It has become an annual tradition for us every October to pack our bags and set off to Las Vegas to attend Money20/20, a payments event that has grown from a respectable number of ~2,000 attendees when it launched in 2012, to a mammoth 11,000+ participants last year. As someone who has attended every year, it's been fascinating to watch the event grow and evolve into a "must be there" show around payments, commerce, and financial services technology.
For me, Money20/20 is all about getting a pulse on the latest developments and innovations in the payments industry - not just confirming and solidifying our own research findings, but coming away with new insights as well. Some of it comes via keynote presentations and other sessions, but a lot also from individual meetings, both pre-arranged and impromptu, walking the corridors and the exhibition floors.
Here are just a few topics I am looking forward to exploring in conversations and sessions:
- Are we on the cusp of finally adopting mobile/ digital payments? What's driving it - wallets, P2P apps, loyalty integration, contextual commerce? What can we learn from markets such as China and India?
- How can we continue to increase payments security without compromising customer convenience? What are the latest developments in tokenization, EMV, 3DS 2.0, authentication, and fraud prevention? Is identity indeed the "new money"?
- What is reality versus hype in how technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and blockchain are impacting payments?
My colleagues, Alenka Grealish and Dan Latimore, are also attending this year, and I know that for each of us this list is slightly different, so between us we expect to cover a lot of ground.
If you are coming to Vegas, we are looking forward to seeing you there. Oherwise, look out for another update from us where we will share our observations from Money20/20.