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A Table Talk with the EPCA Chairmen: "Bankers need to move towards new frontiers in payments"

Friday 20 November 2009 11:30 CET | News

The yearly EPCA Conference is one of the very few conferences where payments are being discussed in their wider strategic context. For years conference chairmen and organizers Harry Smorenberg and Douwe Lycklama have been shaping the EPCA Conference into an event where they would like to go to themselves. The yearly reviews of the EPCA Conference show that the event is highly regarded because of its combination of strategic interest and practical approach. After European location such as Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Brussels and

 

Composing an attractive program is a challenge every year” says Douwe Lycklama, founding partner of payment consultancy Innopay. “There are many topics but we strive for the business angle, for the logical connections between the topics. In a digitizing world increasingly the exchange of information is becoming a transaction, where payments are a very famous category but e-invoicing and e-identity are gaining momentum. The banking industry is placed right at this important junction”.

Harry Smorenberg, CEO of Smorenberg Corporate Consulting adds: “Not many bankers realize that their franchise is really in danger. After many years of ‘compliancy behavior’ and billions spent, not much has been done to improve customer attractiveness. SEPA is not being picked up by clients and bankers are occupied with many internal issues as a result of the recent turmoil. In the mean time new challengers will stand up, helped by regulatory reforms such as PSD”.

EPCA 2010 will offer essentials in its core program. The pre-conference expert briefings will focus on 4 key topics in transaction services: Remittance, Fraud, E-identity and European banking strategies. “A great start of the annual EPCA Conference platform for professionals with in-depth exchanges on the latest developments both in technology and (international) strategy”, added Douwe Lycklama. “SEPA, for instance, will really take off when an end-date will be declared. Banks will be forced to compete because every payer and payee has to reconsider the services they buy from institutions. A dynamic market lies ahead, where business processes such as ordering, invoicing and payments are connected within companies and will be processed straight through. That is where markets are heading, both B2B and B2C. We can learn a lot from webplayers, where these processes have been integrated from day one.

 

Via the EPCA Partner GALITT from Paris, cooperating for this event with Hervé Sitruk, a distinguished French payment expert, special attention will be given to the banking sector and in particular to the French banking sector. “Since payments is their business, it is evident that market changes will affect them the most”, says Gérard Tchakgarian, GALITT’s President.

GALITT will host a dedicated expert briefing on how ‘Practical Strategies for Europe’ will highlight the European differences and opportunities for bankers. In this workshop bankers can learn from others how the market is evolving and how to tackle the local differences within the various European markets.

 “Banking leaders are more and more aware of the business foundation a healthy payments business gives and of the opportunity of reaching beyond their domestics markets. In the panel discussion I will explore the new frontiers they see for themselves of which I expect to see some very interesting perspectives”, says Hervé Sitruk who will host the key note panel with three European top bankers on 23 March.

New frontiers in payments will be the key message of the 2.5 days conference. It is rewarding to be a professional and spend a few days amongst peers to network, discuss trends, developments and share the next steps of the dynamic world which we call payments.

The 9th EPCA Conference 22-24 March 2010 Paris will focus on the ‘new frontiers in payments’. The conference provides its French-speaking guests with simultaneous translation. 


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Keywords: EPCA Conference, payments , Disneyland Paris, Douwe Lycklama, INNOPAY, payment consultancy, Harry Smorenberg, Smorenberg Corporate Consulting, Gérard Tchakgarian, GALITT, Hervé Sitruk
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