We’re on the ground at Money20/20 to bring you on the ground insights from across the payment and broader fintech industry.
16:15 – “Europe is at the tipping point of a new era in money movement,” said Scarlett Sieber, Chief Strategy and Growth Officer at Money20/20.
“This report captures the scale of transformation underway—from real-time payments to digital wallets—and the essential role that collaboration between fintechs, regulators, and legacy institutions will play in shaping what comes next.”
15:30 – “Payments is boring” and most stuff “we hear about AI out here is tangential and irrelevant,” said David Birch, Global Ambassador, Consult Hyperion X Fime.
Birch opened the fireside chat on robot-to-robot payments with Debbie Gamble, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer at Interac, by highlighting a key shift in commerce. During their discussion on “Payments and Agentic Commerce,” they explained while merchants are already leveraging AI for transactions, customers will soon do the same.
What types of payments? Well, as Birch described, the boring kinds and the ones we don’t have time for – such as paying for parking tickets and selecting the best savings accounts.
The pair added this will change payments forever, as bots don’t care about branding, bots have all the time in the world and bots aren’t easily coerceced into sending money to bad actors posing as Brad Pitt.
14:40 – A panel of industry leaders from Stripe, Remote, Fireblocks, and Sardine has taken the stage to discuss the real-world adoption of stablecoins. The session focuses on how these digital assets are beginning to power fast, low-cost, and borderless payments across the globe.
Stripe’s Head of MaaS, Neetika Bansal, confirms the company’s acquisition of Bridge, calling it “a strategic step” to simplify global money movement. Bansal says demand for stablecoin infrastructure is accelerating across both startups and large enterprises.
Job van der Voort, CEO of Remote, shared that the company now offers contractor payouts in USDC. While adoption is still below 1%, demand is growing rapidly—particularly in Latin America, where access to dollars is limited.
Fireblocks’ Ran Goldi says stablecoins are “definitely overhyped” in media narratives, but insists the technology is showing real value—especially in business-to-business flows like merchant settlements and cross-border treasury transfers. Goldi says 17 banks globally now offer USDC accounts. The panel agrees that stablecoins are gaining traction among institutional treasurers, though accounting classification remains a barrier to mainstream adoption.
The panel urged companies to begin developing a stablecoin strategy. Goldi outlines a progression: starting “crypto-remote” with external partners, then moving “crypto-inside” by building internal capabilities.
13:50 – How will Europe’s money move in the future? The panel discussed Europe’s cross-border payment integration, contrasting it with Asia’s late mover advantage, and explored how Europe’s established infrastructure, while beneficial, can hinder innovation.
The discussion covered the impact of fragmentation on market differentiation and the importance of regulatory clarity. “The challenge in Europe is the regulatory side of things; ensuring that doesn’t stifle growth and speed of change,” said Rachel Whelan, Head Corporate Cash Management – APACMEA at Deutsche Bank
“That’s what we do: we need to be able to innovate quickly and actually build on what we have. That starts from the right focus, making sure you’re spending your energy in the right area.”
The potential of European stablecoins was also debated, noting their lower priority compared to real-time payments and digital wallets. Lucy Ingham, VP of Content & Editor-in-Chief, FXC Intelligence said they were “dramatically cheaper and faster.” “That isn’t as true in Europe as it’s going to be in some other markets where things aren’t as well developed,” she said.
Resiliency and operational risk were emphasized, with a focus on payment substitutability and contingency planning. The panel agreed on the need for strategic clarity and adaptability in regulatory frameworks.
Samantha Emery, Payments Executive & NED, LBG:
It’s broadly accepted in public and private circles in the UK that progress has slowed, and ultimately it’s slowed down to a lack of vision and a lack of strategy, and what that left us with was a regulatory change agenda that was massively congested.
13:15 – “We consistently hear from consumers that they want the freedom to choose how and when to pay – whether that’s paying now with debit or spreading the cost over time,” said David Sandstrom, Chief Marketing Officer at Klarna.
“They want simplicity, flexibility, and transparency – all in one place. That’s exactly what has made Klarna’s payment methods so popular online, and now we’re bringing that same experience to a physical card. The Klarna Card is the future of everyday banking – creating smart payments, to empower smarter shoppers.”
12:30 – A clear theme is taking shape here at Money20/20 Europe – it’s all about infrastructure, speed and smarter payment flows.
Klarna has just announced a flexible card that blends debit and pay-later options, powered by Visa’s tech. Revolut is teaming up with the European Payments Initiative to roll out Wero, a local A2A wallet, in France, Belgium and Germany. Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank and Mastercard are working together to bring open banking into the merchant space, starting with Request to Pay.
Even in crypto, the shift is happening. Kraken is now offering instant SEPA deposits through Ivy, cutting out friction for crypto users in Europe. It’s a strong signal that instant bank payments are becoming the baseline.
More updates as we hear them. Read our full analysis of today’s launches and partnerhips here:
11:30 – While stomachs start to rumble as lunch approaches on the floor at Money20/20, Helena Forest, EVP Product Management at Mastercard interviewed Emma Hagan, UK CEO of Clearbank, at the Horizon Stage. The pair discussed how to unlock the full potential of payments through regulation.
The UK has recently come under the spotlight for its shifting stance on regulation under Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Hagan commented on this change, describing it as “positive”. However, she believes more needs to be done to help banks and fintechs scale. Hagan highlighted there needs to be more support for challenger banks to transition from the “feisty start-up stage” to the bigger bank status.
