This year’s Cologne event was focussed on potential strategies for banks in Europe to benefit from the changes in international payments. Anja Prescher from the German Central Bank highlighted the demands which PSD2 is making of banks in regards to “secure payments”. How banks can exploit the regulatory initiatives PSD2 and Instant Payments to their advantage was presented by Sebastian Schwittay, Manager of Financial Services at KPMG. Omikron’s Melanie Zimmermann and Sebastian Schäfer followed on by examining which products banks can use to implement these strategies successfully.
Participants – about 120 in all - received a hands-on briefing on the work of the CGI-MP initiative on global XML-harmonisation. As the facilitator of the CGI-MP Work Group 1 – Credit Transfer/Payment Status, Kerstin Schönwitz of Deutsche Bank outlined what has been achieved by the various work groups and what is currently scheduled.
The impact of the current low-interest environment and how cash management solutions can be adapted for this special situation was discussed by Omikron’s Tobias Wagner. As one example of such a cash management solution, Markus Linden then focussed on Omikron’s successful MultiCash 4.0 solution, outlining the current roadmap.
As always, Omikron’s strategy forum provided the participants of over 50 financial institutions with an opportunity to exchange views on the current challenges and potential strategies and to establish or refresh contacts. The annual “Get-Together” after the event has become a popular tradition, allowing lively discussion in a more relaxed atmosphere.
The complex challenges in today’s payments world were the subject of Omikron’s Strategy Forum 2017
