The South African Reserve Bank (SARB), in collaboration with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), today announced the winners of the 2025 G20 TechSprint challenge on trust and integrity in scalable and open finance.
Hosted under South Africa’s G20 Presidency, the 2025 G20 TechSprint marks the first time the global innovation initiative has taken place on African soil. The competition sought to identify practical, technology-driven solutions to enhance trust, integrity and inclusion in the global financial system.
The G20 TechSprint is a joint initiative between the G20 Presidency and the BIS Innovation Hub, designed to harness innovation in addressing challenges facing central banks and regulators worldwide.
Launched in May 2025, the TechSprint invited innovators, entrepreneurs, developers, data scientists and financial sector experts from around the world to respond to three problem statements jointly developed by the SARB and BIS Innovation Hub. The problem statements focused on:
- digital identity solutions to establish trust among financial institutions through verifiable and privacy-preserving technologies;
- credit data portability to improve small and medium-sized enterprises’ access to finance through secure, consumer-consented data exchange mechanisms; and
- fraud and cyber-risk mitigation in fast payment systems to promote the secure and inclusive adoption of instant payment systems.
An independent panel of experts assessed the submissions during an in-person judging session held in Pretoria. The three winning teams were selected from among more than 165 entries submitted by participants from over 30 countries and jurisdictions.
The winners were:
- Team Ownapay SA (Proprietary) Limited, from South Africa, for Problem statement 1: Digital identity solutions – establishing trust among financial institutions through innovative, verifiable and privacy-preserving digital identity technologies.
- Team Silence Laboratories Pte. Ltd., from Singapore, for Problem statement 2: Credit data portability – improving access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises through secure, consumer-consented data exchange mechanisms that enable seamless cross-border sharing of credit information.
- Team FNA and Proto, from the United Kingdom, for Problem statement 3: Fraud and cyber-risk mitigation for fast payments – promoting wider adoption of fast payment systems globally while enhancing fraud prevention and cyber resilience to advance financial inclusion.
The TechSprint exemplifies the power of global collaboration in advancing innovation that strengthens trust, resilience and financial integrity. Under South Africa’s G20 Presidency, the initiative reflects the SARB’s commitment to inclusive innovation, cross-border cooperation and the responsible use of technology to address emerging challenges in the financial sector.
To watch the awards ceremony, click here: https://bit.ly/TechSprint2025_AwardsYT
