Collaboration and interoperability: The evolution of cross border payments 

• How are global banks redesigning cross-border payment infrastructure to meet rising expectations for speed, transparency, and cost efficiency? 

• How are regional differences influencing the path toward true global interoperability? 

• What could a “best-in-class” cross-border payment experience look like in five years, and what will it take to get there? 

(Moderator) Noyan Nihat, Co-CEO, Cardaq 

Chris Partridge, Head of Banks and NBFIs, Crown Agents Bank 

Damian Richardson, Head of Product Payments & Schemes, NatWest Group 

The OldTech crisis: Re-engineering capital velocity for the instant age 

By 2026, much of the first wave of fintech “innovation” has quietly become the new legacy. For lenders and financial institutions, the bottleneck to growth is no longer new products, but infrastructure that can’t keep pace with modern capital flows. 

This session explores how institutions can break the legacy trap to deliver true liquidity on demand, covering: 

• The velocity gap: Why modern capital decisions are increasingly constrained by slow, fragmented payment rails. 

•  Intelligent orchestration: How to operate across non-instant and real-time payment processes through fully managed, API-first connectivity. 
• Operational resilience: Building a robust, “future-proof” payments foundation that supports scale, reliability, and regulatory confidence as markets accelerate. 

(Moderator) Svetlana Hoffmann, Ambassador, The Payments Association 

Victor Mithouard, Senior Strategy & Delivery Director, Mambu 

Lessons from leaders: how AI, data and quality deliver successful technology outcomes in payments   

This panel brings together technology leaders from Lloyds Banking Group, The Data Company and Roq to explore how AI, data and quality support successful technology change in financial services. 

• Expect an honest, story led conversation on where quality is under pressure today, where AI and data are genuinely helping, and what organisations can do to deliver at pace while reducing the risk of technology failures.  

• You will hear real-world examples, lessons learnt, and practical takeaways to strengthen quality outcomes across payments and the financial services ecosystem. 

(Moderator) Stephen Johnson, CEO, Roq 

Richard Bishop, AI Engineering Lead, Lloyds Banking Group   

Lucille McGrath, Chief Delivery Officer, Roq 

Kali Bagary, Chairman, The Data Company 

Reading between the lines: Understanding how payments stories get framed 

Monzo tops the charts for refusing refunds”—but the data shows 34% vs 33% vs 32%. “Romance scam losses surge 35%”—but overall fraud is down.  

• Join us as we decode real headlines from the past year, explaining the editorial choices that shape industry coverage. Not misinformation—just the art of framing.  

• Learn to spot statistical noise presented as rankings.  

• Walk away with practical techniques to read payments news more critically and understand what’s really being measured behind the headlines. 

(Moderator) Jack Robertson, Data Journalist, The Payments Association 

Gina Clarke, Events Correspondent, The Fintech Times 

Ali Paterson, Founder/CEO & Editor-in-Chief, FF News

From pilot to practice: Early lessons from the GBDT pilots 

The GBDT pilots are live. Led by UK Finance, this session brings together banks involved in delivery to share what’s working in practice, the challenges they’re navigating, and what comes next for UK payments. 

Senior representative, Lloyds Banking 

The future of payments in the EU – outlook for 2026 to 2029 

Our panellists will share exclusive insights into how the EU’s payment landscape is set to evolve over the next three years, moving toward instant, highly interoperable digital transactions. 

The discussion will focus in particular on: 

• The implementation of PSD3/PSR: key impacts on the industry and on end users 

• The Digital Euro project: perspectives from both proponents and critics 

• Strong Customer Authentication (SCA): latest approaches to counter emerging forms of fraud

(Moderator) Thibault de Barsy, Vice-Chairman & General Manager, The Payments Association EU 

Meet the Association Behind PAY360 

This is your chance to meet the organisation behind PAY360. In this informal session, Ben Agnew, who is CEO of The Payments Association, will share how the association works on behalf of the sector — connecting peers, influencing policy, and providing the intelligence members rely on to make better decisions.  

Find out how members help set priorities, how the association amplifies the sector’s voice, and how its work continues long after the show doors close. 

(Moderator) Ben Agnew, CEO, The Payments Association 

Benjamin David, Head of Intelligence, The Payments Association 

Riccardo Tordera, Vice President, Policy & Government Relations, The Payments Association 

Natasha Healy, Head of projects, The Payments Association 

Chris Dempsey-Doyle, Head of Member Engagement, The Payments Association 

To be announced – more information coming soon!

Sarah Dees, CEO, My EU Pay 

Around the World in 25 minutes: A spotlight on Africa 

• How are demographic shifts and mobile-first adoption accelerating payments, fintech growth and financial inclusion across African markets? 

• Can regional payment systems deliver true interoperability and real-time settlement to support cross-border trade and integration? 

• How do FX shortages and liquidity constraints continue to limit trade, remittances and NGO flows — and what solutions are emerging? 

• Where are the highest-growth opportunities, from government payments to treasury and fintech partnerships, and how is CAB supporting regulated innovation across markets?

John Sam-Kubam, CEO for Africa, Crown Agents Bank 

Spotlight Session – Tokenisation: The Journey from Novelty to Maturity 

The financial industry has moved decisively from experimentation to execution. After years of pilots and prototypes, tokenisation is no longer a buzzword — it’s gathering real momentum and shaping a pivotal moment for the future of financial services. As regulated stablecoins, tokenised deposits, and digital assets accelerate, institutions increasingly need a neutral, standards‑driven way to connect today’s fiat rails with emerging digital networks. 

