REGISTRATION OPENS

WELCOME:

PANEL: DIGITAL WALLETS

Panelists: 
Nick Platt 
Vice Chairman 
Kudu Investment Management 

Attila Csutak 
Electronic Payments Team Lead 
City National Bank 

Andrew Lau
Fireblocks

As the financial industry moves into 2026, digital wallet adoption is accelerating. This panel brings together leaders from banking, payments, and fintech to talk about how digital wallets are reshaping customer relationships and the competitive dynamics of retail and commercial banking. What are the strategic implications for banks and how do they need to respond?

KEYNOTE: HOW STABLECOINS WILL IMPACT BANKING

Mihail Duta 
Director, Global Solution Consulting, Payments, Americas 
Finastra 

Stablecoins are moving quickly from headlines to everyday financial activity — and they’re beginning to influence how payments are issued, moved, and settled. For banks, the question is no longer if they matter, but how to participate safely and strategically.

We’ll present an overview of the early use cases, including cross-border payments and new deposit models; discuss what it takes to stay compliant and manage risk; and provide insight on where stablecoins are heading to help you figure out next steps for your financial institution.

COFFEE BREAK

FIRESIDE CHAT ON AGENTIC COMMERCE

Featuring: 
Rachel Moore 
SVP of Incubation and Emerging Payments 
Synchrony  

Already consumers can use AI-driven agents to assist with shopping on retail websites like Walmart’s, and the next step is coming sooner than you might expect. Consumers and businesses will be able to deploy software to autonomously evaluate products, negotiate prices, initiate purchases, and more. Banking and payments executives need to think ahead about their overall strategy — from authentication and fraud prevention to customer acquisition and marketing.

BRIEFING: SMART CONTRACTS IN PLAIN ENGLISH — WHAT BANKERS NEED TO KNOW

Peter Glyman
Founder and CEO
Coinbax

You've heard about stablecoins. But the technology underneath them — smart contracts — may have more immediate implications for how banks think about payments, compliance, and risk. This session strips away the jargon and explains what smart contracts actually are, how they work in plain terms, and why they matter to bankers right now. We'll look at real use cases: payments that reverse automatically, escrow that executes on conditions, and compliance controls that are built into the transaction itself, not bolted on after the fact. No blockchain background required.

PANEL: TACKLING THE EVOLVING RISKS IN PAYMENTS

Moderator: 

Yakut Akman 
Risk management executive  
(formerly Citigroup’s Chief Third Party Management Officer)  

Panelists: 

Attila Csutak 
Electronic Payments Team Lead 
City National Bank 

Tanweer “Tan” Ansari 
Chief Compliance Officer 
First Central Savings Bank 

Andrew Showstead 
SVP of Solution Engineering 
IronVest 

To address a complex array of threats, a mix of traditional and emerging approaches may be the best way forward. What are the fraud management tools and tactics getting the most traction? And will preparing for stablecoins require new strategies? This panel discussion will touch on identity verification, the use of behavioral insights across every action of the customer, and the role of AI-facilitated due diligence, among other topics.

BRIEFING: HOW TO ENSURE A SUCCESSFUL MODEL VALIDATION PROJECT

Matthew Connolly
Chief Risk Officer 
BCUS (formerly called Banking Circle US) 

As AI use skyrockets for both banks and bad actors, regulators are trying to become more proactive. As a result, model validation projects within anti-money-laundering programs have been subject to much greater scrutiny lately for institutions of all sizes — including smaller ones where this compliance requirement is relatively new. In some cases, regulatory agreements and fines have resulted. Common shortcomings include data quality issues, missing or incomplete documentation for filtering thresholds, and inadequate model governance. This session offers an overview on implementing a strong model validation project from the ground up and insight on steps you can to take to keep regulators happy.

LUNCH

PEER ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS

Choose from one of five topics to join your peers in an open discussion where you can ask each other questions and share your experiences. The choice of topics will include 1) Real-time payments, 2) Risk; 3) Use of AI, including agentic commerce, and 4) Stablecoins.

Don’t see the topic you are most eager to discuss? Please let us know what you’d like us to add.

KEYNOTE: A FRAMEWORK FOR MODERNIZING YOUR PAYMENTS STRATEGY

Wayne Brown 
Senior Relationship Management and Partnerships 
Alacriti 

Payments rails are proliferating. It’s not just ACH, card networks and wire transfers. Real-time options such as The Clearing House’s RTP network and the Federal Reserve’s FedNow Service, VisaDirect, and Zelle have expanded the landscape, and stablecoins are adding another layer of change. As new capabilities emerge across consumer and commercial payments, financial institutions are under pressure to rethink their strategy. In this session, attendees will get a clear framework for modernizing payments in an increasingly real-time environment. We’ll discuss practical ways to connect legacy infrastructure with newer networks and prepare your organization for future innovation — without disrupting day-to-day operations.

PANEL: MERCHANT PAYMENTS — THE SHIFT FROM SERVICE PROVIDER TO INDISPENSABLE PARTNER

Moderator: 

Seth Marlowe 
Host of the “Treasury Whisperer” podcast 

Panelists: 

Marissa Mcgee 
Senior Operations Officer 
Thomaston Savings Bank

Kevin Conlon
Head of First Line Risk
Block

Jerome d'Orchimont
Founder and CEO
TheroPay

The basics are no longer enough. Expectations for faster and cheaper payments are forcing banks to review their business models and infrastructure in the effort to stay competitive. The new factors to be considered run the gamut: surging interest in embedded finance, the role of pay-by-bank, tokenization, the rise of digital wallets, the use of AI in fraud management, and regulation of buy-now-pay-later, among other things. Are you ready to evolve from facilitating payments to managing a commerce ecosystem?

AFTERNOON COFFEE BREAK

PANEL: THE NEW LANDSCAPE IN GLOBAL PAYMENTS

Moderator: 

Peter Glyman
Founder and CEO
Coinbax

Panelists: 

Sheila Noll 
Chief Operating Officer 
PCBB 

Joanne McDaid 
Payments Operations Officer 
Atlantic Community Bankers Bank 

Even institutions that aren’t doing cross-border payments themselves can find useful takeaways in hearing from those who are. That’s especially true since real-time payments are transforming this traditionally slow segment of the market. Get a better sense of the latest trends in global payments, the biggest challenges and opportunities, and the implications for other payments providers. Are banks in danger of being disintermediated by faster, more nimble competitors?

PANEL: THE “INNOVATION” CHARTER IN ACTION

Panelists: 

Jay Nair 
Chief Risk and Compiance Officer 
Numisma Bank 

Matthew Connolly
Chief Risk Officer 
BCUS (formerly called Banking Circle US) 

CLOSING REMARKS

MIX AND MINGLE