As embedded finance moves rapidly beyond invisible payments, what are the key areas of growth? The panel will examine whether partnerships between banks, BaaS providers and non‑financial brands are becoming more mature, trusted and sustainable, and who is really leading the charge: B2B platforms or B2C consumer brands? Join a panel of embedded‑finance experts as they share candid views on the biggest opportunities, the pitfalls to avoid, and what it takes to make banking “by default” a competitive advantage in 2026.

Moderator:
Brendan Gilmore, Managing Director, BPG Strategy

Speakers:
Michael Breen, Head of Money Management Sales and Revenue (EMEA), Stripe
David Twigg, Financial Services MD, Frasers Group
Edgars Kokins, Managing Director, Bolt

A fast‑paced session asking who really wins as payments become instant, invisible and intelligent. It challenges banks, fintechs and other stakeholders to share what they believe will have the greatest impact in a world of wallets, real‑time rails, stablecoins, tokenised deposits and CBDCs.

Moderator:
Zil Bareisis, Head of Retail Banking and Payments, Celent

Speakers:
Tristan Blampied, Director, Head of Domestic Payment Products, Barclays
Andrew Briscoe, Product Head, Banking | Fintech, Independent
Austin Elwood, Digital Assets Industry Lead, NatWest

As consumers and businesses increasingly turn to Gen AI tools to search for answers, product discovery is being rewritten around a single, conversational result rather than pages of links. This panel asks whether users will place their trust in AI over traditional search, how that will reshape education and research on available options, and what it means for brands that have relied on being “found” rather than actively recommended. AI is changing how we navigate digital commerce, and understanding that shift in discovery, trust and influence is now crucial for anyone designing products, journeys or go‑to‑market strategies.

For decades, ‘making a payment’ and ‘accounting for a payment’ were two separate, manual steps. But in 2026, that gap has closed. Driven by atomic settlement and ISO 20022, payments are no longer just transactions – they are data-rich events that trigger their own reconciliation. This session explores how CFOs and COOs are using payment orchestration and agentic AI to build a ‘zero-Touch’ backend where the rail and the ledger are one and the same.

Moderator:
Martin Wallraff, Director Product, Payments Consulting Network

Speakers:
Francesco Di Costanzo, CEO, Jaja Finance
Jonny Keir, Director of Payments Technology, NatWest
Dave Smallwood, Managing Director – UK & Ireland, Mollie
Amber Henderson-Smart, Global Head of Client Connectivity,Global Payments Solutions ,HSBC

In the push for “instant” payments, has the industry underestimated the cost of staying resilient? As the 7 May safeguarding deadline approaches, many firms are discovering that adding payment methods delivers more than choice, but it also drives a geometric rise in operational and compliance complexity. 

This session examines how to design high-velocity payment stacks that balance speed, resilience, and cost, without collapsing under the weight of 2026’s regulatory demands and escalating fraud pressures.

Moderator:
Isabel Pitt, Independent

Speakers:
Chris Higham, Director, Payments Product Owner, SMBC
Dan Wilson, Head of Customer Journey, Payments, Nationwide Building Society
Rochelle Sharpe, Product Owner ‑ Payments, Allica Bank
David Cox, Payments Strategy Lead, Billing & Payment Solutions & Operations, Virgin Media
Letizia Pepe, Director, Bank of America

Is the plastic in your pocket a relic or a chrysalis? For years, the “death of the card” has been predicted, yet in 2025, card volumes continued to soar. This session explores how cards carry on evolving. In a world of instant bank transfers and AI agents, do cards still hold the keys to the kingdom and will they remain a critical part of the global payments stack?

Moderator:
Sophia Furber, Fintech Research Analyst, EMEA, S&P Global

Speakers:
Erdem Ersoz, Director of Cards, Tide 
Arati Kurien, Director, HSBC
Ruwani Hewa, Director of Payments, Starling Bank
Andre Shenoi, Senior Product Manager – Commercial Cards, WorldFirst

This session cuts through the crypto hype to spotlight stablecoins as a high-performance B2B rail. Explore why business adoption is surging ahead of retail, backed by supportive regulation, and how European firms are deploying them to solve persistent cash flow challenges. Experts unpack real-world cases in cross-border payments, next-gen treasury, and conditional payments.

Moderator:
Garrett Cassidy, Founder & MD, Abarta

Speaker:
Myles Harrison, Chief Product Officer, AMINA Ban
Pedro Batista, Chief Executive Officer, Payhawk

Digital wallets are evolving into the command centres of our financial lives. The new era of wallets is fluid, intelligent, and seamlessly integrated across every channel. As identity, payments, and data converge, wallets are set to become dynamic ecosystems where AI personalises choices, credentials move effortlessly, and money itself becomes programmable. Panellists explore the future of digital wallets as the interface of a new connected economy, redefining convenience, trust, and personal agency in the age of intelligent finance.

Speaker:
Raul Arribas, CTO , Venga
Danish Kanojia, Product Lead, Fintech Payments, DoorDash (Wolt)

As payment flows span multiple rails, regions, and providers, orchestration has become a necessity and not a luxury. With DORA now in force and PSD3/PSR reshaping responsibilities, moving money is only part of the challenge. 

This session explores how orchestration is evolving into a critical layer for managing regulatory liability, operational resilience, and increasingly agent-driven commerce. Panelists will discuss who really controls the rails in a multi-vendor environment and what it takes to build payment stacks that are compliant, resilient, and ready to scale.

Speaker:
Varsha Jain, Head of Global Acquiring – Fintech Commercial, Booking.com
Mariano Diaz, Chief Banking Officer, Xace

AI is entering the era of action. In agentic commerce, intelligent agents don’t just assist, they take charge to autonomously shop, pay, and manage transactions. This session looks into a future where AI-driven purchasing will transform commerce, from frictionless checkouts to autonomous decision-making, redefining trust, control, and value in the digital economy. What could go wrong?

Speaker:
Aurelie  Seth, Head of Product, The Whiskey Exchange
Amelia Stewart, Payments Strategy Lead, Natwest
Kirsty Rutter, Fintech Investment Director, Lloyds Banking Group
Harsh Mehta,  Head of Partnerships, AI & Agentic Commerce, Worldpay
Aswin Peter, Senior Product Lead – Customer Experience and Product Strategy / Payments and Open Banking Innovation, British Gas

Speaker:
Edward Moore, Chief Revenue Officer, Payrails