The sixth annual Frankfurt Digital Finance (FDF) Conference commenced on February 12, 2025, in Frankfurt, uniting Europe's digital finance ecosystem. The event attracted over 1,000 participants from Europe, the USA, and Hong Kong, featuring over 100 speakers from 15 countries over two days.

Just like last year, the Contextual Solutions team and partners were there to feel the pulse of the German fintech ecosystem. Check out our learnings from the event:

Day One Highlights

The conference began with a welcome address by Corinna Egerer, Founder & Managing Partner of FDF Conferences, followed by an opening keynote from Alexandre Prot, Co-Founder & CEO of Qonto.

Alexandre Prot, Co-Founder & CEO of Qonto, delivering the opening keynote speech. Corinna Egerer, Founder & Managing Partner of Frankfurt Digital Finance, is seated beside him.

Discussions centered on topics shaping the financial sector's future, including:

Regulatory Developments: Emphasis on the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), the Electronic Securities Act, and the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation.
Artificial Intelligence (AI): Exploration of AI's growing significance in banking, with institutions like ING Germany and DZ Bank presenting their pilot AI projects.

Notably, presentations by traditional banks were considered less inspiring, while fintech leaders like Qonto and Brite delivered engaging and motivational talks.

Day Two Highlights

The second day, themed "Time to Act for Europe," commenced with a keynote by Piero Cipollone, Executive Board Member of the European Central Bank (ECB). He underscored the importance of innovation in stablecoins and the Digital Euro project to ensure timeless, borderless, and scalable financial solutions.

Burkhard Balz, Executive Board Member of the Deutsche Bundesbank, highlighted the Digital Euro's role in enhancing resilience, autonomy, and independence within Europe's monetary system and single market. He pointed out that many international payments in Europe rely on non-European systems, particularly those based in the U.S., which undermines the single market's autonomy and incurs high costs.

The day's sessions also featured panels with leading German banks, where it was suggested that bank executives should develop AI literacy alongside financial and digital competencies. Additionally, discussions covered the integration of payment systems like Wero with the Digital Euro to facilitate seamless transactions for European citizens.

Slide from a presentation at Frankfurt Digital Finance, emphasizing the need to rethink banking.

Throughout the conference, topics such as fintech financing and investments, cryptocurrency, decentralized finance (DeFi), tokenization, open finance, payments, and AI were thoroughly examined. The event successfully fostered collaboration and idea exchange among key stakeholders in Europe's digital finance landscape.

Event Wrap Up

Here are the key messages of the Frankfurt Digital Finance 2025:

We need an integrated Europe, driving digital finance, bridging market gaps and building a common capital market.
Digital finance matters as a key driver of economic resilience, the green transition, and financial inclusion.
By mobilizing private investment, we can unlock our full potential to benefit European citizens and businesses.
Pragmatism rather than ideology is required - long-term investments must be predictable and reliable.
The French-German connection can act as a catalyst for integration of the European financial market.
Europe needs more courage and cooperation.
AI, regulation, digital assets, as well as digital money, and the evolving digital landscape, have chances and challenges ahead that we need to discuss – but as an opportunity and not a risk discussion.

Do you agree?

The FDF Conference continues to serve as a pivotal platform for driving innovation and collaboration within the European digital finance sector. Mark your calendars for the 2026 edition – February 11th and 12th, 2026.

FDF Side Events

On February 11th, TechQuartier hosted two popular FDF side events: the embedded finance meetup and the ecosystem gathering, including ecosystem representatives 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗻, 𝗦𝗰𝗼𝘁𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗮, and Türkiye.

FinTech Istanbul was represented by our Founder, Elif Kocaoglu Ulbrich. She presented the Turkish ecosystem and its perks and invited the attendees to the FinTech Istanbul B2B Connect Summit.

Elif Kocaoglu Ulbrich at Fintech Istanbul

On February 12th, the Frankfurt Digital Finance traditional post-event party took place at the Palmengarten. You can check the pictures using this link.

Here is a bunch of our snapshots: