels Brussels www.netaxis.be •

NEXIS 1315 Opprebais Wallonia www.nexis.be • NGDATA 9000 Gent Flanders www.ngdata.com • NOISYCHANNELS 3090 Overijse Flanders www.noisychannels.com • NRB 4040 Herstal Wallonia www.nrb.be • NSI IT 4340 Awans Wallonia www.nsi-sa.be • NVISO 1000 Brussels Brussels www.nviso.be •

58 BELGIAN DIGITAL BANK NG TECHNOLOGIES

TITLE ZIP CITY REGION SITE INFRASTRUCTURE PAYMENT CYBERSECURITY BIG DATA FRONT-END & BACK-END SOLUTIONS BACK-END & FRONT-END

O.D.S.C. 5101 Namur Wallonia www.odsc.be • ODOO 1160 Brussels Brussels www.odoo.com • • ODOO 1367 Grand-Rosière Wallonia www.odoo.com • • OFFSHORE 5100 Jambes Wallonia www.offshore.be • ONE-D 1030 Brussels Brussels www.one-d.com • OPENSIDES 1030 Brussels Brussels www.opensides.be • OPTICABLE 7080 Frameries Wallonia www.nexans.be • ORDIGES 1200 Brussels Brussels www.ordiges.com • ORGANICA 1180 Brussels Brussels www.organica.eu.com • PFEASE 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve Wallonia www.pfease.com • PINCH 1030 Brussels Brussels www.pinch.eu • PIT BUSINESS 5560 Couvin Wallonia www.pit-business.com • PLATINUM SERVICES EUROPE 1332 Genval Wallonia www.pse.be • PROCSIMA 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve Wallonia www.procsima.eu • PROXIMUS 1030 Brussels Brussels www.proximus.com • RAINCODE 1000 Brussels Brussels www.raincode.com • • RDL SYSTEMS 1200 Brussels Brussels www.rdlfile.com • REAL IMPACT ANALYTICS BELGIUM 1050 Brussels Brussels realimpactanalytics.com • REUNIT 6180 Courcelles Wallonia www.reunit.net • SAGACIFY 1040 Brussels Brussels sagacify.com • SAGE 4020 Liège Wallonia www.sage.be • SECUREIT 8020 Oostkamp Flanders www.secure-it.be • SELLIGENT 1420 Braine-l'Alleud Wallonia www.selligent.com • SELLSPAD 1030 Brussels Brussels www.sellspad.com • SENTENIAL 1070 Brussels Brussels www.sentenial.com • SIGN2PAY.COM 2000 Antwerpen Flanders sign2pay.com • SILICON BRAIN 4430 Ans Wallonia www.silicon-brain.com • SILVERFIN 9000 Gent Flanders www.getsilverfin.com • SIRIUS INSIGHT 1435 Mont-Saint-Guibert Wallonia www.siriusinsight.be • SIXDOTS / BELGIAN MOBILE WALLET 1000 Brussels Brussels www.sixdots.be • • SOFT&LOG 4671 Barchon Wallonia www.softlog.net • SOFTWARE A.G. BELGIUM 1170 Brussels Brussels www.softwareag.com/be • • SOGETI BELGIUM 1140 Brussels Brussels www.sogeti.be • SOPRA BANKING SOFTWARE 6900 Marche-en-Famenne Wallonia www.soprabanking.com • SOPRA BANKING SOFTWARE 1150 Brussels Brussels www.soprabanking.com • STEEPCONSULT 1000 Brussels Brussels www.steepconsult.com • • STRATEGIE DE L'INFORMATION 1040 Brussels Brussels - •

59 DIRECTORY OF COMPANIES

TITLE ZIP CITY REGION SITE INFRASTRUCTURE PAYMENT CYBERSECURITY BIG DATA FRONT-END & BACK-END SOLUTIONS BACK-END & FRONT-END

