Reporting back from NextGen Nordics

Richard Mummery, Head of Client Success, Iliad Solutions

Attending the recent NextGen Nordics conference proved to be an engaging and thought-provoking experience, offering a deep dive into the evolution of the Nordic payments landscape. It gave me the opportunity to connect with a wide range of industry leaders, clients, and partners, all of whom are shaping the future of payments and digital infrastructure.

Being part of the conversations around real-time payments, digital identity, and cross-border innovation allowed me and those attending, the opportunity to share expertise and gain valuable insights into the challenges and priorities facing the industry.

My main takeaways

A major theme throughout the event centred around the transition to VoP (Verification of Payee) and the significant challenges and opportunities it presents. One data point provided revealed that 28% of Nordic banks view infrastructure technology updates as the main challenge to implementing VoP, underscoring the scale of transformation required.

Carina Olson from Bankgirot, shared their journey towards building a new payments platform for Sweden, a major modernisation effort aimed at future-proofing national clearing.

The recurring presence of P27 in discussions highlighted the collective curiosity around lessons learned from this pan-Nordic initiative. While the project may not have achieved all it set out to do, the appetite to modernise and improve cross-border and ease of transacting still remains.

Compliance emerged as both a driver and enabler of change throughout the day’s sessions, with speakers noting how regulatory pressure is not just a burden but also a catalyst for innovation.

DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act) was, as expected, a key talking point. What became clear is that major suppliers and banks are still uncertain about how to apply the new regulations and interpretations seem fairly open. For now, discussions indicated that it’s largely seen as a mapping exercise against standards like ISO, PCI, and DSS, and the spirit of these regs should be, in the main, covered by existing standards.

The evolution of the VoP rulebook was another focal point at conference, with a new rulebook being announced during one of the panel sessions. Discussions also looked at the UK’s CoP.  It was widely agreed to be a success with consumers; however, commercial transactions faced more issues and should be a focus for those implementing VoP.

Away from the sessions, it was good to meet with a variety of providers to the payments industry, and meet with colleagues past and present. It was great to hear how well they are doing.

There was a great turnout with delegates travelling from Cyprus, Canada and all across Europe. Finextra did a great job of making it an engaging and interesting session.

So, to summarise my time at NextGen Nordics, I came away with a clearer understanding of where the market is heading and how Iliad’s payment testing solutions can continue to meet the evolving needs of our customers. Most importantly, the event reinforced our commitment to driving innovation in payment testing and infrastructure, and a real inspiration for us to keep pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in the digital payments space.

Keep in touch

If we weren’t able to catch up in Stockholm and you would like to hear about Iliad’s world-class payment testing solutions, please reach out.