Programme

Registration, Coffee and Networking

Chair's Welcome and Scene Setting

Why payments now sit on the CEO and FD agenda, and why the goal is not simply simpler technology, but a payment journey that balances customer experience, commercial performance and resilience.

FD Keynote: State of the Nation on Payments

• Customer expectations: speed, trust, transparency, choice and frictionless journeys
• The true cost of payments: authorisation rates, false declines, fraud loss, chargebacks, transaction economics, operational overhead and “invisible leakage”
• What the next wave looks like: A2A, real-time rails, tokenisation, orchestration, AI-led decisioning and new regulations and what these changes mean commercially, market by market

The Customer Payment Journey - from Frictionless Checkout to Loyalty

• What does a genuinely frictionless payment journey look like across store, online, mobile and app?
• Payment choice, convenience, self-service and personalisation — without creating operational chaos
• Frictionless authentication without losing the sale
• How payment failures affect trust, loyalty, future spend and the wider customer experience

Networking Break

Payment Performance - Approvals Up, Fraud Down, Costs Under Control

• Measuring payment performance country by country — across issuers, channels and payment methods
• Smart routing and retrieving without triggering fraud flags
• Reducing false declines while protecting good customers
• Balancing approval rates, fraud performance and transaction economics — and giving Finance reporting IT can trust and Ops can action

Open Banking, A2A and Real-Time Payments: What Is Real, What Is Next

• Where A2A wins today — and where cards or other methods still win
• Refunds, disputes and customer comms: making A2A “retail-ready”
• The role of open payments in loyalty, returns, recurring spend and transaction economics
• What retailers need from banks and providers to scale adoption without adding unnecessary complexity

Lunch and Networking

Orchestration Without Dogma - Simplifying the Stack Without Sacrificing Commercial Performance

• Does simplifying payments really mean consolidating everything with one global provider?
• When can multiple acquiring relationships improve approval rates, local payment performance or transaction economics?
• How to balance commercial optimisation against the added complexity of reconciliation, reporting, tokenisation and operations
• Building resilience and optionality without creating unnecessary vendor sprawl or single points of failure

Networking Break

Unbreakable Payments — Resilience, Compliance and Security Without Slowing Down

• What happens when a PSP, acquirer, device, store network, app or payment infrastructure fails?
• Disaster recovery, alternative acquiring relationships, alternative payment options and operational resilience
• KYC, identity, fraud, PCI and preparing for PSD3 direction of travel and ongoing change
• Turning compliance and security into enablers of safe innovation, customer trust and uninterrupted payment experiences

The Future of Commerce: AI, Agent-Led Journeys and New Payment Rails

• What happens when AI “chooses” the payment method?
• Real-time decisioning: risk, identity, liability and customer trust
• Practical AI: turning payment data into summaries, findings, recommendations and business decisions
• Tokenisation, stablecoins, new settlement options and agent-led commerce: what retailers should watch
• Designing payment experiences for trust as automation accelerates

Chair's Closing Summary: 10 Actions to Take Back to the Business

A practical 30, 60 and 90-day action plan covering customer journey, payment performance, resilience, orchestration, data and AI.

Drinks Reception and Networking

Continue the conversation with speakers, peers and solution providers.