Payments Canada speakers at The SUMMIT

Roxana Baranowski is Payments Canada's Deputy Chief Risk Officer. She is moderating the virtual session on May 4 - Operational resilience: a strategic imperative

When you think about the future of payments, what are you most excited about?
Future of payment in my view is just starting and the pace of transformation in the payment industry is set to accelerate. Non-traditional players continue to enter the market, from the global technology giants to car manufacturers and consumer goods companies, bringing new industries into payments.

I am excited about a few areas:

1. Evolving government policies and regulation to support payment innovation and the growth of payment businesses, with a Real Time Rail and opening access to new entrants in the market. 
2. Current technology advancement like distributed ledger technology, cloud computing and API tools facilitate real-time payments to become the norm, even for cross-border transactions.
3. In a new world of open banking and APIs, the greatest value exchange taking place on payment systems will be found in transactional data rather than the transactions themselves. This data will unlock a huge variety of new opportunities for combating fraud and other cyber crime, especially with a centralized view of payment data.

    

Director, Enterprise Project Management Office

Which payment topic or trend are you most interested in hearing more about at The SUMMIT?
I am most interested in the Dark Side Of Payments and how we will address the potential risks of artificial intelligence (AI). We will be on a steep learning curve with AI and will need to focus and understand the potential risks the payment industry will experience due and what measures can be put in place to protect the value chain of payments across the ecosystem.

What is the most important lesson you’ve learned from your career journey in payments?
The most important lesson that I learned through my career in implementing payment systems is that although the concept of payments is well understood, the complexity of implementing payments systems is not. There are a number of channels that need to work in unison with the end objective clearly understood. All stakeholders have to have the same objectives and goals, commitment to the same timelines and funding to ensure a successful implementation. Without that shared commitment from all stakeholders it is impossible to gain the traction necessary to succeed.

Brody Clements is a Lead, Industry Relations with Payments Canada. She is moderating Maximizing the benefits of modern payments on May 4 with panelists John Davis of Citi, Grace Jung of Square and Tartin Tardif of Desjardins.

When you think about the future of payments, what are you most excited about?
I love how payments really impact the lives of every Canadian so I can't wait to see how payments will evolve to make Canadian's lives easier.

What is the most important lesson you’ve learned from your career journey in payments?
I've learned that, in order to evolve and modernize at a pace that keeps up with the international ecosystem and meets the needs of the Canadian ecosystem, we need to ensure the right people are at the table from the beginning. Support teams like legal, compliance and security are not looking to cause roadblocks in these large transformation projects but they need to be brought in at the early stages. Collaboration within organizations and the ecosystem is so important in terms of getting to the end of the job.

Chantal Hitchcock is Lead, Industry Relations and will moderate Managing fraud risk in real-time payments on May 4, 2023.

Which payment topic or trend are you most interested in hearing more about at The SUMMIT?
I am most excited about hearing more about cross-border payments and how we can look to harmonize international payments and reduce costs. I am also looking forward to hearing more about how regulation is changing in Canada and what that means for our stakeholders with competing priorities.

What is the most important lesson you’ve learned from your career journey in payments?
The most important lesson I have learned through my career in payments is that as soon as you think you have payments figured out, technology and innovation have just changed it again on you. Accept that there will always be more to learn and adapt with the change. In that regard, your relationships with your industry peers are everything. Every conversation I have, I learn something new about payments and the ever changing payment landscape.

Martin Kyle is Payments Canada's Chief Information Security Office. He is speaking on a breakout session panel with Caroline Xavier, Chief of the Communications Security Establishment about CISOs and Bill C-26.

When you think about the future of payments, what are you most excited about?
I am quite excited about three distinct capabilities in the future of payments. The first case is a real time settlement capabilities for retail users. Recently, I sent funds to another party and I had to wait for them to settle before I could derive value from that transaction — this will change in the future. In the second case, I looked forward to better using generative language models to help me make financial decisions. I recently engaged in a conversation with AI about financial topics, asking it to cite sources and personally double checking both its reasoning and facts — the prospect of a future with this type of assistance is exciting. Finally, I am excited by the prospect of more secure payment systems with the improvement of standards and capabilities to detect and respond to cyber attacks and financial fraud.

