What’s on the Horizon in European Payments?

Whether it’s business to business transactions, procurement, or travel, the European market sees changes on the horizon. In a shifting regulatory environment, new payment technology, and innovation to current technologies, what can card and payments professionals do to gain a competitive edge for their companies?

For each of the past six years, Commercial Payments International, in partnership with EuroFinance, has hosted its annual Europe Commercial Cards and Payments Summit, this year scheduled for March 15-16 at Hilton Canary Wharf, London, UK.

This summit was designed to help professionals brace for the road ahead, providing insight from leaders in the payments space into emerging technologies, customer communications, supplier enablement and more; focusing on the future of the European economy and the payments industry.

At WEX, we look to help you better prepare for the road ahead in payments, and would like to make note of this summit, as well as invite you to learn more about attending.

As highlighted in the Summit brochure, leaders in the payments field will discuss a wide variety of topics in the two-day event, including panel discussions pertinent to the travel industry. Some of the sessions include:

• Technology leading the way: Technology is driving rapid change in all facets of our lives. Change has never been so swift and promises to continue accelerating. Well known visionary on technology trends, Tom Standage, author and deputy editor of the Economist and former technology, business and digital editor will open the summit with a glimpse of the future and how technology will impact business and particularly payments.
• Payments Technology: A group of experts will discuss and debate how they think technologies, and which ones, will impact commercial payments in the future. Hot topics such as blockchain, mobile and payments in the cloud will be among the many addressed in this lively discussion.
• Regulation: Challenges and opportunities in T&E: With the interchange caps now in place on consumer cards across the EU and the recent developments around “Individual Pay” cards, the European T&E segment is experiencing a period of tremendous change. While some of this change presents obvious challenges to the Issuing community, there are also opportunities to develop and deliver innovative products to capture more of the $300B+ T&E opportunity in Europe. This session will explore these trends and how new and existing technologies can be harnessed to win in this important Commercial Card segment.
• Cross Border Payments: Cross-border and multicurrency payments continue to be a challenge for most corporate customers. In recent years, new entrants have begun to focus on this area and financial institutions have developed new products to solve this problem. What are the best practices and how can you help your customers overcome this ongoing challenge?
• Virtual Cards: Like all parts of life, commercial payments are becoming more virtual for our customers. Hear a panel discuss how virtual products, such as single use accounts, are changing the world of B2B payments. They will discuss the benefits to your customers such as increased resiliency to fraud and easier reconciliation. Virtual products will be looked at across sectors including healthcare, fleet, travel and how this trend is displacing tradition payment methods with a virtual card.
• Business Travel Evolution: Business travelers are a key customer segment and will remain one for suppliers of commercial payments services. But their world is also changing around them forcing suppliers to change and adapt their offerings to fit this new order. Hear what some of the key trends affecting the world of the business traveler are and how they might impact your business.
• Virtual Payments in the Travel Industry: In the changing world of the business traveler, life has become more virtual. Hear from travel suppliers and a financial institution how new products are driving automation and virtual experiences for the traveler.
• The Future of Europe’s Economy: The European recovery continues to disappoint by many measures but is there a silver lining in the cloud? By popular demand the global editorial director of the Economist Intelligence Unit is returning to offer his views on the state of the European economies and what the trends project for the future of the region. Where does Europe stand now and where is it heading?
• The Future of Payments: All agree that commercial payments will look different in the coming years, but what changes do industry leaders think will have the most impact and what will this look like? Thought leaders will share their view of the future in this panel.

These topics, among others will be discussed by panels of technology leaders, customers, and economists, helping executives define their strategies for the coming years.

In addition, WEX’s own Senior Vice President, General Manager of Virtual Payments Jim Pratt will be participating in a discussion on the changing world of customers, joining Andrew Barningham, Product Development Director at DataFlexNet and Ashley Beard, Director, Relationship Management at TSYS International; discussing the continued push toward virtual payments, as well as how it affects the payments environment. Scheduled for 4:00 PM on March 15, this is a can’t miss panel.

As Head of Partnerships in Europe for WEX, I will also be attending the summit, to book a meeting with me there please email partnerships@wexeurope.com.

As a sponsor of this and other Commercial Payments International summits, we are pleased to share information about this event, and invite you to learn more from the CPI Europe Summit website.

Looking for other events? We also invite you to learn more about upcoming conferences: HTNG North American Conference, March 1-3 and UATP Airline Distribution, March 22-24.