Frequently Asked Questions

Efma, a not-for-profit association formed in 1971 by bankers and insurers, specialises in retail financial marketing and distribution. Today, more than 3,000 brands in 130 countries are Efma members, including over 80% of Europe’s largest retail financial institutions.

No, the awards are open to banks across the globe. In 2021 we had 816 entries from 275 banks in 73 countries.

Every month before the awards close for entries, we select a ‘Submission of the Month’. The winner benefits from immediate shortlisting in the top 9 of its category; a communication campaign via the Efma website, its e-newsletter, Innovation Awards Portal and social media. Innovation of the Month awards are reserved for Efma members.

Yes, it is free and fast. Please go to www.efma.com/account in order to create your account. You can then start the submission process.

For full access you need to be an Efma member. To find out more about becoming a member, please contact memberservices@efma.com

Yes. The Awards are open to all financial services institutions.

No. The Awards are reserved for banking and payment institutions. If you want to submit a project developed with a banking or payment institution, please ask the banking or payment institution to submit it for you.

Participation is free of charge.

No, by making a submission you will be entered into both competitions.

No, you have to submit in the category that is most suitable for your innovation.

You can submit this and this will be published on the Innovation Awards Portal, but only innovations launched or significantly updated after 1 January 2020 are eligible for the 2022 awards.

Yes, but the project/innovation must be at least in its pilot phase with some clear outcomes already realised.

Yes, but only to a limited extent, since all financial institutions that are Efma members have full access to submission forms.

You can include word documents, PDFs, PowerPoints, JPGs and PNGs as well as URLs. Please only use YouTube URLs for videos.

The Efma committee will evaluate the innovations and rate them on a scale from 1 to 10 taking the three following criteria into account: Originality: the uniqueness of the idea in the marketplace and its potential as a game changer; Impact: the innovation’s capacity to generate a superior, long-term competitive edge and a significant return on investment; and Universality: the innovation’s adaptability across different markets and countries.

An Efma Awards Committee will select the top-9 nominees per category after the deadline.

For all but the Global Innovator category, Efma members and non-members will vote using a dedicated web page to select the top three entries. This will make up 50% of the final scores (40% from Efma members and 10% from non-members). The remaining 50% will come from the votes of an Awards Jury, which comprises senior bank executives from across the world.

For the Neobanks & Specialized Players category, online voters and jury members will shortlist six innovations out of the nine nominated ones. The six shortlisted innovators will present their innovations to award ceremony participants who will then cast their votes and the winner will be announced at the event.

For the Global Innovator category, the Awards Jury will select the winner from the nominees identified by the Awards Committee

The ceremony will take place during November 2022, with the venue and format to be confirmed at a later date.

Participation is restricted to the winners & is free of charge.