Summer 2018 Edition
QUARTERLY FINTECH MAGAZINE
The Internet of Things
The future is now
MONEX FX, Brexit and European expansion
GUARDSQUARE Who is the new kid on the block?
A trending topic at the moment is that of The Internet of Things. Our consultant Diederik Klopper has a look at what the future could bring and on page 16, we reached out to Dwayne Gefferie, our good friend and prolific payment industry commentator, to share his thoughts. Exploring how smart contracts on a blockchain could manage security concerns, Dwayne dives into the possibilities of IoT commerce.
Dear readers,
I
’m proud to present you with the summer edition of our PaymentGenes FinTech magazine for 2018.
PSD2 has settled in everywhere and GDPR is a new set of regulations that most companies have needed to implement quickly. Instead of boring you, however, with these regulative topics, this edition will elaborate more on The Internet of Things, as well as the recruitment challenges that FinTech companies are facing. While talking to C-level executives of multiple FinTech companies, 8 out of 10 mentioned recruitment in the top 3 challenges their company is facing in this fastpaced environment. Most companies have long sales cycles and the right network of candidates is becoming more important to reduce the length of these cycles. A warm network is not the only thing necessary. A deep understanding of the industry you are selling into is key in this business. And don’t forget the technical people that keep building, innovating and improving the platforms. For most startups, the resources are limited and therefore every employee counts. I believe, therefore, that a change in the recruitment landscape is needed. Thijs Moser, one of our Business Development Consultants will elaborate more on this topic.
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We are also happy to announce our partnership with Money 20/20 which underlines our strategy become the number 1 global partner for Human capital within an increasingly technical world. Last, but certainly not least, I would like to welcome Darcus Shannon to our Consultancy team. On page 8, he will introduce himself and talk about the opportunities and challenges within the eCommerce market. Be sure to follow us on our various social media channels, including LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Naturally, if you’d like to explore recruitment or consultancy partnerships, we will always assist you in any way we can. Enjoy this issue of our magazine, and the rest of your summer!
Bram Vreugdenhil
Partner at PaymentGenes
Contents
ON THE COVER: KIRSTEN VISSER & STEFFANIE VAN DEN BOS, PAYMENTS CONSULTANTS AT PAYMENTGENES
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Monex Europe
8
Introducing: Darcus Shannon
15
Guardsquare
16
Dwayne Gefferie
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Money 20/20 Europe
Growing out of Amsterdam
Our Principal Consultant talks opportunities
Mobile App Protection
IoT Commerce, Voice & Smart Contracts
Event Recap
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GrowingMonex Europe
W
illiam Crossley, Head of Corporate Sales & Regional Manager for Monex in Amsterdam recently sat down with us to discuss the growth of their Dutch office and expansion plans for the future.
You opened the Amsterdam office over 2 years ago now. What was the reason that the company decided to set up here and how does it differ from working in London where you were originally based? Prior to opening the Amsterdam office in January 2016, we had been servicing and looking after our Benelux clients from our headquarters in the City of London. As we continued to expand as a company and our Benelux client base grew, it was kind of a natural progression to open an office in Amsterdam and continue to expand our reach over here.
“Our financial strength, security and global scale only reiterates our success in the industry” Has Brexit had any notable effect on your business?
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William, could you give us a short description of Monex Europe and your role there?
No, it hasn’t had any impact on our business at all, however it will of course have an impact on the businesses of our clients. This makes our role and the information that we’re producing for clients that much more important. It needs to be delivered in a fast and accurate way for our clients.
Monex Europe is Europe’s largest deliverable currency provider, specializing in corporate foreign exchange and international payments. I head up and run the Dutch office, based in the World Trade Centre in Amsterdam.
With our in-depth research, market knowledge and sector expertise, we ensure our clients are made aware of the challenges and opportunities facing their business to ensure they can respond to it and act in time.
What do you think sets Monex apart from other companies in your field?
What short term plans do you have for Monex in Amsterdam?
