A Tale Of Two Cities: Reflecting upon Money 20/20 Europe 2024 in Amsterdam and EBAday 2024 in Lisbon

Reflecting upon the messages and the takeaways from both Money20/20 Europe in Amsterdam and the Euro Banking Association (EBA) ’s EBAday 2024 in Lisbon, one begins to understand how very important it is to listen to multiple perspectives, as their messages could not have been further apart – and yet, neither was “wrong” or “off target”: they were just two very different perspectives of what the future has in store for us.

Let's reflect and compare:

Amsterdam – Money 20/20 Europe 2024

Money 20/20 Europe has grown and evolved much over the past years. I have visited them all since back in their Copenhagen days, and I must take this opportunity to applaud the changes that I have noticed. Two years ago, I wrote about my experience at Money 20/20 Europe and titled it “Hold the Glitter!”: Back then, Money 20/20 Europe was still a heavily USA-focused (at best, Anglo-American-centric) event that was merely reflagged for its European show. It was loud, hyped, overly bubbly, super-energized … and, well, more like a cross between a Las Vegas show (which, after all, its US counterpart is) and a Televangelist-slash-Disney Mix. It was roller carnival and circus all in one. It was simply way overboard, and the Europeans did NOT applaud it.

This year, it was informative (It always was, but in the past, it was difficult to sort through because of all the trumpets and fanfare). It was serious. It was down-to-Earth. No glitter, no bubbles – just lots of good talks and valuable information. In other words, it felt European.

And it served one clear message across all stages: AI is the one thing you need to focus on now. AI can cure all your problems (like fraud) like nothing else can. AI can save you and your business. Sadly, I missed opportunities to deep-dive into precisely HOW at the conference … it seems no one has gotten past the management summary slides in their glossy presentation decks yet ... or at least no-one there in Amsterdam, but I'll get to that below.

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Now for the “however” … as there is always a “however”.

Oddly, my personal biggest takeaway was not from one of the big stages, but from the smallest stage in the corner – a topic that was maybe only given a smaller stage because Money 20/20 didn’t think that many people would be interested. It was technical, and not about AI. It was nuts and bolts instead of bells and whistles – and the stage was packed full of listeners: standing room only. A small software house just might be on the verge of completely revolutionising how banks process transactions and that hundreds (if not thousands) of times faster than today. Not blockchain, not AI, not CBDC or stable coin (terms which many sadly still used interchangeably) … Not a buzzword in sight (maybe that’s why Money 20/20 didn’t catch the gravitas of the topic), but rather database software: the core of every core banking system. They received over 20 million dollars from the Gates foundation to develop this new software …? and Money 20/20 gave them a tiny stage in the corner.

No matter: the people came and listened anyway. It was packed. Standing room only. And SYNGENIO AG is staying in touch to monitor their progress and test their software!

Lisbon – EBAday 2024

Fast Forward two weeks to Lisbon, and the Euro Banking Association (EBA) ’s EBAday (or days, as it was more than one despite what the name implies).

Here, the key takeaways were slightly different. At first, I thought they contradicted, but instead they only varied in focus, but I’ll get to that.

1. There is a wave of jurisdiction now hitting Europe – Actually, not one, but multiple waves: ISO2022, PSR with PSD3, DORA, the EU AI Act, NIS2, the Financial Market Integrity Act, as well as the updated minimum requirements for risk management and supervisory requirements for IT in Financial Institutions just to name a few! Organizations that attempt to treat each one separately will find themselves in a never-ending series of projects that will back track and make parts of predecessor projects obsolete - yes: back to square one. Instead, one must view the series holistically in order to maximize synergetic potentials.
2. The Holistic View – Organizations focusing not only on individual projects (instead of taking a holistic view) but also only on minimum implementation will so bogged down with these changes that they cannot innovate in between – and they will also miss the opportunity to use the required steps to allow innovation through an intelligent integration. Organizations must not only implement regulation: they must turn the regulatory challenges into opportunities.
3. Innovations are coming in ever faster cycles – AI is a major driver, but not the only one: mandatory services like SEPA instant payments, request to pay, and real-time verification of payee will change customer’s perception (and expectations) of just how fast their Bank must be: everything, everywhere, right away is the new standard … and many legacy systems are often not prepared for the degree of scalability and performance this new world will require ... which brings us back to point 2, doesn't it? And if you are updating, is your IT modernisation GDPR-conform? How about DORA-safe?
4. Collaboration – both between banks & financial institutions and across industries – will be fundamental in order to combat the exploding fraud, as fraudsters invest more and more, embracing new technologies in the attempt to stay one step ahead of the industry. “Either we do these things together", said Thomas Egner , Secretary General of the European Banking Association, or they will fail. "Harmonization is key to the process of change, but that requires a joint understanding, a common definition and vocabulary, and the willingness to work together, he added, signaling what is hopefully the end of ivory tower thinking."

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If I had to sum it all up, I’d say “View holistically before you invest!” Bruno Mellado of BNP Paribas explained it perfectly using instant payments regulation as an example: “If I look at those parts of Europe”, he said, “that will have to go through the new regulation, and just do a very conservative estimate, we’re looking at 10 billion (at least) of investments for the banking sector in Europe, just to respond to the instant payment regulation. And I think that’s conservative: it all depends how the EPC rulebook will shape the last pieces for October. It can quickly go up if you start touching accounting systems and real-time systems – and that’s just for one regulation. You need to anticipate the next ones afterwards, because: if you’re going to open the thing to invest in it, you might as well anticipate the next one, and the next one, and the next one before you close the investment.”

In retrospect, EBAday 2024 was more of a deep dive into the what and how things need to get done, where Money 20/20 Europe focused more on the mid-term vision, and not how to get there. Both are important, both views valuable. And both left my head exploding with things I needed to think more deeply upon on my travel home.

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