The afternoon sessions in the main stream centered on strategies for instant payments and addressing financial crime.
The first panel, titled "Implementing Instant Payments: Strategies and Challenges," was moderated by Rita Camporeale from the European Payments Council. Panelists included Anne-Fleur Felissent from Société Générale, Arantza Yague from HSBC, Craig Ramsey from ACI Worldwide, and Katja Heyder from EBA Clearing.
Camporeale opened by discussing the Instant Payments Regulation and the urgency it creates for European organizations, as the first deadline has already passed. The updated SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst) scheme is set to launch on October 5, 2025, alongside the Verification of Payee (VoP) scheme, placing significant pressure on financial organizations in the forthcoming months.
Felissent laid out Société Générale’s approach to implementation through three key steps: designing the customer journey, ensuring technical integration with real-time checks and fraud filtering, and conducting thorough testing.
Yague pointed out the distinctions between retail and corporate payments. She noted that corporates are likely to embrace instant payments more rapidly due to the absence of a €100,000 limit, highlighting that their payment journey differs notably from that of consumers.
Ramsey shared insights from a technical service provider’s perspective, predicting that by 2028, 13% of all payments in Europe will be instant. He expressed concerns that many banks may not have implemented sustainable IPR solutions, opting instead for temporary fixes to meet compliance.
Heyder discussed the progress made since the first IRP deadline in January, indicating an accelerating increase in instant credit transfers. However, she emphasized that while individual banks are advancing, there hasn’t yet been a full industry migration.
An interactive poll revealed the audience’s top challenges in implementing instant payments, identifying liquidity, fraud prevention, VoP, and fund recovery as significant hurdles.
Felissent echoed the concern about liquidity, especially as payment caps are lifted. She pointed out that banks currently lack 24/7 access to liquidity in central banks, complicating management for treasurers.
Addressing fraud, Ramsey noted an uptick in fraudulent activity linked to evolving schemes rather than instant payments alone. He stressed that while education is vital, it often fails to prevent victimization.
Heyder added that the VoP measure, while beneficial, won’t eliminate fraud entirely. She indicated that a considerable proportion of fraudulent transactions could still pass VoP checks, posing challenges for banks in maintaining effective fraud prevention.
The topic then shifted to the next panel discussing financial crime and fraud in payments.
Moderated by Deepa Sinha from BAFT, the panel featured Damien Dugauquier from iPiD, Evert Vandenbussche from KBC Global Services, Monika Jacob-Schnitzius from Deutsche Bank, and Olivier Jolyon from EBA Clearing.
Jacob-Schnitzius provided an overview of the evolving nature of financial crime in recent years. She noted that global instability and digitization have allowed criminals to develop sophisticated methods for data theft, leading to the rise of a "fraud as a service" industry.
Dugauquier highlighted Singapore as a hotspot for scams, where citizens, on average, lose significant amounts of money annually. He attributed this rise to a decrease in fear regarding online spending, a trend that has been manipulated by scammers.
Vandenbussche discussed the challenges posed by generative AI and deepfakes, advocating for collaborative efforts to share intelligence and enhance fraud detection.
Jolyon emphasized the importance of AI models in early fraud detection, stressing that technology must play a pivotal role in orchestrating data sharing among banks.
The panelists also touched on regulatory challenges, specifically the tension between fraud prevention and data privacy. Dugauquier remarked that banks face unfair scrutiny when it comes to liability for fraud.
The discussion included authorized push payment (APP) fraud, which often relies on social engineering. Vandenbussche noted that while banks carry some responsibility, other industries also need to address their role in preventing scams.
In conclusion, the panelists agreed that combating financial crime demands collaborative efforts among banks, industries, and regulatory authorities. Jacob-Schnitzius articulated this by stating that the fight against fraud is no longer a competitive advantage but a collective initiative. Dugauquier summed it up aptly: “Fraud is much like a bottle of ketchup; squeeze one area and it just pops up somewhere else.”