By: Matt Ward-Steinman, Vice President of Solutions Development

 

Berlin, Germany | October 12-15, 2015

 

Fall was in the air in beautiful Berlin as the congregants gathered in a rare confluence of representation from both hemispheres of card payments, issuing and acquiring.  Some participants were seemingly from the same bank, meeting each other for the first time. In fact, record attendance was reported.

 

Filmmaker/Adventurer Alistair Humphreys, who once cycled around the globe, delivered an inspiring keynote. And while the message of embracing life’s adventures, thinking creatively, and taking definitive action resonated with the audience, few could envision themselves enduring thousands of kilometers on a
bicycle seat.

 

Allison Guidette delivered an exceptional presentation, “New Frontiers in Risk”, which encapsulated the trends and challenges with merchant risk today. Using an intergalactic metaphor as the backdrop, she described how pioneers in the merchant space can reap great rewards, but should also proceed with reasonable caution as some unstable planetary bodies are unstable. Queue explosion graphics, and a narrow escape! One banker noted that the presentation “opened his eyes” to the threat of transaction laundering.

 

MasterCard presented a productive workshop for the acquiring side of the industry highlighting elements of the new MMP program. Case studies were discussed and a lively question and answer session ensued. Naturally, many acquirers are still adjusting to the new rules. The event allowed them to meet with trusted vendors and interact directly with MasterCard to meet the new requirements.

 

Preventing fraud in all its various forms was a key topic of conversation among attendees. Other notable topics included card network changes, risks of mobile malware and boarding intelligence.

 

G2 Web Services hosted the Gala Dinner at the conference, and we enjoyed meeting so many industry professionals. There was a lot of excitement around G2 Web Services’ ability to perform analytics regarding BRAM violations by category, to provide profiles that clients can use to manage merchants.

 

Overall it was a very fun and informative gathering of industry professionals, complete with powerful presentations and insights.