APEX Europe Wraps Up in Marbella, Spain (May 22, 2014)
Following sessions on Tuesday that featured a keynote presentation by Guido Mangiagalli, Visa Europe’s head of prepaid/core payments; a deep dive into PSD2 and MIF regulations for prepaid, mobile and payments providers by TrustEu Affairs’ Monica Monaco; and a merchant panel addressing interchange and regulation from their side of the table, APEX Europe wrapped up yesterday with panels and individual speakers addressing the opportunities in emerging payments.
Wirecard AG’s Christian von Hammel-Bonten emphasized three themes in mobiles payments: the need for technological agnosticism (at least for now), the need to make the mobile payment experience better than a card-based payment and the reality that today’s youth will not be selecting their payments service provider on the basis of branch locations. Panels throughout the morning and afternoon addressed opportunities in alternative financial services, the acquiring market and corporate prepaid.
For some, the capstone of the day was a realistic assessment of money laundering and what you can and can’t do about it. Neopay Ltd. CEO Craig James got to the heart of the matter by asserting that an alphabet soup of international regulation isn’t going to “stop money laundering or your company being fined when it happens to you.” The most important thing, said James, is your own organization’s AML policy. “Write one. Make sure it’s accurate. Follow it. And update it,” he advised.