There are a combination of aspects. One key fact is our financial strength, something which allows us to continually invest in the business and improve our client offering. Our financial strength, security and global scale only reiterates our success in the industry, as does the fact we are repeatedly listed as a top currency forecaster globally, providing helpful insights to our client base.
We’ve just expanded the office again. We’ve doubled the space that we have in the building we’re in. In line with that, we will be looking to hire and expand our team imminently. This will enable us to expand our outreach into some new areas and, of course, improve how we cater to the clients we already serve.
“Clients are moving away from previous providers and are wanting to have a relationship-based approach to their currency management.” And what about long-term plans? Anything notable for the future of the company? Nothing specific as such, except from continuing to expand our footprint, headcount and improve our client offering and service. One thing I will say is that we’ve already started to make ourselves the ‘go-to’ industry-experts for a lot of market insights. I don’t know if you’ve noticed that Bart Hordijk, our market analyst here, has been producing a lot of information. He was on the NOS recently and is in the FD (Financieel Dagblad - Dutch Financial Newspaper) regularly. The plan is to really build his presence here in the Netherlands and to make Monex another resource of information for people who need that sort of up-to-date and accurate market information at their fingertips. What do you think are the biggest trends when it comes to the foreign exchange market? Something that we see a lot of, is clients who are moving away from previous providers and are wanting to have a relationship-based approach to their currency management.
This trend plays well into how we work, as the main point of our business is not only about helping clients execute FX transactions to meet their global business needs, but offering personalised support. Each Monex client is assigned a dealer to their account. We are finding a lot more people are wanting to have that level of service where they can talk to somebody about what’s going on, rather than merely accepting a price that is given on a platform or on a screen without being able to talk to a human about it. Hence, our client-centred philosophy to how we operate as a business.
Interested in a job at Monex Europe? Reach out to Steffanie van den Bos, Team Lead Benelux at PaymentGenes.
(steffanie@paymentgenes.com)
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Is this
the future of payments?
DIEDERIK KLOPPER PAYMENTS CONSULTANT DACH REGION
With the sudden rise of different payment options, such as Alipay, WeChat, Afterpay and many others, one can’t help but ask the question, what will be the future of payments? But before we do that, let’s first look back at the history of payments. Before the introduction of currency as a medium of exchange, a combination of barter, debt and the gift economy was used by societies, dating back over 100.000 years ago. It was only from 3000BC that currency was introduced, in the form of the Mesopotamian shekel (unit of weight, approx. 160 grains of barley). In roughly 600BC the first gold and silver coins were made. The first banknotes (arguably) came into existence somewhere between 150BC and 700AD, either in Carthage or during the Tang and Song dynasties, relatively quickly followed by the check in the 1800’s. More rapid developments in the payment industry have really taken off in the last 70 years, with the introduction of the Diners Club credit card, the first independent credit card company in the world, which was launched in February 1950. Many consider this to be the green light which started a surge of innovation in the payment landscape.
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Current state Over the last 18 years, the rise in online spending has gone hand in hand with the development of new payment methods. Each payment method offering USP’s which decrease thresholds, improve UX, remove friction and/or offer complete/additional services. This surge in innovation seems to be at its peak, with various companies designing their own payment methods (Alibaba, Amazon etc.). Looking at these developments, one can only wonder what the next step will be.
Payments integrated with IOT A clear common issue new APM’s are addressing is improving the UX. I see a lot of potential in the implementation of frictionless payment methods combined with IOT integration of everyday household appliances. For example, there are refrigerators that can register what is in your fridge. A relatively small step further is having a fridge that can automatically add out of stock items to your online shopping basket and settle the payment on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.
A further step could be that the refrigerator detects if and when it needs servicing, sources the net for a maintenance company nearby and synchronises this in your agenda. You would only need to open the door to let the mechanic in unless you have Ring of course.
Voice Furthermore, the possibilities that voice-activated payments offer have yet to scratch the surface, despite rapid developments in this area. It will be interesting to see how the optimism I hear regarding these developments will interact with the recent issues surrounding data security as a result of Facebook’s and Cambridge Analytica’s data leaks.
