Pub. 11 2021 Issue 2

17 PUB. 11 2021 ISSUE 2 creating the sandbox. The AzBA played a major role in helping to craft the bill with the AG’s staff and State Representative Jeff Weninger. The AzBA was also highly involved in shepherding the bill through the legislative process and to the governor for signature. Since then, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and Florida have also enacted versions of fintech sandboxes. Oklahoma and South Carolina currently have pending legislation to create sandboxes. And Georgia and North Carolina are also looking at creating them in their states. What appears to differentiate Arizona’s program from these other states is that Arizona does not restrict participation to Arizona businesses. This lack of a domicile requirement is what we think will attract more fintech companies from all over the country and the world to Arizona than these other states. Foreground The Arizona Fintech Council program participants will necessarily fall into one of three groups: the fintech companies seeking a partnership with one or more financial institutions (FIs) to do a Proof of Concept (POC) and apply to the Arizona Attorney General’s Fintech Sandbox; the FIs seeking to evaluate those fintech companies; and the public policy stakeholder groups seeking to make the state’s sandbox program successful. More on them below. Our partners at CCG have team members throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. They advise banks on fintech related to partnering, investing and acquiring. The firm works with various accelerators and incubator programs. They speak at banking and fintech conferences around the world that attract companies seeking to test fintech products and services in major markets. These fintech companies are looking for FIs that are already integrated into the regulatory regimes of their operating jurisdictions for working partnerships in order to deploy their wares, seek investment, and potentially be acquired by FIs with the economic scale to distribute their products and services. The partnership will rely on CCG to identify the relevant fintech companies, analyze their products and services and business plans — and qualify them to present to the Council before applying for admission to the Arizona Fintech Sandbox. AzBA staff will work with the CCG team to promote membership in the Council to FIs in Arizona and throughout the country. Ideally, the Council will be populated by subject matter experts from the member FIs seeking to evaluate the fintech companies’ products and services and potentially partner with these companies in the Sandbox and possibly invest in or acquire them. The third group of participants may constitute subject matter experts from the public policy stakeholder groups seeking to make the Arizona Fintech Sandbox program successful. These include members of the economic development community, relevant trade associations, chambers of commerce, government, and universities throughout the state. AzBA has initially identified the following groups to approach and gauge their interest in participating in the Council: The Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC); Sun Corridor, Inc. (which is the corollary to GPEC in southern Arizona); the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA); the Arizona Technology Council; ASU’s innovation center known as SkySong; The University of Arizona’s Center for Innovation; the economic development director of the City of Phoenix; and the Arizona, Phoenix, and Tucson Chambers of Commerce. Program Design As currently conceptualized, we anticipate the Arizona Fintech Council hosting three or four day-long meetings annually where each fintech company will have 60 minutes to showcase and Q&A their concept, solution and services. They will present their plans for utilizing the Arizona Fintech Sandbox. And they will make their case for a POC partnership with one or more of the financial institutions participating in the Council. The CCG staff will produce a background memorandum on each fintech company scheduled to make a presentation to the Council. These memoranda will provide basic information on the companies and the product or service they intend to test in the sandbox. The memos will be distributed to the members of the Council in advance of each meeting. The presentations will be at a high-altitude, summary level designed to gauge the interest of the individual councilmember FIs in potential POC partnerships with the presenting fintech companies. These initial presentations will not be at a depth-of-information level that will Our partners at CCG have team members throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. They advise banks on fintech related to partnering, investing and acquiring. The firm works with various accelerators and incubator programs. Continued on page 18