Sophia Furber is a research analyst in the 451 Research Fintech research and consulting group within S&P Global Market Intelligence. Her coverage focuses on Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Full Bio

Sophia Furber is a research analyst in the 451 Research Fintech research and consulting group within S&P Global Market Intelligence. Her coverage focuses on Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Sophia has more than a decade of experience as a financial journalist and researcher. Prior to her current role, Sophia was a part of the European Financial Institutions Group in S&P Global Market Intelligence, where she spearheaded fintech news coverage for the EMEA region.

She has a particular interest in payments, remittances, fraud prevention and digital currencies. Prior to commencing her journalism career, Sophia worked as a freelance political risk analyst and served as a long-term observer in Nepal with The Carter Center’s international observation mission during the peace process. She holds an MA in South Asian Area Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Cambridge University.

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Gijs Boudewijn (1958) is currently General Manager at the Dutch Payments Association (DPA). He has extensive experience in domestic as well as international payments related issues.  Full Bio

Gijs Boudewijn (1958) is currently General Manager at the Dutch Payments Association (DPA). He has extensive experience in domestic as well as international payments related issues. Closely involved in PSD2/3 matters, open banking and the RTS of the EBA, instant payments and digital euro.

He is Chair of the Legal Support Group of the European Payments Council (EPC) after serving several terms as Board member, and Vice-Chair of the Payment Expert Group of the European Banking Federation (EBF, after having served 3 terms as Chair). He is Vice-Chair of the European Card Payments Association (ECPA), and Chair of the Payments Working Group of the International Banking Federation (IBFed).

Last, he is a member of the Payment Systems Market Expert Group (PSMEG) of the European Commission and co-Chair of the EPC’s SEPA Payment Account Access scheme Multi Stakeholder Group on behalf of the credit sector associations.

He is a regular speaker at national and international conferences on strategic and regulatory payments related issues, instant payments, new technologies and open banking. Minimize

Martin has developed his career as a Product Manager on digital banking initiatives. Full Bio

Martin has developed his career as a Product Manager on digital banking initiatives.

In 2021, he joined Bizum, the leading mobile payment solution in Spain, as the responsible for innovation and new projects.

Bizum aims to keep growing its payment use cases after a massive adoption of its P2P solution, that today accounts with over 26M users, to become a universal payment solution (P2P, ecommerce and POS) and have an important role in the development of the interoperability between instant payment solution in Europe.  Minimize

Graduated in Economics and Business in 1999 at Rome University, Barbara Pelliccione started in Feb 2000 her working experience at the Italian Banking Association’s Payment Systems and Services Department where she’s still working. Full Bio

Graduated in Economics and Business in 1999 at Rome University, Barbara Pelliccione started in Feb 2000 her working experience at the Italian Banking Association’s Payment Systems and Services Department where she’s still working.

She began her involvement in electronic and mobile payment matters and then she had the coordination of different projects relating to the setting-up of payments message standards and interbank procedure including the migration of the legacy payments to the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) schemes.

Since 2015 she is a member of the Scheme Management Board (SMB) of the European Payments Council (EPC).

From November 2022, head of the Payment Systems and Services Department in charge with:

- monitoring and analysing the regulatory and technical evolution of the payment market;

- development, innovation and product management of the cash supply chain and of all the payment instruments/schemes/infrastructures to ensure they keep meeting market needs and technological evolutions;

- promotion of interbank payment initiatives in cooperation with the members and in accordance with the principles of free competition;

- harmonization and integration of the payment instruments and services at European level;

- collaboration at national and international levels with government agencies and departments and public institutions, economic and social organizations, institutions, and associations on banking/payment topics. Minimize

Christophe Bonte is Senior Policy Adviser for Payments and Innovation at the European Banking Federation (EBF) which he re-joined recently after spending almost ten years advocating for globally active Swiss financial institutions. Full Bio

Christophe Bonte is Senior Policy Adviser for Payments and Innovation at the European Banking Federation (EBF) which he re-joined recently after spending almost ten years advocating for globally active Swiss financial institutions. Before joining the Swiss Finance Council, Christophe led the work on financial markets and post-trade at the EBF. In his current role, he notably represents the EBF in various payments experts’ groups at the ECB, European Commission and EPC.

Christophe gained experience in banking from his years in the global custody business at the Bank of New York Mellon Brussels operations centre. Prior to that, he lectured Swiss civil servants on European Affairs at the Swiss Institute for Public Administration.

Christophe holds a PhD in political science from the University of Geneva. Minimize

Ivan Burillo is currently responsible for monitoring regulatory and legislative initiatives at both national and international levels, focusing on areas related to banking such as payments, retail banking and consumer protection. Full Bio

Ivan Burillo is currently responsible for monitoring regulatory and legislative initiatives at both national and international levels, focusing on areas related to banking such as payments, retail banking and consumer protection.

Based in Madrid, Spain, Ivan brings extensive experience from his previous roles within Banco Santander related to Operations and Payments. He holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Business Management from IE Law School (1999-2000).

His expertise spans various areas, including payment systems, card-based payments, payment accounts and other retail banking products. Minimize