At the second in-person conference, after two years online, Ehrmann celebrated achievements across the European payments industry such as EBA CLEARING turning 25 as well as STEP2, the pan-European automated clearing house that processes mass payments in Euro and is one of the key clearing and settlement mechanisms in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) turning 22. In addition to this, MyBank’s 10th anniversary, the e-payment solution which enables users to make and receive payments through an immediate bank transfer via their own online banking portal.

EBAday is an event that “actively shapes the future, just like we have actively shaped the past,” Ehrmann said. He continued to say that “coming together here, we have the shared vision and goals needed to drive actual progress and development in our industry. Our hands on approach to building future proof, impactful services and solutions for our customers has always been the defining strength of the EBA community over the years.”

The EBA community, which started out as a group of banks, has broadened and diversified to include other payments services providers and fintech firms. This cross-sector ecosystem allows the EBA and Finextra, the co-organisers of this event, to bear the big picture in mind and zoom in on topics to prioritise next steps. Topics to be covered at this year’s EBAday include real-time and cross-border payments, identity services and fraud prevention, payments as a service, open finance, fintech collaboration, to name a few.

Similar to the past few years, EBAday started with keynote sessions on the main stage and will be split out into two streams. 16 fintech startups and scaleups also had the opportunity to showcase their offerings at the Fintech Zone, and new for 2023, the FinTalks stage welcomed fintech representatives to explore the trends they’re seeing. Lunchtime roundtables on women in finance and sustainable finance also made a comeback and allowed attendees a chance to reflect on structural issues in the industry.

Carlos A. Sanz Luengo, head of payment systems, Bank of Spain, followed Ehrmann and explored payments, the implications of new technologies and changes in legislative frameworks. He posed a question to the audience and asked whether there is a “need for a central bank strategy to respond to the ongoing changes in the payment landscape?”

He added that the sector must comprehend that payments are “undergoing fundamental changes driven by the digital revolution and its impact on the demand for new forms of payment, the provision of innovative payment services in the response to public authorities. The digitalisation of the economy has changed many aspects of different areas of our daily lives and payments are not an exception.” Calling on this revolution and the shift to SEPA, Luengo said that online bank transfers and payment cards raised the level of comfort and security with connected lifestyles.

Amid this demand for immediacy and seamless integration between payments and services, central banks are becoming increasingly concerned about privacy, cybersecurity, and reliability, and are adapting policies to ensure that payments remain resilient, efficient and inclusive, Luengo explained. “Financial authorities are aware these risks can go hand in hand with tremendous opportunities and as a consequence, are forced to follow these developments, that is something that is becoming increasingly complicated.”

Echoing Ehrmann, Luengo added: “Given the speed at which innovation occurs, the Euro system is currently working to overcome the challenges as in the past, combining our strengths and working together with older actors towards a common goal. This collaboration remains the best way to build a more efficient and inclusive European payment system for the future.”