Formerly Known As: Fintech Retreat and DeFi Retreat
The Financial Club Retreat
The 16th gathering convenes on: January 25, 2027 - San Francisco, California
A curated gathering for senior leaders across fintech, banking, digital assets, AI, financial infrastructure, capital, policy, risk, venture and compliance.
The program is crafted around high-trust conversations, practical market insight, and meaningful relationship-building.
The Financial Club Retreat is the evolution of the globally recognized Fintech Retreat and DeFi Retreat.
Over the years, we’ve refined a signature format—intimate, curated gatherings that have set a high standard in the financial services industry worldwide.
This retreat honors that legacy while continuing to create spaces where the right people meet with purpose.
Previous Guests include:
Congressman Tom Emmer (Majority Whip of the United States House of Representatives)
Jelena McWilliams (during her tenure as Chairman, FDIC)
Brian Brooks (during his tenure as Comptroller, OCC)
Mike Hsu (during his tenure as Comptroller, OCC)
Zachary Perret (Co-Founder& CEO, Plaid)
Angela Strange (partner, a16z)
Giles Gade (CEO, Crossriver)
Wade Arnold (CEO, Moov)
Patrick HIllman (during his tenure as CSO, Binance)
Dr. Lisa Cameron (during her tenure as MP, UK Parliament)
and other leaders in the industry
The Format
One room. 175 senior leaders. Once a year.
The Retreat is relationship-first by design — closer to a private gathering than a conference, with most of the value in who is in the room and how the interactions are structured around them.
Open Access
Every participant has the same standing, with organic networking across everyone present, from arrival through to the close.
Briefings, Roundtables & the Industry Hot Seats
Short, senior-led briefings on where finance is heading, followed by small-group roundtables under the Chatham House Rule — matched by interest, candid by construction. The program closes with the Industry Hot Seat: a 45-minute panel and open Q&A with a leading voice in finance.
Who Attends
The Retreat is curated, not open.
Attendance is balanced by design across the people building, funding, regulating, and scaling the next era of finance — so every table holds a real cross-section of the industry, not a room of lookalikes.
Founders & CEOs
Building the next generation of financial technology companies.
Investors
VCs, growth investors, strategic investors, family offices, and capital partners active in fintech, digital assets, AI, and financial infrastructure.
Policy & Public Sector Leaders
Select regulators, policymakers, and institutional voices helping shape the future of finance.
Senior Decision Makers from Financial Institutions
Banks, credit unions, asset managers, insurers, and enterprise financial services leaders exploring innovation, partnerships, and new infrastructure.
Operators & Ecosystem Leader
Senior executives across product, partnerships, strategy, compliance, payments, risk, and growth.
The industry is changing. The room matters.
Financial services is being reshaped by AI, new payment rails, digital assets, regulatory shifts, embedded finance, cybersecurity threats, and changing customer expectations.
The Retreat gives participants a private setting to discuss these changes with the people building, funding, regulating, and adopting the next generation of financial infrastructure.
This is where market understanding becomes relationship capital.
