PAY360, the annual conference for the payments industry, returned this week with The Fintech Times in attendance. More than 1,500 people attended the packed hybrid event at the Business Design Centre in London with 100s more turning into a live Zoom stream online.
The flagship conference and exhibition of The Payments Association attracted attendees from across the entire payments value chain. Senior representatives from banks, merchants, government, investors, fintechs, FIs, card providers, consultants and solutions providers delivered fascinating insight and strong opinions in a series of panels, keynotes and fireside chats.
There was also plenty of opportunities to network and engage with new contacts or catch up with old acquaintances with two floors of exhibition stands.
As an official media partner of PAY360, The Fintech Times had the pleasure of interviewing a fine selection of industry experts from our exhibiton booth throughout the day.
But we also took the time to attend some of the excellent discussions taking place on stage with the topics of customer centricity and hyper-personalisation, open banking and innovation with purpose quickly emerging as the key talking points at this year’s event.
Spotlight on UK payments
The morning started brightly with the keynote discussion Spotlight on UK Payments Landscape with Jana Mackintosh, managing director – payments and innovation at UK Finance, Mark Nalder, head of payment strategy & service at Nationwide Building Society, Chris Hemsley, managing director of Payment Systems Regulator and Andrew Hewitt, director of payments & data solution at FIS.
They mulled over the priorities for the UK payment sector, how Covid has changed the future of payments and the best way to successfully handle emerging risk. They also highlighted why it’s important to ensure consumers and business can pay in the way they want, when they want, where they want so that everyone can participate in the payments ecosytem.
Mackintosh said: “We really need to start developing customer-centric solutions that do what people really need as this will ensure the whole ecosystem will thrive.”
While Hemsley added: “It’s all about choice and making sure people can make payments in the way they want. As an industry we need to make sure we develop technologies that deliver choice and solve real-world problems.”
Payment regulation
The morning also saw a keynote session with a trio from the FCA – the UK financial regulatory body – address their priorities for payments
Helene Oger-Zaher, payments policy manager at FCA, said: “It’s important that we consider how rules and regulations may need to change to ensure consumers are safe in an evolving landscape and that their needs are always met while effectively supporting innovation.”
Disruptive technologies
In the afternoon, a well-received session hosted by The Fintech Times’ Mark Walker discussed ‘How to Capitalise on the Adoption of Disruptive Technologies’ with panellists Jason Maude of Starling Bank, Abe Smith at Paymentology and Piers Marais from Currencycloud.
All three offered fascinating insight but Maude’s superb way of explaining disruptive technologies proved particuarly popular with the audience. His memorable quotes included:
“If your digital transformation has an end date, it will fail…Digital transformation is a constant thing that is always happening. Think of it like gardening; it’s constantly evolving.”
“It’s important to ask why is this technology here and what is its benefit, rather than use something because it’s cool. Substitute the buzzword with ‘hammer’ and see if it sounds as exciting and relevant to the customer.”
“Some companies claim to know the customer better than they know themselves, which is just creepy.”
Ensuring accessiblity
Another interesting afternoon session came from Malintha Fernando, head of digital experience and acessibility at HSBC, who gave the audience food for thought on why it’s important to consider the disabled and neuro diverse when developing innovative solutions.
“There are 1.2 billion people who identify as disabled globally and 12 million in the UK – that’s 18.6 per cent of the population so it’s important to make something digital works for the disable,” Fernando said. “Technology can truly be a great enabler of inclusivity.”
What’s next for PAY360?
The conference was so well received this year, that The Payments Assocation has announced today that the conference will return again next year – bigger and longer!
Sophia de Francesco, head of content at The Payments Association, shared on LinkedIn: “We are delighted to announce, that – given the overwhelming support and interest in PAY360 from across the payments ecosystem, and having listened to your feedback and suggestions – from 2023, PAY360 will be taking place across two days, and in a new, larger venue (at Old Billingsgate) to support the growing audience and sponsors, and an expanded conference agenda.”
