Following the success of the inaugural event in Paris, France last year, this year’s large-scale gathering will once again bring together Fintech start-ups, Worldline experts and industry leaders to co-innovate and shape the future of payments.

For this year’s e-Payments Challenge, Worldline is taking the event to a new level. 25 Fintech startups have been pre-selected to join the Challenge this year and will have the opportunity to partner with Worldline to scale their business, pitch their solutions to Worldline’s clients and establish important business relationships.

16 challenges have been set for the participating Fintechs - each submitted and organised by a Worldline client, amongst them Erste Group and Accor. The challenges are:

• Easy payments for B2B
• Digital identity
• In-store ultrasound biometric authentication
• In-store ultrasound mobile payment
• Open banking: corporate data
• Bank balance breakdown
• Try now, buy later
• Bike sharing
• Recurring payments
• Request to pay
• Instant payment notifications
• Account splitting credit card transactions
• In-store instant cards issuing in app
• Gamification in payments
• Card-as-a-service
• Self-selected-PIN > Multi-PIN

Participating Fintechs will have 48 hours to create digital payments solutions based on the challenges they select and are able to benefit from Worldline’s assets and expertise such as APIs including e-commerce, WL Trusted Authentication, Xs2A TPP, next generation terminals, WL Tap 2 Use, and merchant portal; Offerings such as WL Merchant Wallet, mobile payments, issuing services, acquiring services and data analytics; and Expertise including research and development (R&D), blockchain, AI, bots, and regulations (PSD2 and GDPR). Experts from the participating clients and partners are contributing with their technical insight as well in order to co-create the best solution for their challenge.

The winning team may experience joint go-to-market with Worldline, build potential projects with the client who submitted the challenge and join Worldline at global events such as the Mobile World Congress, Sibos, National Retail Federation (NRF) in New York City, and many more.

Marc-Henri Desportes, Deputy CEO of Worldline, states: « We strongly believe that open collaboration is the key to developing payments solutions for the future. This year’s e-Payments Challenge will not only enable us and our partners to work together with Fintechs to solve some of the business challenges we face, but provide Worldline the opportunity to test our assets and continue to innovate our technology solutions in order to adapt to the changing landscape of payments. I am looking forward to meeting our partners and Fintechs at this year’s Challenge and witness some of the incredible solutions come to life. »

Alexander Kickinger, Head of Digital and Open Banking at Erste Group Bank AG, states: « Erste Group is committed to innovation and sets numerous initiatives across all our segments. Participating in the e-Payment Challenge is an exciting opportunity for us. We are looking forward to leveraging the creative yet fully professional spirit that Worldline ensures at the event. »

Michael Deboli, Senior Vice President Engineering and Delivery at Accor states: « Participating in the 2018 Worldline e-Payments Challenge was an amazing experience and a very productive event. The world of payments is changing swiftly, carried by technology, we are confident that we can provide new uses and customer experience. Therefore, as a major partner, we are very pleased to support the second e-Payments Challenge. Fintechs with their innovative ideas and approaches are an inspiration and also encourage us to become better and more agile. We can create viable solutions and gain truly valuable learnings. »