Personally, I am very excited about the potential that voice-activated payments offer, and I think it will offer great opportunities when properly combined with biometric security solutions.
Conclusion All in all, the development of how people pay has seen a remarkable accelerated change over the last 70 years, and it will be interesting to see how this development continues. I’m sure some Silicon Valley tech giants have an ace up their sleeve, or maybe that’s just a “voice in my head”... I’m excited to see who comes out on top!
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Europe’s biggest FinTech event came to Amsterdam and we were there! Read our review with Michael Tailleur & Darcus Shannon on page 22.
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Meet
Darcus Shannon
Principal Consultant at PaymentGenes We believe that we can add the most value to our clients in these areas, due to our extensive experience and expertise.
Biggest Challenges My biggest challenge will be proving the value of consulting services to our clients! Many companies I have worked with/for, have had mixed experiences with consultants, even when the experience was positive. There are often concerns regarding the next set of consultants, which means that we need to approach every new conversation or opportunity without assumptions and ensure that we I am British born, with an Irish heritage and I was raised in the English countryside. For the 15 years prior to moving to Amsterdam, I spent my time between Brighton and London. I’ve been in Amsterdam for the past 18 months now and I definitely consider this beautiful city my home. I’ve been active in the payment industry for the last 12 years, working for a broad range of companies both on the merchant-side and consumer facing businesses. These organisations include, American Express, PayPal, Worldpay, and Ingenico; names that I’m sure you’d recognise.
“PaymentGenes has a great reputation, achieved through a large number of successful projects with clients” PaymentGenes consulting has been an ongoing success. In fact, PaymentGenes started with, and built its business on, consulting services. Recruitment was part of the evolution of the business, however, an increased focus on recruitment in recent times meant that consulting services became more opportunistic and organic in growth. Our strategy is to re-focus on consulting services and to align the business around some specific specialities;
address any concerns that clients have at an early stage by showcasing our expertise. PaymentGenes has a great reputation, achieved through a large number of successful projects with clients, and we want to ensure that this is maintained and is taken to the next level through a broader range of services offered.
Greatest Opportunities PaymentGenes is full of smart, engaged, and hungry people. I have already been introduced to some key clients to discuss consulting, and I can see a huge amount of fresh opportunities through our strong recruitment relationships. Furthermore, external evolutions in the payments industry and wider economy (such as GDPR, PSD2, Brexit, and technological advances) are perceived as challenges by many. However, I clearly see opportunities - they just need to be identified, defined, and implemented. This is yet another example of how we can help our clients to succeed in such a dynamic space.
If you’d like to have a chat about how we can work together please send me an email at darcus@paymentgenes.com
vendor management, conversion optimisation, M&A, interim management, regulation & licensing and payments & commercial strategy development.
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Join our next PaymentGenes FinTech Meetup in September, in Partnership with one of the leading global payments companies! More info to follow soon... Become a member of our Meetup page and be the first one to know about upcoming get-togethers! Interested in co-hosting an event? Feel free to reach out to justin@paymentgenes to explore the options.
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PaymentGenes is proud to have hosted some memorable Meetups over the past two years, with partners such as SimpledCard, Klarna, Magnius, EMS, Visa, Funding Circle, Barqo and most recently, Kempen & Co and Worldpay. During Money20/20 Europe, we welcomed our partners and payments professionals from around the world our very own “Rooftop Beach Party” at our Amsterdam HQ. Networking, cold beers, sunshine and good music, what more could you ask for? Here’s a look back at some of the memorable moments we enjoyed during previous events!
