The 9th Edition of the LTS FinTech Hackathon: Impressive Projects, As Always

Young students in Luxembourg need improved access to educational programs that teach them how to manage their finances and understand the financial industry. In the FinTech module, part of LTS Level 1, students learn about app design, user experience (UX), and web security so they can prototype their own banking solutions.
The highlight of the module is the FinTech Hackathon. Organised in partnership with Fondation ABBL pour l’éducation financière and the LHoFT, it is a full weekend in which students choose ideas to develop together and transform into digital solution demos.

On the final day of the hackathon, each team presents their prototype to an expert jury. This year’s jury included Daniela Ragni (André Losch Fondation); Alex Panican (The LHoFT); Jessica Thyrion (ABBL); Hélène Lange (ABBL); and Claude Marx (Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier – CSSF). We were extremely pleased to have them on board.

Before the pitch competition, students received mentoring support from Ali L., Antonio De Sensi and Marco Busoni (Amazon); Julien Jenoudet (BoardiGO); Jean-Richard Audin (Edmond de Rothschild); Frederic Valentin (Société Générale Private Banking); Veronika Vinogradova (PhD, University of Luxembourg); Wasim Baig (Lycée Michel Lucius); and Christina Agudo (CFA).
Luxembourg’s Minister of Finance, Gilles Roth, also joined the event and awarded prizes to the winning teams, along with certificates to all students who completed their LTS program.

Here is an overview of the winning teams and the main features of their projects:

• “Harvest” – Third place:
  A saving and investing app. Each amount you spend is rounded up, and the difference is automatically set aside to be saved or invested.

• “Future You” – Second place:
  An AI-powered personal retirement forecasting app. It estimates the amount you’ll need to cover the gap between your desired early retirement age and the official pension age. It also calculates the shortfall between your expected pension and desired income. Using these two numbers, the app determines the total amount you need to save and how much to set aside each month until retirement.

• “LockIn” – First place:
  A smart budgeting app that locks your money until you reach specific personal goals, such as spending three hours learning a new language. A buddy system ensures accountability: a friend must verify that the goal was truly completed.

• “Step by Step” – Special prize:
  A wishlist-based budgeting app that unlocks wishlist items only when the user’s budget allows it. The demo included a feature estimating how long an item would be postponed if the user decided to spend money elsewhere instead.

The FinTech module continues to be a key gateway for students in Luxembourg to learn about the financial sector and to become active contributors to solutions that address real-world issues. We are excited to broaden opportunities for young students to discover fintech and to support them in developing inventive ideas from an early age.