Innovation, Inclusion, and Impact: Women in Payments EMEA 2025 Symposium Highlights

Innovation, Inclusion, and Impact: Women in Payments EMEA 2025 Symposium Highlights

The Women in Payments EMEA 2025 Symposium took place on the 9th and 10th of April at County Hall, Belvedere Road, London. Set against the backdrop of a glorious spring day, with stunning views of Big Ben and just steps from the London Eye, the event brought together a vibrant community of professionals to shape the next chapter of the payments industry. With this year’s theme, “Architect Your Future,” the event empowered attendees to take ownership of their careers and the industry’s transformation.

Key Themes and Discussions

• Leadership and Empowerment:
  Speakers shared powerful stories about resilience, reinvention, and leading with intention., DR NARISA CHAUVIDUL-AW, Founder & CEO of KogoPAY Group, delivered an emotional and empowering opening keynote, sharing her remarkable personal and professional journey. DAVID BIRCH (15Mb Ltd) discussed strategies for building self-confidence, resilience, and leveraging social media. SIMONA GIAQUINTO (JPMorganChase), EMMA ALLEY (MoneyCorp) and SANDRA ALZETTA (Spotify) shared their career journeys, highlighting pivotal decisions and the importance of sponsorship. What struck me most was Sandra’s story of transitioning from engineering to a sales role —how she was initially sceptical, like many engineers often are about sales roles (including myself), but ultimately turned it into a success.

• Innovation and Technology:
  The symposium spotlighted the transformative power of technologies like ISO 20022, Open Banking, and AI. Sessions explored how these tools are modernising payments infrastructure, streamlining operations, and enabling more secure and inclusive financial services—while also highlighting AI’s expanding role in banking through data-driven insights that enhance financial decision-making, promote inclusive lending, build trust with identity solutions, and address ethical and regulatory considerations.

Payment Trends: The Future is Now

I had the privilege of taking part in the panel discussion on “Payment Trends: The Future is Now”. Moderated by JENNIFER WAN, (Bank of America), the session featured expert insights from SUPRIYA DAHIWELKAR (Delta Capita), KAT MARANGOS (Volt.io), and CLARE PEARSON (Fnality). The conversation covered real-time payments (RTP), ISO 20022, and Open Banking, while also emphasizing the importance of regulatory harmonization and global alignment, and exploring how technologies like DLT and blockchain are transforming the financial landscape to become more secure and inclusive.

I emphasized ISO 20022 as a key enabler for real-time cross-border payments, stressing the importance of combating fraud in instant payments, and highlighting the vital role of central bank collaboration, effective liquidity management, and robust settlement infrastructure in making global RTP a reality.

KAT MARANGOS underscored Open Banking’s evolution from concept to infrastructure, and the importance of smart routing to meet client priorities.

CLARE PEARSON emphasized that while APIs drive innovation, regulatory clarity and interoperability remain key challenges to RTP adoption and the broader application of technologies like blockchain.

Together, the panel agreed that the future of payments is about smarter, not just faster, transactions. Global cross-border RTP still needs alignment across technology, regulation, and formats; There’s no one-size-fits-all—different rails for different jobs, different payment types for different use cases; Customers care about speed, cost, and certainty – not the payment rails. The more invisible the payment, the better the user experience.

• Agility in Teams:
  THE GREAT DEBATE: AGILE TEAMS  - The debate pitted Team Vintage - SAGITHA GEORGE(Mastercard) & SIOBHAN CANTWELL(U.S. Bank/Elavon), advocating for agile fundamentals, against Team Future Tech - KAREN BREWER (Barclays) & ANNE CULLEN (Fiserve), promoting modern technologies. The panel addressed what true agility means in today’s dynamic workplace. The consensus? Tools matter, but mindset and culture are the true building blocks of high-performing, adaptable teams.

Celebrating Excellence

The event also celebrated innovation and impact through the 2025 Women in Payments Awards, honouring exceptional talent and leadership across categories such as Advocate for Inclusivity, Innovation, Inspiration, and Rising Star, etc. The sit-down Awards Dinner provided a fantastic opportunity for meaningful networking and connection.

Closing Reflections

The symposium closed with a keynote from EM STROUD (The Comic Coach), who highlighted the power of laughter, kindness, and play, introducing the 6 “pizza life” slices - physical, financial, knowledge, emotional, playful, and spiritual. She encouraged the audience to keep a “rainbow diary” that makes space for joy and self-care, while reminding everyone that being kind to ourselves starts with quieting unkind thoughts.

As the event wrapped up, it reinforced the “Architect Your Future” theme by highlighting the importance of taking charge of your career, fostering meaningful support through mentorship and sponsorship, and embracing collaboration and innovation to drive the next phase of progress in the payments industry.

Another fantastic job this year by the amazing KRISTY DUNCAN and the brilliant Women in Payments team!