Speakers
March 2026
Speakers from our last events
Innovation and disruption in payments are not new.
But the amount of mature and scaled technology adoption cycles happening all at once right now is unprecedented.
BIO:
Leda is a seasoned fintech executive and former banker, with a career spanning two decades working in transformation and technology functions across a variety of financial services verticals.
She is the author of best-selling book ‘Bankers Like Us: Dispatches from an Industry in Transition’ (Taylor and Francis, 2023) and of the recently released ‘Beyond Resilience: Patterns of Success in Fintech and Digital Transformation’ (Taylor and Francis, 2025).
She a frequent keynote speaker at flagship industry events globally including SIBOS, Money 20/20 and Finovate, as well as specialist regional and corporate events for banks, tech companies, issuers and regulators; and she is the author of the highly acclaimed #LedaWrites column on Fintech Futures.
Leda is a Visiting Professor of Practice for the University of Loughborough London, focusing on fintech and the digital economy.
She works as an external advisor to boards and executive teams for banks, financial institutions and technology companies globally, supporting leadership teams in transition: be it a process of transforming themselves, their business or their software infrastructure. Additionally, Leda works with established technology and younger fintech companies as an external advisor.
Leda is also the Chair of the Board for Bourn AI and recently served as a Non Executive Director for Flagstone (who achieved one of the highest capital raises of its kind in the UK with backing from Estancia Capital). She was a NED at Simply Pay Me (until its acquisition by MyTown Technologies) and she chaired the Board of Geophy (now a Walker and Dunlop company) through its successful exit.
Previously, Leda served as the Chief Client Officer of 10x Banking and the founding CEO of 11:FS Foundry (both in the cloud-native core banking space); she was the Chief Innovation Officer of Qatar National Bank and held a variety of client facing technology innovation and business transformation roles at BNY Mellon.
Leda completed her undergraduate studies at King’s College Cambridge and holds an MSc and PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Opportunities / challenges merchants want to consider as the strategy is implemented.
BIO:
A Payments Risk and Regulation consultant with experience helping organisations to understand and achieve compliance with payments regulatory requirements. Alan has advised large global Banks, Corporates and fast-growing Fintechs across issues such as SCA, Open Banking, Merchant Acquiring Authorisation and CHAPs compliance.
Holly Mead – BIO:
Holly Mead is an award-winning journalist who has been writing about investing and personal finance for 15 years. She previously worked for The Times & Sunday Times, where she launched and hosted the paper’s Feel Better About Money Podcast, and has also worked for The Sun, Daily Mail and the investment research company Morningstar. She has won multiple awards for her comment pieces, broadcast work and investing articles and investigations.
Join our session to find out:-
BIO:
Tom is the Director of External Affairs & Public Policy at GoCardless. He leads the organisation’s efforts in analysing policy issues, external engagement andensuring that GoCardless is working alongside key external stakeholders to positively shape the policy and regulatory environment. In addition to this, Tomalso heads up GoCardless’ open banking unit to drive the organisation’s open banking initiatives.
Tom has specialised in public affairs within banking and finance for over a decade with previous roles including Head of Public Policy and Strategy at Klarna, as well as the Vice President of Government Relations at Barclays.
Adoption of open banking has been showing steady growth since its inception in 2018, often led by significant regulatory changes. The latest of these is the rollout of commercial Variable Recurring Payments. Variable Recurring Payments (VRPs) will enable recurring payments of differing amounts to be made via open banking.
At present they’re only available in very specific use cases with the commercial rollout coming later this year. But, what does this mean for your business and how you collect recurring payments? Join GoCardless’ panel discussion where we discuss why businesses are looking to implement VRPs. We will also be joined by policy specialists to find out more about current VRP developments and the future potential for the commercial rollout.
Farrel Levenson BIO:
Farrel has nearly a decade of experience building customer-centric products and driving double digit growth across product leadership and strategy roles. Most recently, she has worked across consumer marketplaces and payments products to help established businesses expand beyond their core with new ventures and business lines.
Tom Burton BIO:
Tom is within public affairs, regulatory policy, communications and business advisory professional specialising in the financial services and technology sectors. He is a Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) Panel Member and Board member of the Open Finance Association.
Nick Davey BIO:
Nick joined Open Banking Limited in April 2024, having previously worked at the PSR and the Bank of England, with around half of his career at the Bank involved in payment policy and settlement. Notably, Nick managed the Bank’s Banknote Circulation Scheme, and managed the Payment and Settlement Analysis team where he worked with a number of the interbank payment systems and direct participants in those systems.
The presentation will discuss these developments and illustrate crypto, regulation, greater customer demands, and risk awareness will alter the industry landscape in the next three years.
BIO:
Eliot Heilpern is currently CEO and founder of the Banking and Payments Advisory Group entitled Parthenon Communications. The Company provides advice and solutions on International Payments to the Corporate, FI, and Fintech sectors.
Eliot is a seasoned executive and multi-disciplinary business leader; well experienced at the intersection of payments, relationship banking, risk, partnerships, supporting technologies, and industry regulation.
His professional background is: Senior Banker with regards to Client Relationships and Revenue Generation. Currently, he is an International Payments Consultant to the Payments and Fintech Industry. He maintains a strong understanding of the Financial Eco-System, having spent more than 25 years in the industry in the UK and overseas. His core areas of expertise are: Corporate and FI Banking, Correspondent Banking, Relationship Management, Global Transaction Services, and Cash Management; including supporting KYC and Due Diligence.
Eliot was former UK CEO of a UN/UNICEF affiliated international organisation, and has held various senior positions with several key international banks, and financial entities in the UK, and abroad overseeing; international retail, wholesale and corporate banking, and cards.