Joshua Lerner is Payments Canada Manager, Lynx and Emerging Policy. He is moderating an Idea exchange session - A regulators' discussion on payments on May 3 with Teresa Frick of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada.

Which payment topic or trend are you most interested in hearing more about at The SUMMIT?
I have a soft spot for the credit union sector and am always interested in hearing how they intend to leverage payment modernization to support their members. I am also interested in the sessions discussing inclusiveness and sustainability in payments — something that has deservingly become more important in recent years.

What is the most important lesson you’ve learned from your career journey in payments?
Payments, by their very nature, connect people. This is also true when you have a career in payments. The importance of building strong relationships and key partnerships is crucial. It is always beneficial to work and consult with others — sometimes it takes longer but it is worth it. When I first began my career my focus was always to get deliverables out as soon as possible, it took me a few years to learn that my deliverables were superior when I spent the time connecting and consulting.

Ajoké Olorundaré is a Senior Analyst, Research with Payments Canada. She will be speaking with Payments Canada's Stephen Yun and Jon Purther, as well as George Kawar from RFI Global, on Wednesday, May 3 at the Canadian payment landscape and future payment trends breakout session.

When you think about the future of payments, what are you most excited about?
I am most excited about new payment overlays and features such as QR codes, NFC and biotechnology that can make payments easier, faster and more secure.

Which payment topic or trend are you most interested in hearing more about at The SUMMIT?
Next generation payment technologies.

What is the most important lesson you’ve learned from your career journey in payments?
The payment industry is vast and ever changing. In order to do well in payments, one has to understand the competing wants and needs of consumers, businesses and the motivations of the players in the payment ecosystem that move the industry in a certain direction. The industry has quirks and nuances that are unique to every jurisdiction and this is part of what makes a career in payments so interesting and exciting!

Isak Penttila is an ISO 20022 advisor to Payments Canada and is a panelist for Riding the ISO 20022 wave from cross border to faster payments without falling off! on May 4.

Which payment topic or trend are you most interested in hearing more about at The SUMMIT?
At The SUMMIT, (except for ISO 20022) I am most eager to hear about the progress and implications of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). As the thinking continues to mature, their impact on economies and financial ecosystems will be substantial.

What is the most important lesson you’ve learned from your career journey in payments?
Throughout my career in payments, the most important lesson I've learned is to embrace change and adapt to it effectively. This ever-evolving industry demands adaptability and a forward-thinking mindset to succeed.

Bradley Pragnell is a consultant on Modernization with Payments Canada. He is moderating a session as part of The SUMMIT's virtual program on May 4 entitled Real-time success stories: Brazil, India and beyond.

Which payment topic or trend are you most interested in hearing more about at The SUMMIT?
One area that has grown in importance is regulation. If you go back 15 or 20 years, other than the banks, the industry was lightly, if not barely, subject to public regulation. This has changed significantly — on top of privacy and anti-money laundering reforms, now we are seeing a new licensing regime, open banking, and a wide raft of regulatory change. It will be great to hear both form by regulators and industry at The SUMMIT in how they think the impending changes will play out and their impact on the ecosystem.

Stephen Yun is a Senior Analyst, Market Insights with Payments Canada. He will be speaking with Payments Canada's Ajoké Olorundaré and Jon Purther, as well as George Kawar from RFI Global, on Wednesday, May 3 at the Canadian payment landscape and future payment trends breakout session.

When you think about the future of payments, what are you most excited about?
The thing that excites me most about the future of payments is the speed and connectivity at which payments will be made by consumers and businesses. In the near future, consumers and businesses will be able to send and receive payments instantly via any electronic device (mobile, computer/laptop) any time of the day. The payment experience will be channel agnostic and seamless as payment service providers (banks, paytechs, and merchants) focus on simplifying the payment process both within the POS and remote environments. We may also see the emergence of super apps that allow users to do everything under one app (i.e., payments, ecommerce, social media, news and information, entertainment).