The Money20/20 Europe Agenda

Core banking and every other non-differentiating part of a business is a commodity. The battleground has moved from the tech stack to the user experience. Among thousands of businesses built on the same technological layer, the real competition happens where our products interact with our customers. What does a best in class customer journey look like? The core hallmark of your product today has to be fluidity and adaptability. Cultural revolutions are your source of inspiration for building enduring products that keep delighting.

Topics explored in this theme: Channels of interaction, Consumer trends, Customer behaviour, Customer engagement, Customer journeys, Customer needs, Mission-driven business, sustainability, New product categories and development, Personalisation, Pro-customer approach, Product ideation, UX/UI

There is an abundance of solutions springing up across verticals. As the playing field is leveled by a standardizing technological layer across Europe, the meaning of competition changes. We have never had such variety and volume of options and such low barriers for entry. Abundance and competitiveness is to the benefit of the customer. But it doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game for companies. The growth and opportunities will come from dismantling walled gardens we are used to building and embracing the principle of interoperability by design. When every piece of infrastructure is a commodity, orchestration takes the center stage. The payments engine will become the most critical piece of infrastructure for retailers, e-commerce brands, marketplaces, and payments organisations.

Topics explored in this theme: Alternative payments methods, Consolidation, M&A, Cross-industry collaboration, Ecosystem development, Geopolitics, Localisation, Partnerships, Software strategy, Value chain

Financial services are a native component and a commodity in every environment. The path to scale today is in alignment with the largest end-user platforms - banks, e-commerce, social media, insurance, and telecommunications companies. We need to focus on contexts where the financial component will significantly improve the experience - whether it’s a non-financial environment or the best of breed niche solution in a wider suite of financial products. Blowing your marketing budget on buying customers is futile. Using powerful end-user platforms as your distribution channels is the way of the future.

Topics explored in this theme: Business models, Contextual finance, Embedded finance, Engaging customers where they are, Financial inclusion and access, Governance, Growth strategy, Implementation strategy, Integrations, Monetisation strategy, Network effects

Proprietary technology is not a moat, it’s a debt. It’s time to adopt open and shared technical standards to enable fair competition and radical transparency that will prioritise best interests of individuals over interests of entities. The digital euro is the first step on the road to standardization of payments. We are going back to basics - bank-based payments will become the cornerstone of online commerce. The payments landscape in Europe will be consolidated, but we don’t have to kill the local darlings for the benefit of the region. A new pan-European money infrastructure will be a profound achievement, and it will start with interoperability. Achieving interoperability on a technological level will translate into the rise of the orchestration layer in payments and financial software at large. Unification and standardization of infrastructure will start in Europe, with the money infrastructure, and will inevitably spread across industries. Open source and infrastructure neutrality are the future.

Topics explored in this theme: Data strategy, Digital money (CBDC, cryptocurrencies, forms of programmable money), Open banking, Open finance, PSD2, PSD3, Regulation, Technological standards (ISO20022)

Ownership is changing hands from entities to individuals. We have to build pan-European standards for the flow of information, currency design, and data ownership that will enable instant verification and exchange between markets, entities, and wallets. The use of information becomes permission-based and an individual is the one giving the permission. Payments and identity will be one and the same. The future of the industry is in the grey area between DeFi and CeFi, virtual and real, where the best of both worlds merge.

Topics explored in this theme: Decentralisation, DLT, Emerging technologies (NFT, tokenization), Regulation of advanced technologies (AI, quantum computing), Trust (data, identity, privacy, security, Web 3.0)