Hogan Lovells welcomes P20 global payments conference back to London

P20 is the voice of the global payments industry and applies a wealth of collective expertise to guide and implement change, with the aim of improving the industry’s effectiveness.

The annual conference highlights the importance of payments and fintech to the world economy, with a focus on global collaboration to drive industry growth through harmonised regulatory frameworks, economic development, innovation, financial inclusion and overall cooperation.

This year, the P20 will meet to discuss ideas that can drive significant progress on behalf of businesses, society and consumers, with the vision of making payments accessible, affordable and secure for all.

The three key themes that have been established for the P20 in 2019 are:

• Regulation. Systemic confidence is a key component of economic growth and this can only be achieved by enforcing a regulatory environment that promotes fair and appropriate business practices for the benefit of all.
• Cyber Security. Reducing risk from cyber attack is critical for the global payments industry. Adequate defence requires collaboration between industry and regulators in order to establish best practices to combat threats and vulnerabilities to critical infrastructure. The development of an industry-endorsed Attack Response Plan is also essential.
• Financial Inclusion. Currently 1.7 billion people globally are unable to access to financial services. The global payments industry is committed to helping lift individuals out of poverty by promoting an accessible, affordable and secure global payment infrastructure.

This year’s event follows an inaugural conference in London in 2017 at which the former U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew delivered the Keynote Address and last year’s event in Atlanta, which attracted almost 200 global payments industry participants and achieved demonstrable progress on identity verification, open banking, and GDPR. Former British Prime Minister David Cameron headlined the Conference Dinner.

Leading this year’s event are: Duncan Sandys, Executive Director; Bruce Lowthers, Chairman; Peter Radcliffe, Conference Chairman; and Alastair Lukies CBE, Global Ambassador.

In addition to the unique and diverse experience of the executive team, the P20 Board is comprised of industry executives from American Express, ATPC, China UnionPay, Discover, Elavon, First Data, FIS, Fiserv, Hogan Lovells, Holland & Knight, InComm, JP Morgan Chase, Mastercard, Nationwide, NCR, PaySafe, RBS, The Clearing House, Visa and Worldpay.

Duncan Sandys, Executive Director of P20, comments: “We’re looking forward to welcoming a body of global leadership delegates from across the payments industry. P20 represents different countries, governments and organisations but we all share a common vision of making payments accessible, affordable and secure for all. It is the platform that brings together the leading minds in the payments industry to discuss, progress and deliver change”.

Bruce Lowthers, P20 Conference Chairman, comments: “We’re delighted to be back in London for the P20 this year. The global payments ecosystem looks to the UK and US for leadership across many aspects of the industry on both business and regulation. Our first conference was held in London at Lancaster House just a couple of years ago and it is great to return to London, the Fintech capital of the world, after an outstanding event in Atlanta, GA in 2018. As we move towards October 2019 we are excited to build upon our historic P20-led cyber games last year, helping create a better industry.”

Alastair Lukies CBE, P20 Global Ambassador, comments: “London is home to 37% of Europe’s financial services industry. The capital is a hub for fintech innovation, and a natural home for the P20 Conference. Fintech is about communities, and that is what the P20 creates; a community of leading experts from across the payments industry, all brought together with the unified goal of building a stronger, more robust and inclusive financial ecosystem”.

The P20 Conference is invite-only and will be held on 3rd October 2019 in central London.