Balgarianovinite.com A 2026 Sofia Strategic Finance Forum took place here on Thursday. It was organized by C4BG2, a network of leading Bulgarian professionals and academics of over 100 countries, jointly with Bloomberg TV and in partnership with the Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency.
The initiative aims to transform Sofia into a global FinTech hub and position Bulgaria as a source and generator of financial innovation. The forum brings together the expertise of the Bulgarian diaspora, corporate leaders and the dynamic entrepreneurial and venture capital ecosystem in the region to create an environment in which Bulgarian companies can grow, connect, and export innovations to global markets. The main mission of the initiative is the export of FinTech innovations by focusing on a specific niche in which Bulgaria can achieve global leadership, supported by a network of over 50 Bulgarian professors at prestigious universities and over 1,000 professionals in New York, London, Singapore, Hong Kong, Zurich, Frankfurt, Paris, Dubai and other key financial centres.
Thursday’s speakers included Dr Stanley Gyoshev of Exeter Business School, Prof. James Smith of SMU Texas, Konstantin Dzhengozov of Payhawk, bankers Iliya Lingorski and Kalin Hristov, and insurers Svetla Nestorova and Nikolay Stanchev.
President’s Opening Address
“We are all rallied behind the common cause of making Bulgaria a modern, competitive and high-tech country,” said Bulgarian President Iliana Iotova as she opened the forum.
“To say today that we live in a world of profound national, European, and geostrategic imbalances would not be enough,” the head of State pointed out. “Challenges arise daily, they are always new, and we must be flexible to overcome them. These are not merely challenges, as everyone can see that we live in a world of profound crises and conflicts; the pressure is immense and mounting every day,” she argued.
“The war in the Middle East over the past two months has posed new challenges to the world with new challenges, with a wide range of often conflicting impacts and projections. Unfortunately, though, the common thread running through these projections is not particularly positive in terms of the conflict’s consequences,” the President noted.
“Sustainable development is achieved through effective institutions, transparent rules, trust between government and business, and business investment in knowledge, innovation, and human capital,” said Iotova. She assured the forum’s organizers that the positive cooperation between them and the presidential office’s economic team would continue.
“We need a very precise analysis of the interdependencies we face, interdependencies that for decades have even driven growth: supply chains, production, production conditions, the workforce, and product sales. But for several years now, we have been living in a completely new international order, which has put to the test precisely the system we were accustomed to dealing with,” the President went on to say.
“For many years, Europe benefited by getting its energy supplies from a single country. This one-sided dependence has led to very serious consequences. Economic development is impossible without diversification. Only in the last ten years has Europe begun to develop its own programmes and strategies for diversification, something that has not yet been achieved, and the results are not yet what we would like them to be,” Iotova observed.
“To make artificial intelligence element of production rather than a means of human subjugation, we are aware that we must make a decisive shift towards global industrialization,” said the head of State. “Developing the industry properly, along with artificial intelligence, will require a lot of energy, a lot of water, and a lot of trained people,” she added. “At this point, there is not a single serious European artificial intelligence platform. In this regard, Bulgaria has significant potential and a powerful orientation: a developing startup ecosystem, and a traditionally very strong IT sector. An institute like INSAIT and a company like Endurosat prove that Bulgaria can be a source of global innovation.”
“Bulgaria’s most valuable asset is its people, and our task is to turn it into a national asset and create conditions for young and talented Bulgarians to build their future in Bulgaria. There is a very positive trend, as more and more young people who have worked in IT abroad are returning to Bulgaria,” Iliana Iotova stated at the 2026 Sofia Strategic Finance Forum. Strategic Finance Forum Seeks to Turn Sofia into Global Hub of FinTech Innovations 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-05-21 16:23:44 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law
