Policy Focused Debate

📅 20 November 2026

🕔 From 9:00 to 11:30

📍 European Parliament

Introduction and Concept

The retail payments sector has always been at the forefront of technological innovation and new customer solutions, and nowhere more so than in Europe. EU regulation has been an important driver of these changes, from the original Payment Services and E-Money Directives and the SEPA framework to the mandatory roll-out of instant payments, the ongoing discussions on the digital euro and the regulation of stablecoins, and the move to build a European payment scheme. The adoption of the euro by 21 Member States has been another important influence.

Despite these achievements, Europe is in the midst of a public policy debate on sovereignty and control. This educational seminar aims to challenge perceptions with facts: to explore what drives Europe's payments today and what the future trends are. It will be deliberately forward-looking, identifying market and regulatory trends linked to technology, customer expectations and innovation from other parts of the world. While it may touch on regulatory implications, the seminar does not advocate for any particular position. It offers an open and neutral space to understand how the European retail payments landscape works and the many changes affecting it.

The main drivers in European retail payments include, non-exhaustively:

• The emergence of new technologies, in particular the fast-evolving role of AI, including agentic AI
• The role of conditional, micro and machine-to-machine payments
• The plurality of payment rails (cards, account-based, CBDC/digital euro, stablecoins and tokenised deposits)
• Evolving regulation and policy considerations
• Changing fraud patterns and risk mitigation
• The race for a safe and seamless payment experience through integrated solutions (apps, wallets, wearables, etc.)

Questions for discussion

The seminar will be organised in two rounds, offering a sense of how the various players in the European payments ecosystem believe the market might evolve in light of these trends:

• Round 1: How does the European retail payments ecosystem operate today? Who are the key actors, what roles do they play, and how do they interact to enable secure, reliable and seamless payments for consumers and businesses? This round will give participants a practical overview of the payments value chain, including banks, non-bank payment service providers, payment schemes, merchants and consumers, and explain how payments are processed in practice.
• Round 2: What technological, market, political and regulatory developments are likely to shape the future of retail payments in Europe, and what implications might these have for consumers, businesses and the wider ecosystem? This round will explore the use of new technologies such as AI in fraud prevention and risk management, changing fraud patterns, evolving regulation, new payment instruments and use cases, and the growing diversity of payment rails. Speakers will give practical examples of how these changes are shaping today's landscape and offer a view of the future of payments in Europe.

Confirmed Speakers

• Fanny Rodriguez, EPIF Board Member and Chief of Compliance, Legal and Risks, Xpollens
• Atze Faas, EuroCommerce
• Anna Marin, BEUC

Moderated by Elie Beyrouthy, Chair of the European Payment Institutions Federation (EPIF) and Vice President Government Affairs, American Express

Don't miss this opportunity to be part of the conversation. We look forward to welcoming you!

This event is reserved for EPFSF members and EU institutions staff. For more information and registration, contact us at secretariat@epfsf.org