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Mobile Apps
The underestimated factor in IT security
In today’s mobile world, the IT infrastructure in most
In the first approach, the attacker decompiles or
organizations is becoming increasingly complex. This
disassemble the application to gain access to its
enables the exchange of data at a scale and speed
source code, the code as it was written by the software
previously impossible and facilitates the emergence of
developer. In the second one, they monitor the application
a broad range of new services in different industries. Yet,
while it is running in a controlled environment and
the growing complexity of IT infrastructures also leads
analyzes the output. This enables them to collect data
to an increase in the number of possible attack vectors,
about the functioning of the application at run-time.
demanding increasingly sophisticated security measures. Once an attacker has gained access to the internal One aspect of IT security is largely underestimated today,
structure of a mobile application and insight into its
that of mobile application protection. Recent large-
functioning, they can take a number of harmful actions.
scale surveys have demonstrated that the majority of
They can look for vulnerabilities in the code that can
available applications lacks effective protection against
be exploited or, they can extract sensitive information
reverse engineering and hacking, a threat that figures
(credentials, encryption keys, API keys etc.).
prominently in the list of major threats dressed by OWASP. The absence of serious protection is even more alarming
The information harvested from the application’s code can
considering that anyone has unhindered access to the
be used to illegitimately access the backend system or
full application once it has been downloaded. This – the
launch a targeted DDOS attack against that system.
absence of serious protection and the ease of access – explains why mobile applications are increasingly
An attacker can also decide to insert malicious code, such
targeted by attackers.
as a key logger, into the application, repackage it and
The dangers of reverse engineering
release it to collect the credentials of unsuspecting users. Any of these actions can have devastating consequences
The main problem with mobile applications is that
for the publishers of the targeted applications, especially
they are easy to reverse engineer. Attackers use two
if the targeted applications are used to transfer sensitive
complementary approaches to gain insight into the
information (such as payment apps or e-health apps). The
internal logic and the functioning of mobile applications:
consequences range from revenue loss over data leaks,
static analysis (or analysis at rest) and dynamic analysis.
the imposition of fines and retributions, loss of competitive advantage, all the way to severe and long-lasting reputational damage.
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How to protect mobile applications Protecting mobile applications ideally relies on a combination of code hardening measures and the implementation of run-time application self-protection (RASP) mechanisms. Code hardening is a set of obfuscation and encryption operations that render the source code illegible without affecting the functionality of the application. It provides protection against bot manual and automated analysis of the application at rest. The RASP mechanisms, on the other hand, counter any attempt to analyze the application while it is running.
These mechanisms continuously monitor the integrity of the application itself and of the environment in which it is being executed. Code hardening and RASP are complementary security approaches. By hardening the code, developers can make sure the runtime protection mechanisms are not removed from their application. Conversely, RASP ensures the application is secure when it is running. Combined, these two security approaches constitute a broad shield against commonly used reverse engineering techniques. They transform mobile applications from potential vulnerabilities into reinforced outposts of the underlying IT infrastructure.
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Let’s make recruiters great again! My theory is that it comes down to three (important) things:
H
i, my name is Thijs and I’m a recruiter. I am also quite good at my job and people would describe me as a pretty decent guy. However, I’ve noticed that sometimes people react very strangely to my initial messages to explore working together. Straight off the bat, people have an opinion ready and often don’t want to talk to me. Where does this resentment towards recruiters come from?
1. A lot of recruiters don’t give feedback during the recruitment process. This can mean that candidates aren’t updated on how things are going. It can also mean that they simply never get a call back after the recruiter receives negative feedback from the client. I understand that contacting candidates at this point is one of the worst parts of the job. However, I firmly believe it is a necessary evil that we have to address, no matter how hard it can be. 2. Another thing that goes wrong in many cases is that candidates are called by recruiters who don’t actually have a job for them at that time. They are trying to build a database and often never contact these people again. It’s no wonder that people get frustrated when they are treated this way. 3. My third point ties in with the two issues above, although I think it’s probably the most problematic. Most recruitment agencies are structured in a way that expects employees to simply make as many calls as possible every day. This often happens with very little, or absolute no strategy in place. This results in it being purely a numbers game, with the hope that a percentage of these calls work out positively.
Strategy change Looking at the types of people who are currently on the job market, this is exactly where things go wrong. People don’t want to be treated like a number. Every person is unique and has his or her own set of qualities that they can bring to a role. How can you work with someone if you have no idea what they enjoy doing outside of the office? How can you help someone if you don’t know exactly what they look for in a job?
