Management consultant Accenture has partnered with the $110m New York City Investment Fund, the economic development unit of a non-profit organisation for the metropolis, to set up a seed programme for financial services technology start-ups.
The FinTech Innovation Lab will pick six entrepreneurs after the competition closes at the end of January. The six will then start a 12-week incubation in May with mentoring by senior technology executives at banks Bank of America, Barclays Capital, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, State Street and UBS. (Click for application form)
Venture capital firms Contour Venture Partners, Polaris Venture Partners, Rho Ventures, RRE Ventures, Village Ventures and Warburg Pincus can also provide investment in the entrepreneurs.
The banking and securities and investment sectors in North America alone will spend over $14bn on external software in 2011, according to data provider Celent. The US financial services industry employs nearly 233,000 technology workers, including approximately 25,000 in New York City, its investment fund said.