10:50 – Mastercard and Deutsche Bank have announced a partnership around open banking. Valerie Nowak, EVP, Head of Open Banking, APEMEA at Mastercard, said: “Mastercard is not just into card payments, it’s into payments.”
Given open banking has been viewed as a method to increase competition in Europe and loosen Mastercard and Visa‘s grip on the continent, this move signals the card giants are not going to stand still.
10:45 – While the UK’s National Payments Vision carves out a clear path forward, Europe’s approach sparked a healthy debate on whether cohesion or competition is more valuable in shaping the region’s payment future.
“Europe doesn’t lack vision — it’s just not in a single document,” argued Madalena Cascais Tomé, CEO of SIBS. She pointed to the European Commission’s and ECB’s retail payments strategies, and Europe’s “sovereign infrastructure” such as TIPS and instant payments, as signs of meaningful direction.
But others disagreed.
“There’s still huge fragmentation in how regulation is interpreted — from AML rules to open banking,” warned David Parker, pushing back on the idea that a scattered ecosystem can scale effectively.
- Fernando Rodriguez Ferrer of Bizum acknowledged the gaps: “We need to build consumer protection standards equivalent to cards, especially for A2A payments at the point of sale. That’s still a work in progress.”
- From the UK, Oliver Hanmer emphasized how clarity and collaboration have been catalysts: “The National Payments Vision brought regulators and industry into alignment. It’s given space for radical, creative thinking.”
- Henk Van Hulle, CEO of Open Banking Limited, echoed this, urging the EU to establish a single, empowered entity: “There’s a direct correlation between central organisation and adoption. You need a nucleus to coordinate execution — not just vision.”
A provocative audience question cut to the core of A2A’s Achilles heel: “How do you replicate the consumer protection and chargebacks that make cards so resilient?”
Panellists admitted this is an unresolved challenge, but progress is being made. In Portugal, SIBS is extending card-like protection rules to instant payments. Bizum is building similar frameworks in Spain. “We’re a seven-year-old industry competing with one that’s 67,” said Van Hulle. “We’ll get there – but we need time, rulebooks, and commercial models.”
In a rapid-fire closing, Van Hulle called for a collaborative nucleus in Europe, Hanmer celebrated the UK’s newfound boldness, and Tomé underscored the need for “interoperable sovereignty.”
10:20 – Next on the agenda was a look into the EU’s payment vision. The UK released its National Payments Vision in October, bringing together the FCA, PSR and Bank of England to align on a plan for digital and mobile payments, wallets, fraud prevention and more.
Europe doesn’t have an equivalent vision. It has a payments council, regulations like FiDA and PSD3, and a raft of digital payment services like iDEAL, Swish, Vipps, SOFORT, Bizum and Blik.
In this session David Parker, CEO Polymath Consulting; Oliver Hanmer, Head of Supervision at the UK Payment Systems Regulator (PSR); Henk Van Hulle, CEO of Open Banking Limited; Fernando Rodriguez Ferrer, Head of Business Development at Bizum; and Madalena Cascais Tomé, CEO of SIBS consider what should a European payments vision look like, and how can it account for open finance, blockchain, smartphones, real-time payments and more?
10:00 – Some rapid fire insights from this morning. Under-hyped or over-hyped?
- AI replacing developers: Overhyped – AI helps write more code, but demand for developers will grow.
- US tech domination: Innovation is global – major advances happening across regions, especially Europe.
- PSD2: Clear benefits – has enabled fintech growth, but Europe lags in stablecoin adoption.
- AI-based fraud: Underhyped – serious threat; requires AI-powered defenses to keep pace.
- Future of SaaS: Overhyped short-term, underhyped long-term – future lies in personalized, disposable, AI-driven apps.
10:00 –
Mareme Dieng, Partner, 500 Global
In my view, cross-border payments are becoming one of the most critical services in fintech today, and their importance will only grow. Over the next 10 to 15 years, I believe the fintech players who can deliver cross-border transactions at the lowest cost, while optimizing on- and off-ramp strategies and leveraging stablecoins effectively, will emerge as the dominant forces in the industry. This capability will define the next generation of global financial infrastructure.
09:15 – The 26th edition of Money 20/20 kicked off the day with a keynote address on the Na.i.ture stage, with the launch of this years theme Create the Future, featuring comments from Mareme Dieng, Partner at 500 Global; Rahul Patil, Chief Technology Officer at Stripe; David Sandstrom, CMO at Klarna Bank; and Tracey Davies, President at Money20/20.
Hosted by Scarlett Sieber, Chief Strategy and Growth Officer at Money20/20, the speakers discussed the ‘bingo’ words for this year’s event: AI (who would have guessed!), stablecoins and open banking.
Here are some of the key takeaways:
- Stripe currently processes 1.3% of global GDP through ecommerce – if it were a country, it would be the 17th largest in the world.
- Stablecoins are becoming essential for global commerce, with clear advantages in speed, reach, and cost.
- Open Banking is shifting from compliance to commercial value, particularly in e-commerce and pay-by-bank use cases.
- Agentic AI is emerging as a transformative force in payments and commerce automation.
- Ultra-high system reliability (e.g., Stripe’s 99.999989% uptime) is now a competitive advantage in enterprise payments.
- Europe leads in regulatory frameworks (e.g., PSD2), but trails in stablecoin adoption, creating opportunities.
08:00 – The team have landed and are ready to bring you all the latest payment news from Money 20/20. We’ll be posting updates from day 1 here all day, so make sure you come back for updates.
