Ideas around children’s finance, Going Dutch and alternative banking cards won the prizes at Ulster Bank’s annual Hackathon, which challenges software developers to generate new ideas, solutions and prototypes for the bank.

Over 130 attendees gathered for #hackmakethebank weekend in Dublin’s Dogpatch Labs.

The opening session generated a wide range of concepts which were then distilled into 14 ideas. The teams then worked throughout the weekend to develop software applications using a number of APIs including a prototype of the RBS API ‘Blue Bank’ and the Open Bank Project API system.

Each group was mentored by technical, design, investor and other advisers from SWIFT, CurrencyFair, Bookbuzz, Zendesk, Each and Other, Temenos, RBS and Ulster Bank to help them to sharpen their ideas into a proposition to pitch to the judges on Sunday afternoon.

Robin Marshall, CIO, Ulster Bank and member of the judging panel, said: “Engaging with the FinTech community in a collaborative way is essential for Ulster Bank as we strive to become the number one bank for customer service, trust and advocacy.”

In Association with

Pictured above with Robin Marshall are the ‘Gift, Graft, Grow’ team of Fabio Oliveira, Connor Murray, Samuel Teixeira and Denis Oliveira. (Pic: Shane O'Neill)