The Banking Tech Awards 2026 has assembled a judging panel of more than 50 executives, founders, investors and technology specialists from across the financial services industry.
It is a wide-ranging group. Banking infrastructure, payments, artificial intelligence, regulatory technology, cloud engineering and digital transformation are all represented. That matters because the awards are not being judged from a single corner of fintech. The panel includes people who build products, run banks, manage risk, invest in companies and deal with the less glamorous realities of deploying financial technology at scale.
A Panel Drawn From Across Financial Services
The Banking Tech Awards 2026 judges include representatives from major banks, established technology companies, credit unions, consultancies, fintech firms and industry organisations.
Among the names highlighted are George Panou, Head of Innovation at Eurobank; Phoebe Zhou, Global Head of Client Solutions for Europe at HSBC; Yash Gandhi, Vice President of Cloud Platform Engineering at Morgan Stanley; and Søren Rode Jain Andreasen, Head of Daily Banking and Channels at Nordea.
The panel also features Carrie Rutland, Head of Fintech Tax and Innovation and Technology Partner at BDO; Joel Blake OBE, Founder and CEO of GFA Exchange; Patricia Webber, CEO of PW International Ventures; and Traci Michel, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Strategy Officer at Metro Credit Union.
It is not a tidy panel built around one type of career. That is probably the point.
Banking Technology Is Getting Harder to Judge
A slick mobile interface is no longer enough to separate a serious banking technology project from an expensive redesign.
Modern entries may involve core banking migrations, embedded finance, fraud prevention, real-time payments, artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure or years of operational work hidden behind a relatively simple customer experience.
The judges therefore carry a fairly awkward responsibility. They must look beyond announcements and polished case studies, then decide whether a project created meaningful change. Was the technology deployed? Did customers actually use it? Did it reduce costs, improve resilience or solve a problem that existed outside the presentation deck?
A panel spanning banking, fintech, paytech, regtech and AI gives the awards a better chance of answering those questions properly.
Familiar Institutions, Independent Industry Voices
Several globally recognised financial institutions are represented on the 2026 panel, including HSBC, Citi, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, Visa, Nordea, Eurobank and Bradesco.
There are also judges from companies and organisations such as Kyndryl, NTT Data, 10x Future Technologies, SDK.finance, Passion Capital, Nymbus, Raisin UK and the Asia Institute of Digital Finance.
That mixture is useful. Large banks understand procurement, compliance and complex technology estates. Founders understand speed, product risk and the uncomfortable early stages of building something new. Investors bring another filter entirely. Academics and advisers tend to ask different questions again.
It may not produce unanimous opinions. Good.
What the Judges Will Be Looking For
The organisers describe the judging process as a search for innovation, creativity and measurable impact across financial technology.
In practical terms, strong entries will likely need more than a bold claim. Judges will expect evidence that the nominated technology worked in a real financial environment, served a clear purpose and produced an outcome worth recognising.
That could be improved customer access, faster payments, stronger fraud controls, a successful platform migration or a smarter approach to operating costs. The technology does not necessarily need to be loud. Some of the most important work in banking is almost invisible when it functions properly.
Banking Tech Awards Nominations Close on July 24
The nomination deadline for the Banking Tech Awards 2026 has been extended to July 24, 2026.
The awards ceremony is scheduled for December 3, 2026, at the Hilton Park Lane in London. The event has recognised achievements in financial technology since 1999 and attracts entries from companies around the world.
Banks, fintech companies, technology providers and individuals still preparing entries have a narrow window left. The organisers provide an entry guide covering categories, key dates, nomination requirements and tips for preparing a submission.
A Bigger Panel Raises the Stakes
Awards panels are easy to dismiss when the judging process feels distant from the industry being judged.
That criticism is harder to make here. The Banking Tech Awards 2026 panel contains people working directly in product development, banking operations, payments, investment, cloud engineering, regulation and financial innovation.
More judges do not automatically mean better decisions. Different experience, however, tends to expose weak claims quickly.
For this year’s entrants, the message is fairly clear: vague innovation language probably will not survive the room.
Sources
- FinTech Futures — Meet the Banking Tech Awards judges raising the bar
- Banking Tech Awards — Official 2026 event website
- Banking Tech Awards — 2026 judging panel