Banks have entered a “new era of uncertainty”, with a recent survey revealing that measures of global volatility have doubled since the mid-1990’s. Coupled with a shifting regulatory landscape that no longer provides a clear change agenda, the onus is now on banks to move faster and be bolder to remain resilient and competitive.
We know, however, that this is hard task to take on entirely alone. In response, banks are increasingly turning to Icon and the Icon Payments Framework (IPF) to help them to modernise safely, quickly and cost-effectively – while staying in control and not becoming reliant on vendors.
A crucial aspect of the success of IPF to date is that its development is directly informed and shaped not only by the (extensive) collective experience of Icon’s domain experts, but also by the unique needs of our customers.
This fundamental and enduring commitment to collaboration is also why our Annual European Payments Conference has become such an important fixture in the calendar.
It brings together a diverse community of financial and payments technology experts to learn from one another, share successes, and discuss challenges openly. As one client put it: “It’s rare to hear such honest stories from peers – it helps us reimagine how we approach our own systems.”
This year’s event in London was no different. We were fortunate to hear from clients who shared valuable insights into their journeys with IPF and how they are now using it to deliver truly ground-breaking solutions.
The ability to exchange and collaborate also helps to answer the questions keeping everyone up at night. For instance, the banking industry – like nearly every other – is currently contending with how rapid developments in AI can translate into tangible organisational and customer value.
Our Payments Conference offered a unique forum to help navigate this challenge by enabling attendees to share insight on the use cases where AI has the potential to unlock concrete benefits, such as increasing operational efficiency by automating repairs and manual processing, enhancing user insights, and supporting the development and implementation of payment solutions. Equally as important, it provided an opportunity to explore where the lift for AI looks to be far heavier (at least in the short-term).
Following the success of the European edition, we are now looking forward to heading back to New York in February for our second U.S. Payments Conference to continue to build and strengthen our relationships with our clients, as well as system integrators and other third parties. This will help us continue to lead payments forward, together.