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Too often it’s about the look of someone’s CV, because that is ultimately what sells. But… isn’t this an outdated strategy? Let’s look at the question from a different perspective. If you have a position to fill within your business, who do you ask for help? Surely, it would be someone who understands your business and takes the time to find out what the role requires? If this is the case, there is no need to call hundreds of people. With a few targeted phone calls, it’s often possible to find the perfect fit. The ability to do this effectively takes time, but it is something I am working towards. I am actively working towards understanding each company I work with in such a way that I am able to match a personality, not just a skill-set. By doing so, I can save my clients time by only introducing candidates who would fit the company and their culture. I will therefore also take my candidates seriously by assisting them throughout the process.
“I am actively working towards understanding each company I work with in such a way that I am able to match a personality, not just a skill-set.”
A better future I agree that this doesn’t solve all the issues. In the future, I will still have calls with people who I can’t help in finding a suitable role and (regretfully) will never speak with again. Perhaps though, if we all worked towards the goal of understanding our clients and candidates on a deeper level, the recruitment field would have a better name? Thijs is a Senior Consultant for the DACH region. Want to get in touch? M: +31 (0) 640 532 818 E: tmoser@paymentgenes.com
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The Internet of Things Voice, IoT-Commerce & Smart Contracts Why the next wave of succesful startups will focus on these areas , and succeed, despite facing giants lilke Google, Apple and Amazon. by Dwayne Gefferie
U
nless you have been living under a rock the last couple of years, you must have heard about Voice. Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Assistant or even Apple’s Siri, each Virtual Assistants used with hardware provided by the parent company or hardware partners, are currently the manifistation of Voice. With products like Amazon Echo, Google Home or Apple HomePod, users are learning to interact with a devices that are controled using voice, instead of the now familiar remote or touch-based controls. But like any other device that came before it, this first introduction has been very limited feature wise. The main reason is that the adoption rate for new technologies, that are far to advanced tend to die before they even have a chance to reach the mass market.
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By introducing products with limited capabilities, companies like Amazon, Google and Apple, reduce the fear we human’s have for ‘the robots that are going to kill us’, and bit by bit introduce new features that will change the way we interact with technology. One of those new features, is the ability to purchase goods and services using our voice and even further our devices ordering and paying for the items we need.
From Voice to IoT-Commerce The most interesting aspect about Voice in my opinion, is actually the ability to authenticate a user. If you have ever watched a spy-movie or a science-fiction movie, undoubetely will there have been a scene where a character is getting access to a highly securized room, using their fingerprint, iris (eye) or voice to identify themselves.
“The range of machines could go from a washing machine ordering detergent when it notices you are almost out, to a refrigerator ordering food based on your consumption patterns...”
Where this type of technology used to costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, the Cloud-based infrastructure, Internet capabilities and Event-Driven Server-less Computing, has drastically reduced the price of developing and maintaining a Voice Authentication System.
With IoT devices placing orders, the range of machines could go from a washing machine ordering detergent when it notices you are almost out, to a refrigerator ordering food based on your consumption patterns and predicting what you will need in the coming days.
With Voice Authentication in place, devices like the Alexa or Google Assistant, will be able to securely place orders for users, if Visa, MasterCard and other payment methods are able to verify and approve the security of course.
What if things go wrong?
“By introducing products with limited capabilities, companies like Amazon, Google and Apple, reduce the fear we human’s have for ‘the robots that are going to kill us’...”
But with prediction and human envolvement their is always still a chance that things go wrong. For example, what if your refrigerator orders the wrong quantity of milk, or even worse due to the party you had last week, your refrigirator thinks that 250 grams of caviar needs to be restocked. continued on page 16...
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from page 15...
As a very engaged individual who is far to busy to check every single order being placed by your refrigerator, the one time you ordered caviar should not be interpreted by your smart refrigerator as a standing order. But in the case it goes wrong, who is to blame? From a Payments perspective, your credit card company will say that each transaction has been authenticated and can not be charged back. The website you ordered it from will use the same information to refuse you a refund.
