In the final session of EBAday 2024 in Lisbon, Debi Bell Hoskings moderated a closing panel of speakers Thomas Egner, secretary general of the Euro Banking Association; Wolfgang Ehrmann, chairman of the board at the Euro Banking Association; Sophie Giorgi, head of payment system and infrastructure relationships at Credit Agricole; and Luis Simões, managing director / EVP, banking operations at Novobanco.
In the closing session, the panellists summarised their highlights and main takeaways from the event, and what will be coming to EBAday, and announced that next year’s conference will take place in Paris!
Hoskings highlighted how collaboration and orchestration in payments were key themes at the landmark conference this year, and those themes were discussed in depth at numerous panel sessions.
Egner stated that the industry parts of the discussion were stronger, and there were main topics where collaboration not only between banks, but between industries was widely discussed: fraud, Request to Pay, and ISO 20022 compliance.
Egner commented: “Harmonisation is one part of this process change where lots of things need to be done. Before you can come up with a conversation, you need to make sure you have a joint understanding. We need come together and define things before we go to the industry - and then we can move mountains.”
Giorgi stated that regulation was a big subject at the conference, and it was exciting to look forward for solutions that were discussed during the panels. She also pointed to instant payments and cross-border payments as a hot topic over the last two days.
“It was really interesting to hear about regulation, and how it’s now connected the cross-border topic,” Giorgi commented. “My takeaway, most importantly, is to see what we have to do. The regulation is very demanding, but we’re also assessing what we have already done, which is nice, because we have learned a lot.”
Simões added: “The underlying topic in most of the discussions is definitely the flood of regulation that we’re living in right now and that are coming in the next few years.”
Ehrmann wrapped up the closing sessions by thanking all those that attended, hoping they leave with a suitcase full of insights. “There are many amazing innovations coming,” he commented. “And there is a golden rule from German football: After the game is before the game. So, after EBAday is before EBAday. Have a safe trip home, and see you next year in Paris.”