Canada's payments future explored, discussed and debated at a wide variety of sessions on day two of The 2019 SUMMIT

Industry leaders, innovators and challengers shared their perspectives on developments in Canada and around the world, while announcements were made for the launch of TCS BaNCS and the ISO 20022 training lab

Canada’s largest payments conference – The 2019 Payments Canada SUMMIT continued Wednesday with a jam-packed and thought-provoking agenda focused on the many challenges and opportunities of a field in the midst of a massive and rapid transformation.

Keynote addresses during the day provided many highlights:

• Paul Parisi, President of PayPal Canada, described the changing nature of Canada’s workforce, and had a call to action for Canada’s financial services industry to adapt to that shift.
• Chris Hamilton, CEO of BankservAfrica, outlined the exciting ways payments solutions in Africa are leapfrogging into the future with greenfield concepts, helping spur economic development and offering new models countries like Canada may want to consider.
• David Rich, EVP of Vocalink Services for Mastercard, emphasized how AI is playing a critical role in stemming financial crime, which is an ever-growing problem as criminal enterprises become more and more sophisticated in their attacks.
• Jose Ribau, EVP of Digital and Innovation at Cadillac Fairview, explained how his commercial real estate company is embracing payments digitalization in its malls to bring consumers compelling new value propositions.
• Eugenio Tornaghi, Sales and Marketing Director of Italy-based SIA, spoke about the work his technology firm is doing to assist Payments Canada with high value systems as part of its modernization program.
• Mark Blucher, CEO of Central One, detailed how his organization has become truly agile, thanks to a mindset that is universal among all employees.
• Debbie Gamble, Chief Innovation Labs and New Ventures Officer at Interac, cited landmark corporate and branding examples – past and present – to make it clear how trust is an essential enabler of future innovation.

In addition, two lively panel discussions took place on what Canada can learn about fintech from around the world, and how technology is shaping the future of retail experiences in dramatic new ways. And at 23 breakout sessions, the gamut of topics related to payments were tackled, such as digital commerce, cryptocurrencies, AI, open banking, the gig economy and ISO 20022.

There were also two noteworthy news items:   

• Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) launched the TCS BaNCS for Payments in Canada to help banking and financial institutions accelerate the adoption of Payments Modernization initiatives.
• 20022 Labs was introduced as a new global payments lab based in Canada. It will hep the world realize better economic efficiency, interoperability, convenience and prosperity through ubiquitous, data-enriched payments.

The day closed with The SUMMIT Social, which included a live band, Canadian fare, and a cashless technology demo.

The 2019 SUMMIT concludes on Thursday afternoon, after many more breakout sessions in the morning followed by several more keynote addresses after lunch.

Recordings from the mainstage of the SUMMIT are now available on the Payments Canada Youtube channel. You can also view and download photos from all three days of the event here. 

Read the recap from Day 1: Canada's largest payments conference kicks off with a record number of attendees & from Day 3: Biggest challenges facing Canada’s payments industry tackled on day 3 of The 2019 SUMMIT.