Swift’s goal is to deliver an instant and frictionless payment experience for everyone – regardless of asset, rail, chain, fiat or digital. How can we enhance today’s rails to deliver a best-in-class cross-border payments at scale, whilst also building the rails of the future, to ensure interoperability, unlock liquidity and real-time settlement, 24/7, 365 days a year? 

These new rails will be powered by a blockchain-based ledger that synchronises transactions across traditional and digital infrastructures — helping prevent fragmentation and improving predictability, safety, and scale. Building on recent trials that demonstrated synchronised fiat–stablecoin PvP and cross‑chain coordination, this session explores how a standards‑first, multi‑network approach can unlock liquidity, enable real‑time settlement, and prepare the industry for the next era of value movement. 

• Why is all this happening now? 

•  How can institutions bridge traditional payment rails with the growing universe of tokenised deposits, stablecoins, and digital assets — without fragmenting liquidity or creating parallel infrastructures? 

•  How should infrastructure evolve to support a world where value may originate as a bank deposit, become represented as a token, and settle across different networks — all within a single workflow? 

Nick Kerrigan, Head of Innovation, Swift 

VOP – 6 months later: new challenges to come! 

• Quick reminder of VOP and VOP Suite, co-developed with BNP 

• Initial feedback from the field 

Timothée Jouve, VOP Sales Consultant, Sis ID 

The Agentic Compliance Era: What Changes, What Stays 

AI is transforming compliance, but not in the ways most people expect.  

• This session cuts through the hype to explore what’s genuinely changing in KYB, KYC, and AML as agentic AI enters production, and what fundamentals remain non-negotiable.  

• From automation that actually works to the emerging challenge of verifying AI agents themselves, learn where to invest, what to protect, and how to prepare your compliance stack for 2026 and beyond. 

Vasco Alexandre, CEO and Founder, Dotfile 

More information coming soon! 

Riccardo Tordera-Ricchi, Director of Policy, The Payments Association 

Stablecoins & Regulated Digital Money: Shaping the Future of Payments 

• What opportunities exist for banks, fintechs, and merchants to leverage regulated digital money for payments, lending, and financial inclusion? 

• How can issuers and regulators ensure financial stability, prevent fraud, and protect consumers while encouraging innovation in digital currency? 

• What would a mature, interoperable digital currency ecosystem look like, and what hurdles remain to achieving it? 

(Moderator) Matt Gravelle, Managing Director, Financial Services and Digital Assets, Forefront Advisers 

Shreyosee Dutta‑Roy, Director, Product Owner – Group Treasury Digital Assets, UBS 

Macs Dickinson, Director of Engineering, LHV Bank 

Ollie Carew, Digital Asset Strategy Lead, NatWest 

Spotlight interview: Crisis in the Boardroom 

Using the rise and fall of Guavapay as a case study, we will interview Laura McCracken to hear valuable lessons learned and explore best practices in governance. The discussion will cover: 

• The story of Guavapay’s rise and fall 
• Top lessons learned from the experience 
• Governance advice for boards and INEDS 

(Moderator) Noyan Nihat, Co-CEO, Cardaq 

Laura McCracken, Founder & CEO, Blackheath Advisors Ltd 

1215

Deepfakes, the Scourge of the Payments industry:  Legal and Legislative Responses 

Cryptocurrency Deepfake scams reached unprecedented levels in 2025, with illicit addresses receiving at least $14 billion of consumer and business funds. According to Chainanalysis, Impersonation scams exploded 1400% YoY: Government and private sector impersonation tactics saw massive growth, with average payment severity increasing over 600%. Scammers and their tools are getting increasingly sophisticated and more difficult to detect. 

• Who should be held accountable for the losses? 

• How can we protect consumers efficiently? 

• What are some global responses to this alarming increase in fraud? 

Judith Rinearson, Partner, K&L Gates 

The Invisible Engine: Designing Finance for a Frictionless Future 

This speech will challenge the status quo of fragmented financial services and chart a course toward a more integrated future. Serhii Zakharov will draw on his journey as a founder to explore: 

• The Innovation Philosophy: How focusing on deep, infrastructural problem-solving creates more value than surface-level features. 

• The Value of Unity: Why building—or choosing—cohesive technology ecosystems is becoming the critical strategic advantage for scaling businesses. 

• The Road Ahead: A perspective on the foundational shifts required in the industry to support the next decade of global digital commerce. 

Serhii Zakharov, CEO and Founder, PayDo 

When AI Decides, Who Do We Trust? 

Banks went digital. Now, intelligence is coming and it doesn’t just automate, it decides. 

Machines will know customers, predict needs, and act in real-time. But power without trust is chaos: fraud, deepfakes, and identity theft will escalate faster than ever. 

• The question isn’t whether AI can do more, it’s whether anyone can trust what it does. The future belongs not to the smartest banks, but to the ones that make trust unbreakable in an intelligent, autonomous world. 

• This keynote warns: intelligence without trust is chaos. Banks that survive won’t just have the smartest AI, they will be the ones that build unshakable trust, powered by digital identity, Zero Trust frameworks, and privacy-first technologies. 

Chris Skinner, CEO, The Finanser 

Around the World in 25 minutes: A spotlight on Europe 

More information to be announced soon 

Susana Ponce Froment, Global Head of Financial & Credit Risk, Tide 

END