The buzz is already building for Sibos 2022 in Amsterdam in October and we, like our clients and partners, cannot wait to meet-up and engage on the issues that matter to our industry. The return of this annual conference ‘in person’ demonstrates the importance of being connected with others, a quality also inherent in our payments business. 

With the overall headline of ‘Progressive finance for a changing world’, the conference taps into three main themes. The first, ‘Embracing the digital landscape and technological opportunities’, will look at how much and how well the financial services industry is leveraging innovations such as AI and machine learning, and big data. It is important to note that while technological evolution keeps accelerating, we still see that in many countries’ expertise in essential areas such as APIs remains scarce, therefore limiting the benefits that such technologies can bring. Hopefully, Sibos discussions will look at how we can collaborate more, and better, to share skills, and to create synergies between existing and new solutions. 

The second conference pillar is ‘Driving sustainability and ethics’; this will go beyond the logistics and practicalities of the event itself to debate broader issues of climate disclosure and ESG standardisation. Insightful discussion about how to incorporate such factors into strategy and processes is critical, but we also welcome the idea that these qualities should be reflected in how and where investment is channelled. For us at iPiD, some of the most sustainable and ethical businesses are those that solve the industry’s real problems and an individual user’s challenges.

Critically, the final conference pillar examines how the industry is ‘Succeeding in uncertain times’. As the world continues to deal with the ramifications of the pandemic, as well as geopolitical and military unrest, it becomes ever more clear that whatever its form – physical, cyber or economic – risk must be considered in a global context. What may begin as local can quickly ripple out to have a broader impact. This is a lesson that needs to be applied in our payments business. Regulators pass national regulations to protect their consumers from the rising payment fraud, however, in an era of globalised payments we need to work together to mitigate this risk within a global mindset. 

This is our raison d’etre at iPiD. We enable banks and fintechs to leverage the power of ‘local’ overlay services (such as bank account validation) that can play a crucial role in any global framework.

The team at iPiD cannot wait to join thousands of other industry participants, to catch up with old colleagues and to make some new connections.  Together we are stronger and more innovative. 

See you in Amsterdam!