Fresh from another fascinating EBADay conference, Aleix Revilla, our Head of Consulting Services, looks at the key takeaways from Paris.
We were recently delighted to attend EBAday 2025, this time held in Paris. The event brought together key players in the payments industry to discuss the evolving landscape and strategic priorities for financial institutions and FinTechs. Discussions centred around the industry's ongoing transformation, driven by new technologies, regulatory changes, and the ongoing need for greater efficiency and interoperability.
1. Instant Payments: Scaling Fast, But Not Frictionless
A major theme was the accelerated adoption of instant payments across Europe. While institutions are scaling their capabilities rapidly, the path is not without its hurdles. Key challenges include interoperability, particularly between national schemes, liquidity management impacts, and the need for infrastructure upgrades. Although ‘real-time’ is quickly becoming the new standard, achieving consistent reliability remains a work-in-progress. This builds on the frequent discussion of instant payments and verification of payee solutions at EBADay 2024 in Lisbon, which highlighted implementation complexities.
2. Fraud Prevention & Risk Management: Fighting Fraud Together
Discussions emphasised that tackling complex and evolving fraud threats requires cross-industry collaboration. Verification of Payee (VoP) solutions are gaining momentum, recognised at EBADay 2024 as pivotal for security. However, a significant concern with VoP implementation is managing false positives. The consensus points towards the need for smarter, risk-based logic and intelligent controls to mitigate this challenge. Balancing effective fraud prevention with a positive customer experience remains crucial.
3. Cross-Border Payments: Pushed by G20, Pulled by Innovation
Cross-border payments continue to be a focal point, driven structurally by the 2027 G20 roadmap. Top priorities in this domain include enhancing transparency, data quality, and interoperability. The role of data-rich messaging is seen as vital for improving traceability and transparency in international transactions. While instant, cross-border capabilities remain a long-term ambition, challenges related to interoperability and regulatory alignment persist.
4. ISO 20022 Migration: More Than Just a Data Upgrade
The migration to ISO 20022 messaging standard is actively underway, though progress is uneven across different markets. While the standard promises richer data and enhanced analytics, realising these benefits requires strategic implementation and a willingness from institutions to rethink legacy processes. Discussions explored the use cases and operational opportunities enabled by richer messaging. This indicates a shift from 2024, where MT to ISO 20022 transformation was less dominant but still present in the background, with the push for data richness seen as potentially driven by regulation. But given the ISO migration deadline which is fast approaching this November, the shift in focus is understandable.
5. Emerging Trends: Eyes on What’s Next
Several emerging trends received exploratory attention, including Request-to-Pay and the potential Digital Euro. A notable shift is the growing emphasis on customer-centric compliance and improving the digital user experience. Market players want to innovate while still being practical. This makes intelligent, user-centered compliance mechanisms increasingly important. Engaging corporate clients and driving adoption of new solutions also remained a key discussion point, consistent with 2024’s insights.
6. Collaboration & Community: Progress Through Partnership
A foundational element stressed throughout EBAday 2025 was the value of open dialogue, shared learning, and co-development within the industry. It’s pleasing to see that EBAday continues to serve as a trusted forum for unfiltered strategic conversations. A key message of this year’s conference was that building trust is as important as building systems. This collaborative spirit aligns with the evolving relationship between banks and FinTechs noted in 2024, signalling that the shift from competition to partnership continues.
That’s a wrap for another excellent conference
We have an exciting year ahead of us in the payments space, full of opportunities as well as challenges. EBAday 2025 reinforced that the payments industry is still in a period of dynamic change, tackling critical issues like instant payments, fraud, and cross-border complexity while embracing the potential of ISO 20022 and new digital initiatives.
The industry’s emphasis on collaboration and intelligent execution signals a pragmatic approach to navigating the future.
