Europe’s leading fintech show brought together the global financial industry to share its vision on the future of payments. Paul Selibas, President: Project Engineering at Ukheshe shares his insights on the event.
Money 20/20 is the world’s foremost sales and connections event for the global money ecosystem. It is where industry experts and newcomers alike get together and share innovations, challenge the status quo and brainstorm new ideas.
The Ukheshe team was there and, after taking in the amazing setup of the show – and the delicious food – made the most of the in-person networking opportunities. “I really enjoyed being back at a face-to-face event. It was a great opportunity to meet with our partners, such as Synthesis, socialise with potential investors and get to know our competition,” says Ukheshe’s Paul Selibas.
The big themes this year included:
Banks need to be future-proofed
After the disruption of the last two years, the need for banks to innovate remains a hot topic. Ana Botín, Executive Chairwoman at Santander Group & PagoNxt gave a talk about the issues impacting banks today and questioned whether regulators need to overhaul their approach to the banking ecosystem.
Customers are at the heart of business
Today’s financial services companies need to align themselves with their users’ values, according to Tom Greenwood, CEO at VOLT, while Shola Akinlade, Co-founder and CEO at Paystack, spoke about building a payments startup with consumer trust at the centre from the get-go. According to Frederique Slevin, Vice President and Head of Retail Payments Product Management at ACI Worldwide, it is the consumer that will drive the successful adoption of any payment solution.
Brands should be built strategically
As open finance and increased access to data helps to create more aggregators and connected platforms in the market, businesses need to build their brands strategically with the company goals in mind. According to Dora Ziambra, Chief Operating Officer at Azimo, brands are crucial, particularly for fintechs and new entrants to the market who need to build customer trust and loyalty.
Overall, Selibas felt it was a high quality and successful event, and it opened up a few doors for Ukheshe. “It was well worth our time to be there. And the amazing food made it all the more worthwhile,” he smiles.