Nexi Roadshow Berlin: Insights from the MPE Conference

For the 17th time, the Merchant Payment Ecosystem (MPE) Conference was held in Berlin – a must-attend event when it comes to payments! For two days, we discussed digital innovation, future predictions, and the latest developments with our industry peers. AI in payment, digital platforms, and B2C commerce: we left no stone unturned. The Nexi Roadshow simply had a fantastic first stop.

MPE: Merchant Payment Ecosystem Conference

The MPE Conference is a well-established industry event. Unlike other events, the sole focus of this conference is Nexi’s favourite subject: payments. And it aims to exchange the latest ideas between industry experts and look into new ways to enable secure payments. This year included some great talks about open banking, generative AI, and cross-border transactions. And the very first panel of the event summarized the mission of the payment industry spot on: Chris Reid, Executive Vice President of Identity Solutions at Mastercard, said that he is not interested in payments per se, but commerce: “What we do brilliantly in this room is enable economic exchange, and I think our focus is remembering what we’re about: the merchant wants to sell something, the consumer wants to buy something, payments is just the value that gets exchanged.”

The speakers and experts throughout the event agreed: We are living in an era, where payments need to be “smarter”. This is why AI was the main topic of conversation on stage. Even though AI is not a new topic in the realm of payments (and for financial service providers as a whole), investments in this area have exponentially grown. AI is no longer a technology that is hidden behind a curtain. It is becoming a significant role in everyday life, with new functions and ideas continuously being tested and launched. There were many interesting conversations about the usage of AI and how this technology will evolve in the future.

Another fascinating topic was digital wallets. Regardless if we were talking about local established players in the Nordics or global players like Apple Pay and Google Pay, the dominance of this payment method is undeniable. What was heavily discussed was the efforts to establish a common digital wallet for all of Europe and the challenges coming with this, such as locale differences and differing consumer behaviour. In this regard, the European Payment Initiative (EPI) has set itself on the mission to develop a unified European payment procedure.

Nexi Roadshow Berlin

With these topics in tow, the MPE Conference in Berlin was the perfect first stop for the Nexi Roadshow. But what is the Nexi Roadshow? Well, the Nexi E-Commerce DACH Team goes on tour! We are travelling to various cities and events all over the DACH region to chat with other experts in the industry.

The Nexi Roadshow has set out to explore the E-Commerce and payment trends of the German speaking area and unlock valuable intel in this region, which doesn’t fall into a standard box when it comes to payments. History shows that the DACH countries (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) have held on to cash transactions for a lot longer and a lot stronger than any of the countries bordering them. But it has not prevented digital solutions from entering their payment systems, still the adoption has been significantly slower. Even though digital payment methods have eventually found their way into everyday life in these countries too, the payment behaviour is still very fragmented, compared to other European countries – and regions. This is the reason the DACH region is such a fascinating case when it comes to payment trends.

What are the DACH payment trends?

The MPE experts that we have had the pleasure of speak with agreed on this subject: Even in the DACH region, digital wallets are playing a massive role. Despite these countries sticking to old payment habits, with old-fashioned payment methods not losing their popular status, E-wallets are all the rage now. These predictions are supported by studies as well. PayPal has claimed the number one spot as the most popular payment method in Germany. In addition, digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay are becoming increasingly available within the DACH region. Therefore, the German speaking area is fully in line with the trends of the international payment scene.

We announced something great:

The MPE Conference was not just a great experience for networking and catching up with partners, clients, and other industry peers. No! We also used this platform to announce our extraordinary partnership with Mastercard. With this partnership, Mastercard’s Open Banking system will become available to all merchants across Europe through the Nexi gateways. In contrast to other more common payment options, anyone who owns a bank account can place fast payments with Open Banking. Payments are processed directly via existing authentication protocols with the consumer’s bank, including biometric data. In this way, the information required to execute the payment is retrieved. This makes the process simple and efficient. Benefits for merchants include real-time payment authorization and processing, enabling quick access to funds and better management of cash flow and revenue streams. By using innovative technologies and payment methods, merchants can better meet increased customer expectations for fast and frictionless payment experiences in the digital world.

“We are thrilled to announce our strategic collaboration with Mastercard, through which we will harness the power of its open banking solutions in Europe to scale and enhance our capabilities, and boost customer convenience in payments,” said Omar Haque, Head of eCommerce at Nexi. “By partnering with Mastercard and capitalizing on its leadership and expertise in open banking, as well as its trusted payments infrastructure, we further enhance our ability to facilitate the transition to a digital-first payments landscape in Europe.” This partnership promises to make big waves and we are delighted to have been able to announce it at MPE.

Next stop: Hamburg

From one German metropolis to the next. After a successful two days in Berlin, the Nexi Roadshow moves on to Hamburg in May. What awaits us in the Hanseatic city? The OMR Festival! The event for the online marketing scene is the perfect next stop for the Nexi Roadshow. The agenda includes exciting topics such as the future of online shopping, retail trends and payment relevant topics. And the Nexi Roadshow will be there to talk to other experts about digital commerce, networking and exchange!

Here you can find more information about the Nexi E-commerce DACH Team’s Event Stops. Want to find out more about Nexi’s offers for merchants in DACH? You can find that here. And if you want to find out more about us, the Nexi DACH Team – Nexi Generation – watch this space!