Speaker introduction: Dan McCrum, the journalist who brought down Wirecard

McCrum is the award-winning FT journalist responsible for exposing one of the biggest corporate frauds in recent history. His six-year investigation into Wirecard, hailed as Germany’s answer to Silicon Valley, led to the collapse of the €24bn fintech and completely transformed Germany’s financial industry.

“Would you be interested in some German gangsters?”, was the tantalising tip from a hedge fund manager in 2014 that kicked off McCrum’s investigation. What followed was a six year saga like no other, as McCrum and his colleagues delved ever deeper into Wirecard’s shady practices, uncovering hacking, espionage, attempted bribes and more. His story truly is stranger than fiction.

In 2020 Dan McCrum was named Journalist of the Year at the British Journalism Awards in recognition of his ground-breaking reporting on Wirecard, and received our own AltFi Special Industry Contribution Award. He was also awarded the Ludwig Erhard Prize for Economic Journalism and the Impact Award for Distinguished Financial Journalism from the New York Financial Writers’ Association, amongst other accolades. McCrum will recount his story in greater depth than ever in his upcoming book Money Men: A Hot Startup, A Billion Dollar Fraud, A Fight for the Truth.

Attendees can also look forward to hearing from various other speakers at this year’s Festival of Finance. The line-up includes Helen Bierton, Chief Banking Officer at Starling Bank, exploring what incumbent financial institutions can learn from their fintech rivals in a Day 2 panel discussion. Alan Chang, Chief Revenue Officer at Revolut, will examine the role of Web3 in the open banking ecosystem in a panel discussion on Day 1. Finally, PensionBee’s Chief Engagement Officer Clare Reilly will delve into whether fintech can be a force for environmental good during a Day 1 panel discussion.

Taking place on 27-28 April, AltFi’s Festival of Finance 2022 will explore the most captivating market trends in the fintech industry. Join us for a series of keynotes, fireside chats, AMAs, and panels with some of the greatest minds in the fintech sphere.

Tickets are now sold out, but you can register for our waiting list here.