How a data-led fraud strategy used geographical insights to boost approval rates and reduce false declines in a challenging US market.
BIO:
I’m a payments and fraud specialist with a background spanning aviation, retail, and e-commerce. I currently lead payments at Heathrow Airport, overseeing end-to-end solutions for Marketplace, parking, rail, and premium services. Before this, I managed global fraud and payments at Dr. Martens, and prior to that, worked in revenue protection at easyJet. I bring a blend of commercial strategy and technical know-how, with a focus on secure, scalable, and customer-centric payment journeys.
Payment systems are wonderful for banks which make money from it, for retailers and other merchants who get more business and save costs, and of course for customers, but ultimately there will be a residual group who want and in many cases need cash. What should the payments industry be doing to ensure that technology facilitates their lives too?
Payment systems are wonderful for banks which make money from it, for retailers and other merchants who get more business and save costs, and of course for customers who can pay more easily and quickly 24/7 if (a) they have latest tech and (b) are happy and (c) able to use it for paying and moving money.
How will the payments industry convert them? Each presents different challenges which I would explore in this presentation. But ultimately there will be a residual group who want and in many cases need cash. What should the payments industry be doing to ensure that technology facilitates their lives too?
BIO:
Paul Lewis has been a freelance financial journalist since 1987. He writes extensively on money issues and is a regular guest on BBC TV and Radio programmes.
Paul became established in the public’s eye as a reporter on BBC’s Money Box in the 1990s and, following a three year stint on Radio 5 Live, returned as presenter on Money Box in September 2000.He also regularly appears on other BBC Television programmes such as BBC Breakfast, BBC News Channel, BBC Radio 4 topical shows such as You and Yours, Woman’s Hour and Analysis, as well as BBC Radio 4 news programmes like Today, The World at One and PM.
Focusing on the human behind the payments leader, based on a mix of quantitative survey data collection and qualitative in-depth merchant interviews
BIO:
Dr. Ruth Wandhöfer has been instrumental in shaping the future of finance and money during her impressive career over more than 22 years. She operates at the nexus of technology, identity, finance and regulation and advises and speaks to international audiences on the evolution of the digital economy.
As a sought-after keynote speaker, author and recognised global authority on banking, technology and regulation she is a very influential female leader in the Fintech space, promoting the understanding, development and deployment of new business models and technologies for our digital future across payments, financial markets and processes. She advises firms and sits on various boards as non-executive director.
Discuss the key regulatory priorities for firms and regulators – what does the future of payments regulation hold?’ A phenomenal chance to discuss points of view and receive valuable feedback from the PSR, and let us help you by providing insight into the challenges we have seen across the market in terms of regulatory compliance.
Michelle Plevey BIO:
Michelle is the Director of KPMG’s payments regulatory team, providing advice to a wide variety of payment service providers including Banks, Payment Schemes, FinTechs and EMIs. Her expertise includes Strong Customer Authentication, Regulatory Authorisations and Open Banking.
Alan Horsfield BIO:
A Payments Risk and Regulation consultant with experience helping organisations to understand and achieve compliance with payments regulatory requirements. Alan has advised large global Banks, Corporates and fast-growing Fintechs across issues such as SCA, Open Banking, Merchant Acquiring Authorisation and CHAPs compliance.
Dan Moore BIO:
Dan has been the PSR’s Head of Strategy, Intelligence and Engagement since 2024. He was previously the Director of Rail Strategy and Analysis at the Department for Transport (DfT) and has also worked at the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), were he led various financial services projects.
Megan Coulson BIO:
Megan is the UK Public Policy Lead at TrueLayer, where she spearheads strategic engagement with policymakers and regulators to advance open banking. Prior to joining TrueLayer, Megan served as an advisor at the FCA, providing insights on the political landscape to senior leadership. She also led financial services policy at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), with experience in both London and Brussels.
Drawing from over 20 years’ experience in the merchant payments ecosystem, Paul will explore how everyday payments that support ‘buying stuff’ really matter to national and global economies. He will outline where the priorities for payments professionals lie, both in ensuring the payments agenda receives the right priority within merchants’ businesses and give some pointers on how to make sense of the innovations and solutions that compete for their attention.
BIO:
Paul is Chair & Founder of merchant payments community, Vendorcom; Evangelist for the World Wide Web Consortium’s Payments Sector in Europe; Mentor at fintech Incubator Level39; former member of the UK Payment Systems Regulator Panel, the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s SCA Monitoring Forum, and the UK Finance SCA PMO Steering Group where he chaired the UK Merchant & Payment Gateway SCA Readiness & Engagement Task Force.
He is passionate about the merchant payments sector and the benefits to be gained by driving innovation through collaboration. His work with Vendorcom ensures that all stakeholders in the merchant payments are connected and have access to authoritative, independent information on strategic and innovative developments, standards, regulation, and market opportunities. Paul is recognised for his broad perspective on industry matters as well as his independence, authority, and pragmatism in dealing with the increasingly complex changes faced by both merchants and solutions suppliers.
Join us to find out:
BIO:
As Director of Global Payment Partnerships at GoCardless, Paul and his team manage global relationships with the organisations that make payments work. His expertise was instrumental in building GoCardless’ ACH payment product, enabling the company to enter the North American market successfully. Paul sits on the UK Finance Working Group on Open Banking and holds the Chartered Banker, MCIBS qualification. The Chartered Banker Diploma is the highest level qualification awarded by the Chartered Banker Institute, recognised and supported by major financial services organisations across the globe.