Smart Contracts for IoT Payments A possible way to manage all this is by implementing Smart Contracts on a Blockchain. If you are not familiar with Smart Contracts, let me quickly explain. A blockchain, a decentralised system that exists between all permitted parties, can be used for smart contracts, otherwise called self-executing contracts, blockchain contracts, or digital contracts.
Smart Contract Flow
The company that manufactured the refridgerator will most likely refer to the 100 page Terms-of-Use, they made you accept the moment you started using your Smart Device, clearing them from all wrong doing.
In this format, contracts could be converted to computer code, stored and replicated on the system and supervised by the network of computers that run the blockchain. This would also result in ledger feedback such as transferring money and receiving the product or service. Smart contracts help you exchange money, property, shares or anything of value in a transparent, conflict-free way while avoiding the services of a middleman.
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In the case of IoT Payments, a user purchasing an IoT device would register as a user on the Blockchain, the purchased device would be connected to the user and identified as the owner of the device. Finally, the User would provide Card Details, that would be Tokenised and stored for the User and can be used by the device. In the case the device has the capabilities to order goods like groceries, the user would first have to define the rules that the device has to abide by whenever placing an order, which are stored as a Smart Contract.
Why Startups will succeed versus Amazon, Google and Apple The interesting thing about Technology, is that cycles keep repeating themselves. IBM once used to dominate the Personal Computing space, Nokia once dominated the Mobile Phone space and Kodak used to own the photography space. Each one of them lost their edge to innovate and agility to adapt to the demands of their customers. With the introduction of Voice, everybody expects Amazon, Google and Apple to dominate the space, but as with every other technological innovation, the rapid rate of innovation will lead to better hardware builders as well as startups who build better technology on top of that hardware. Like many interesting startup stories, I believe that somewhere in a garage, University Campus or WeWork, a couple of smart guys are figuring out how they can build the Voice Technology, that will revolutionize the way we interact with our devices.
About Dwayne Gefferie
For example, IF Order_Amount > $50,- THEN Require User Authorization, another example would be IF Product = New THEN Require User Authorization. As you can imagine, the owner of the IoT device, would be able to create their own set of rules, which would reduce any disputes regarding the order. Finally, the Smart Contract would be able to give the Merchant providing the goods the ability to ask for specific Authorization from the User, whenever the order seems out of the ordinary.
Dwayne Gefferie works for PaymentGenes as a freelance consultant. He has established himself as an entrepreneur, speaker, author, scholar and consultant. With over fourteen years of experience in the Financial Services industry, ranging from ABN AMRO, ING BANK and recently ADYEN, he has utilized his Data Savvy skills to help startups, as well as Enterprise companies to develop their Data capabilities. Moving from Data Integration to true Optimized Decision Making using state-of-theart Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. Relying on his previous experience as well as continued quest for new methods, Dwayne focuses on providing companies Data Strategy that aligns with the Business Strategy. He develops the capabilities needed by working closely with management and development to produce tangible results and builds teams that are able to expand capabilities and functionalities from reporting to business intelligence to advanced analytics to predictive analytics and finally optimized decision making.
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Good luck to... Katherine Schön at Born in:
Santa Cruz, Bolivia Living in: Frankfurt, Germany Position: Product Manager Acquiring In every edition, we speak with one of our recently placed candidates about how they experienced the collaboration with PaymentGenes and their new employer. Meet Katherine Schön, one of Concardis’ newest Product Managers in Frankfurt who started in January of this year. She explains her motivations, expectations and experiences that will surely make this placement a great success!
What was it about the position at Concardis that made you want to apply? What initially caught my attention was the detailed job description, very interesting tasks mentioned and the fact that I could put a checkmark next to each of the bullet points listed in the main qualification requirements. During my first interview, the professionalism from the Human Resources Manager and the good match I had with my direct (future) boss, affirmed and increased my interest. I very quickly realized that the position and the company would be a good match, and since starting, I can certainly confirm that. Everybody in my team and department are very friendly and willing to help, which makes me feel very comfortable. Furthermore, Concardis offers its employees a very good social benefits package. What role did Kirsten Visser, Consultant PaymentGenes, have in this process?
at
As I was not actively looking for a change, Kirsten played a very important role. She gained my trust during our first call and she was very efficient and proactive before and after the interviews.
