iPiD has been announced as the 2023 Fintech Zone winner and were handed their award by Mark Wilson, the sales and marketing director of Otoma, who won the trophy in 2022. The judges were impressed by their solution that validates payee accounts and handles data to identify and manage fraud and failed payments. Their mission is to make cross border payments secure and seamless, and they have the solution to make this a reality. iPiD was formed in late 2021 and is based in the Netherlands. This is the sixth year that Finextra has organised the Fintech Zone, which supports innovative solutions that early stage fintechs can provide. Over 70 applications were received from 17 countries, and these were narrowed down to 16 fintechs from 11 countries. All finalists attended EBAday with the opportunity to network and were given a five minute slot to pitch to judges and an audience. The judges selected the fintech firm they viewed as having the most innovative offering. The EBAday 2023 Fintech Zone judges were: • Kevin Brown, independent non-executive director, Bank of England • Teresa Connors, Payment Matters • Michael Knetsch, Tribe Lead Instant, Deutsche Bank • Vincent Brennan, transformation director banking and payments, Accenture • Mark Wilson, sales and marketing director, Otoma The 15 other finalists were Centiglobe, CheckMate, CoinScrap Finance, Devengo, Enable Banking, Financial Networks Analytics (FNA), Hedgeflows, Mifundo, Request to Pay, RISE, Saffe, Sileon AB, TradeIn Technologies, TreasurUp, and Treasury Delta. All finalists have promising products or proof-of-concepts across AI, fraud prevention, risk management, SaaS, BNPL, AI facial biometrics, confirmation of payee, and financial inclusion. Daniel Szmukler, EBA director, said: “There is now a clear need for collaboration between banks and fintechs to create a ‘win-win’ model wherein the unique and complementary strengths of both come together to improve and deliver new services and experiences to customers, and keep pace with the expectations and innovation they look for.” On their win, Alain Raes, founding partner and chief, iPiD, said: "We have proved that we can create a solution that the market needs."  Congratulations iPiD!