Next week all eyes will be on Las Vegas for Money20/20, the biggest and most essential payments and FinTech industry event in the world. As usual, FindBiometrics will be there, reporting from the ground floor and sparking the financial biometrics discussion with our panel: Biometric FinTech in the Real World.
FindBiometrics President Peter O’Neill recently had the chance to speak with Tracey Davies, Managing Director, Money20/20. The interview begins with a preview of the superstar keynote speakers set to grace the stage at this year’s Las Vegas conference before diving in to a discussion of why biometric technology continues to be such an important and hot topic at Money20/20 events around the globe. Davies goes on to recap some highlights of this year’s Money20/20 Europe show, before teasing what’s in store for the inaugural Money20/20 Asia event taking place in March of 2018.
Read the full FindBimetrics interview with Tracey Davies, Managing Director, Money20/20:
Peter O’Neill, President, FindBiometrics (FB): Money 20/20 has always had some of the top keynote speakers. Who are you highlighting this year?
Tracey Davies, Managing Director, Money20/20: It’s difficult to pull out individual ones because it’s another strong lineup! I will highlight a few: We have just announced that Jennifer Bailey from Apple will be speaking on Sunday about what’s next for Apple Pay. Then we kick off Monday with Dan Schulman, the CEO of PayPal talking about mission driven FinTech, followed by Bridget van Kralingen from IBM on the topic of Big Tech Meets FinTech. We have a really exciting debate to close the Monday keynotes, moderated by Dave Birch, about the future of banks with Steve Ellis from Wells Fargo and Brett King from Moven.
Tuesday afternoon kicks off with a hotly anticipated session from Klarna and Adidas discussing Emotional e-Commerce that is closely followed by a really interesting session from Accenture on why financial services businesses need to address diversity in the boardroom in order to look after their own financial health. And finally on Wednesday, I will highlight, Ralph Hamers, CEO of ING Group and one of the most forward thinking bank CEOs, talking about The Digital Bank of the Future.
Regardless of the day, it really is an incredible lineup this year! All the latest speakers and sessions are on our website, so I would encourage people to go there for the full information as, with 4,040 minutes of speakers, I literally can’t do it justice. We think that with the topics and trends being discussed by these speakers, you won’t want to leave the room– and that’s without our Track Sessions, Workshops and the new Atrium Theater. This year we have now have a stage on the Expo Floor called The Forum where the speakers will be in the center if the room– there is so much to see.
FB: Having attended many of your conferences in the past, it has always presented a problem for me because you are right, you don’t want to leave the room, but I also want to check out all the exhibitors on the show floor so it creates a real whirlwind for us. But it’s a good whirlwind. So, congratulations on that.
Biometrics keep growing in importance in the FinTech world. Why is it important for these discussions at Money20/20 to be happening now?
Money20/20: It continues to be, quite rightly, one of the very hottest topics. Consumers want to use increasingly frictionless ways to pay for and do stuff which has to be balanced against security. So, I think digital identity access and security are amongst the biggest focus areas in financial services right now, and will continue to be.
Money20/20 is the biggest gathering and the biggest event in the world for payments and FinTech. It will be THE place for discussions because everyone is there, the whole payments ecosystem.
Beyond the content on our stages, Money20/20 is about meetings: hundreds of meetings, thousands of meetings taking place. It is where conversations can happen and business can get done. So, I think that is why – and Peter, you saw this in Europe – it was even more of a conversation in 2017 than in 2016, and next year we predict it will be an even bigger topic because the problem doesn’t go away and the tech solutions and advances to solve it are growing so fast.
FB: I guess when you layer in some of the recent big news events – Apple moving into the Facial 3D space, the Equifax breach – it highlights the importance of what you were talking about. Consumers want to get rid of passwords, but also want convenience and security.
What’s new at this year’s show?
Money20/20: There are lots of things that are new. We have 300 new speakers at Money20/20 this year, I think it is really important to bring fresh voices in. And we’ve got some really interesting formats where we are going to go deeper into subjects. There is a real need to get beyond the surface and understand more– whether it be in biometrics, blockchain, or AI. We have a new workshop format on Wednesday where we are doing really deep dives. One of the four workshops is about identity: identity is fundamental, and what you need to know about identity, and the future, and money.
On Sunday we have a whole day on AI, and we have the co-founder of Apple, Steve Wozniak, speaking, which I think is going to be a really interesting session. So, you will see more deep dives, more granular content, as well as those big keynotes.
FB: Your European show was a big hit. Can you tell us about it?
Money20/20: Yes, of course. It was only year two in Copenhagen. It was an incredible success, we had in excess of 5,000 attendees there, up from 3,500 the year before. It was really dynamic, fast and furious action packed three-day show. What we’ve announced is that we have outgrown Copenhagen in just two years, which we are obviously pleased about, but it meant we had to find a new home. So, one of the big things that we announced in Copenhagen is that we are moving to Amsterdam, and we have had a lot of really positive reaction to Amsterdam for a few reasons. Obviously, it is a financial hub; fifty of the world’s international banks are headquartered there and has a diverse and fast growing FinTech scene. It also is a fantastic travel hub with Schipol airport that has fabulous connections to North America.
FB: What are the dates for that?
Money20/20: The dates for the Europe show are June 4-6, 2018, at The Rai.
FB: I certainly will be in attendance and I look forward to seeing you there.
Finally, just before we sign off, you also have an Asian show. How is that shaping up and what are the dates? I know a lot of our readers are very interested in that part of the global marketplace.
Money20/20: Money20/20 Asia will be held from the 13-15th of March, 2018 in Singapore. We have already announced an incredible line up of speakers and partners including: Greg Gibb, CEO and Chairman of Lufax; Jonathan Larsen from Ping An Global Voyager Fund; and Cheng Li CTO of Ant Financial. Money20/20 Europe attracts people from more than 70 countries and we would the same from Asia because it is such a dynamic region with so much going on.
All of my global teams will be in Las Vegas, so anyone can come and meet us at the sales lounge on the Expo floor and the teams can answer any questions.
FB: Wonderful! And Tracey, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us about the Money20/20 events. They are truly the world leader in terms of the very important financial services marketplace. I look forward to seeing you there next week.
Money20/20: Cool, Peter. Thank you!
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Stay posted to FindBiometrics for our exclusive coverage of biometrics at Money20/20, as well as a recap of our highly anticipated annual financial biometrics panel.
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