Understanding the emerging payments ecosystem: connecting the payments sector to innovation in cards, online and mobile

Are you ready to join the new payments battle?
Efma is delighted to announce the third of its three new, themed ‘week concepts’ for 2013. Each week recognises our growing presence, both internationally and on various social networks, this enables us to develop a ‘connected community’ of financial services professionals who have common needs and interests.
Retail Payments Week (Sept 25-27, Paris), recognises the fact that payments is the next major battleground between banks and innovators who are trying to disrupt the market. This battle also brings potential threats and partnership opportunities to retailers, merchants, telcos and technology providers. Our event will help to prepare all of these professionals for the dynamic changes that could take place in the months and years ahead. Many alternative payment platforms concentrate on specialist areas, such as cross-border payments. All players have one thing in common: the need to offer more effective and more efficient services to customers… and to join the debate through collective thinking and networking.

Delegates can choose from various elements in this dynamic new event, including:

• The opportunity to hear leading retail finance and vertical industry experts discuss key trends, practices, challenges and opportunities in the payments sector
• Interactive, roundtable discussions with a CEO-level plenary strategic focus
• Case studies and presentations on best practices and hands-on interactive discussions

What’s special about Retail Payments Week?
Our new event embraces the change in the traditional payments sector, which offers new and exciting ways for banks to take advantage of customer-centric innovation at the point of purchase and payment transaction. This means that the players who can most effectively manage and ‘wow’ the customer at the point of payment transaction are most likely to win the battle for customers.

Meeting the payment challenges that lie ahead will depend on the ability of banks to innovate whilst managing a much greater breadth and depth of regulatory and industry initiatives. Efma’s new Retail Payments Week will explore new ways of surviving the economic crisis and the role of new banking and business models in determining the future of payments.


Key questions
• What are the key challenges in payments? For banks, there is a risk that they could become redundant as other alternatives supplant them. The new economy could be Internet or mobile-based - but will banks be too slow to respond to the changes that will be needed as payments become more digital? Will they become the ‘dumb pipes’ of the ecosystem?

• What are likely to be the main ‘game changers’? Three of the key factors are likely to be retail innovators who are closer to the customer, geolocational partnerships and personalisation. All will play a vital role in an even greater emphasis on customer centricity. Other key elements are likely to be ewallets and gamification.

• What are the opportunities? One important area in the new payments landscape is likely to be the growth of partnerships between payment providers, operators, start-ups, ecommerce giants and retailers. This could lead to new customers, new growth and new business opportunities.

Hot topics
Here are a few of the other important topics that will be discussed during the event:

• Global payment trends
• New tools, techniques and thinking
• The evolution of an increasingly cashless world
• Disruptive innovations in the retail sector
• Payments for the under-banked ‘BRIC’ (Brazil, Russia, India and China) economies
• Changes in the post-SEPA regulatory landscape for payments
• Electronic payments that meet segmented customer needs
• e-government solutions and ‘green’ payments
• New practices and customer-focused strategies in the cards sector
• Managing card and payment fraud and security across multiple channels
• Building brand loyalty and trust across payments channels
• The latest developments in contactless NFC and smart cards
• Managing pre-paid card schemes
• Key players, growth and developments in mobile payments
• Mobile banking: emerging business models
• Global remittances
• The future for payments and developments in other sectors


This week will be a further highlight in this year's series of financial sector conferences.Register now to ensure place!