Home / Banking Strategies / Hot button issues at BAI Payments Connect 2015

Hot button issues at BAI Payments Connect 2015

Feb 18, 2015 / Payments

One of the goals of BAI has always been to bring relevant information and valuable insights to executives in the financial services industry. You can see this strategic focus in action at BAI Payments Connect 2015, which is scheduled for March 2-4 in Phoenix. While we will cover a vast array of payments-related topics at this event, we have placed a high priority on providing perspectives on some of today’s most complex issues in payments: mobile wallets, real-time payments, new competitive threats, improved cyber fraud defenses and the EMV card transition.

Mobile wallets have been around for a while but suddenly became exciting again with the introduction of Apple Pay last October. Richard Crone and Heidi Liebenguth of Crone Consulting will discuss how banks should look at Apple Pay, the prospects of merchant support, likely Apple follow-up moves in the arena of shopping awards and potential regulatory developments. Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance, will then explain how Apple Pay is impacting mobile technology and security, particularly in terms of tokenization and biometrics.

To cover the wide-ranging implications of real-time payments, we are fortunate to have top executives from the Federal Reserve, who will provide the latest information about the important work they are leading for the industry. Sean Rodriguez, senior vice president, industry relations, will present the Fed’s view on how the U.S. payments system can be made faster and safer. Ann Caple, business proposition manager with VocLink, will then discuss the U.K. experience with the transition to real-time payments. She will provide her insights on the opportunities and challenges the U.K. banking industry experienced and how this might apply in the U.S. We then will have a two-hour panel discussion focused on how U.S. banks might handle a faster payments system featuring executives from Capital One, U.S. Bancorp, JPMorgan Chase, First Niagara Bank and the Federal Reserve.

Cyber security breaches are top of mind with financial services executives who want to be prepared and protected. Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, now president and CEO of the Financial Services Roundtable, will address the role and responsibility of banks and their boards in understanding and managing these risks. Given the importance of this issue to the payments industry, we have also scheduled a number of in-depth sessions to examine fraud and security issues from varied perspectives.

One industry initiative that will help on the fraud front is the migration of cards from magnetic stripe to EMV chip, a transition encouraged by the fraud liability shift mandated by the major card issuers. Our comprehensive coverage of this topic includes perspectives from issuers, acquirers and merchants – all three legs of the EMV stool.

For each of the many years we have developed the content plans for BAI Payments Connect, we have concluded that the payments business has been more impacted by some of the most complex issues and competitive developments in financial services – and this year is no exception. Our team and the many participants in BAI Payments Connect 2015 will deliver the information and insights you need to make decisions about your payments strategy. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from some of the best.

Ms. Bianucci is president and CEO of BAI and publisher of BAI Banking Strategies and BAI Banking Strategies Daily.