SWALLOW TECH 1410 Waterloo Wallonia www.swallowtech.com • SWAN INSIGHTS 1200 Brussels Brussels swan.business • SWIFT 1310 La Hulpe Wallonia www.swift.com • SYBEX INTERNATIONAL 1050 Brussels Brussels www.emailplanning.com • SYNTIGO 1070 Brussels Brussels www.syntigo.com • • SYSTEMAT 1380 Lasne Wallonia www.systemat.com • TEMENOS BELGIUM 1310 La Hulpe Wallonia www.temenos.com • THE EID COMPANY 1000 Brussels Brussels www.eidcompany.be • • THE GLUE 2550 Kontich Flanders theglue.com • • TOP SYSTEM 1030 Brussels Flanders www.topsystem.be • TRASYS 1200 Brussels Brussels www.trasys.be • • TRASYS 4040 Herstal Wallonia www.trasys.be • • TRUSTED FAMILY 1000 Brussels Brussels www.trustedfamily.net • TWIKEY 8020 Oostkamp Flanders www.twikey.com • ULTIM TECHNOLOGIES 1050 Brussels Brussels - • • UNIFIEDPOST 1310 La Hulpe Wallonia www.unifiedpost.com • UNITED NETWORKS 1040 Brussels Brussels www.unitednetworks.be • • UNIWAY 1932 Sint-Stevens-Woluwe Flanders www.uniway.be • VADIS 1190 Brussels Brussels www.vadis.com • • VASCO DATA SECURITY 1780 Wemmel Flanders www.vasco.com • VISION CONSULTING GROUP 1380 Lasne Wallonia www.visionitgroup.com •

VITAL MANAGEMENT AND 1030 Brussels Brussels www.vimatech.be • TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT

VOXBONE 1050 Brussels Brussels www.voxbone.com • WALLONIE DATA CENTER (WDC) 4530 Villers-le-Bouillet Wallonia www.waldc.be • WIN 5100 Wierde Wallonia www.win.be • WINBOOKS 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve Wallonia www.winbooks.be/fr • WORLDCALL 1080 Brussels Brussels www.worldcall.be • WORLDLINE 1130 Brussels Brussels be.worldline.com • • • XELINK 1200 Brussels Brussels www.xelink.net • XORLOGICS 1050 Brussels Brussels www.xorlogics.com • XPENDITURE 2800 Mechelen Flanders xpenditure.com • YELIDO 4342 Hognoul Wallonia www.yelido.be •

60 BELGIAN DIGITAL BANK NG TECHNOLOGIES

FIGURES

FIGURE 1 IMPORTANCE OF THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY IN THE BELGIAN ECONOMY (END OF 2014) 6

FIGURE 2 NUMBER OF BANKS REGISTERED IN BELGIUM (END OF 2015) 7

FIGURE 3 DISTRIBUTION OF 82 FOREIGN BANKS IN BELGIUM ACCORDING TO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN (END OF 2015) 7

FIGURE 4 INTERNATIONALISATION OF THE BANKING POPULATION (%, END OF 2014) 7

FIGURE 5 GEOGRAPHICAL SPREAD OF THE 87 FOREIGN OFFICES OF BELGIAN BANKS (END OF 2014) 8

FIGURE 6 NUMBER OF ATMS PER MILLION INHABITANTS (END OF 2014) 8

FIGURE 7 NUMBER OF BANK BRANCHES 9

FIGURE 8 NUMBER OF REGISTERED ONLINE BANKING AND MOBILE BANKING SUBSCRIPTIONS (IN MILLIONS) 9

FIGURE 9 KEY FIGURES OF THE DIGITAL SECTOR IN BELGIUM (2013) 10

FIGURE 10 CLASSIFICATION OF THE 28 EU COUNTRIES ACCORDING TO DESI (2016) 12

FIGURE 11 BELGIUM’S PERFORMANCE BY DESI CRITERIA (2016) 12

FIGURE 12 SEGMENTATION OF FINTECH BY CUSTOMER TYPE AND ACTIVITY (2015) 14

FIGURE 13 INVESTMENTS IN FINTECH (IN USD BILLIONS) 14

THANK YOU

The Belgian Foreign Trade Agency wishes to thank the following contributors to this publication:

FPS Foreign Affairs

Flanders Investment & Trade

Wallonia Export - Investment Agency

Brussels Invest & Export

Agence du Numérique

Agoria Banking Technology Club

Belgian Finance Club

Eggsplore

Febelfin

Infopole Cluster TIC

as well as the companies which have kindly agreed to give a testimonial.

Belgian Foreign Trade Agency Rue Montoyer 3 1000 Brussels Belgium T +32 2 206 35 11 [email protected] www.abh-ace.be

FPS Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Rue des Petits Carmes 15 1000 Brussels Belgium T +32 2 501 81 11 diplomatie.belgium.be

Flanders Investment & Trade Boulevard du Roi Albert II 37 1030 Brussels Belgium T +32 2 504 87 11 www.flandersinvestmentandtrade.com

Wallonia Export - Investment Agency Place Sainctelette 2 1080 Brussels Belgium T +32 2 421 82 11 www.awex.be

Brussels Invest & Export Avenue Louise 500/4 1050 Brussels Belgium T +32 2 800 40 00 www.invest-export.irisnet.be