It was also great to be able to contact Kirsten with any questions I had, as she could answer these in a more open way. What were your expectations for the position and to what extent have they been met? The payment sector is a very dynamic field, so I expected the position to be challenging and interesting. Of course, as Product Manager, there is nothing more satisfying than bringing products and features to life. It has been a very exciting and challenging 6 months at Concardis. After having received an intensive training, I could quickly take over my topics / products and I have been developing them since. I am constantly learning and making use of my past knowledge and experience. I would say my expectations have definitely been met so far.
“I am constantly learning and making use of my past knowledge and experience” What past experience makes you perfect for this role? I would have to say that my payment branch knowledge is a key asset, as is my product management experience. Above all, however, my willingness to learn and to get things done is what makes me perfect for this role. I’m very excited about getting my first product/feature live, as well as assisting my extremely competent team in moving forward!
3 trends according to Katherine Schön Blockchain based solutions
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Secure invisible payment, maximizing customer experience
FinTech collaboration
Our top job picks... IT Engineering Manager The Hague
Head of Payment & Financial Services
Frankfurt
Get in touch with: Quinten Boertien +31 6 83 23 63 93 quinten@paymentgenes.com
Get in touch with: Kirsten Visser +31 6 49 14 64 20 kirsten@paymentgenes.com
Senior Marcom Manager Amsterdam
(Sr.) Implementation Expert
Get in touch with: Steffanie van den Bos +31 6 29 58 08 85 steffanie@paymentgenes.com
Get in touch with: Jorrit Wijtsma +44 739 35 92 190 jorrit@paymentgenes.com
Manager Business Development & KAM
MĂźnchen or Berlin
Get in touch with: Thijs Moser +49 (0)15 218 023 053 tmoser@paymentgenes.com
London
Chef de Projet Paris Get in touch with: Anna Velly +33 6 48 49 44 61 anna@paymentgenes.com
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Event review with:
Michael Tailleur & Darcus Shannon
What made this year's edition of Money 20/20 in Amsterdam unique?
Which of the side events (if any) did you attend?
MT: The 2018 edition of Money 20/20 Europe in Amsterdam was one to remember! It was exceptionally well organized and the location was simply fantastic, which is not too difficult if you are in the nicest city of Europe (although I may be a little biased).
MT: Naturally, I went to the Taste of Amsterdam event, which was absolutely brilliant! It was well organized, loads of attendees were there, the food was great and there were a lot of tokens to spend! I haven’t often experienced such a wellorganized side event. There was also an (unofficial) event at a roof terrace in Amsterdam which was unforgettable.
DS: That it has moved to Amsterdam! I think Amsterdam is a great location for Money 20/20, the level of quality in Fin-Tech in our city is incredibly high, and the city has a great atmosphere for an event like Money 20/20
Who provided your favourite content (presentation/round-table) during the event and why? MT: To be quite honest, I did not attend any presentations or round-tables during this year’s event. There were so many people to speak to face-to-face, that there was unfortunately not enough time. DS: Hmm, tough question, there was a lot of great content. I think the most anticipated and attended session was with Steve Wozniak on AI, the auditorium was crammed and deadly silent while he spoke.
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DS: Of course the PaymentGenes Rooftop party! I also attended a dinner with some investors, but I really kept the focus on the main event.
Why would you recommend Money 20/20 to people who haven’t previously attended? MT: If you want to meet people within this industry it is unquestionably a must-attend event. It is well-organized, features brilliant speakers, and there is a constant stream of exciting people to speak with. Simply put, a magnificent event! DS: Especially for newcomers to the industry, the wide range of attendees and great content make for a great learning experience for anyone.
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Looking for a job in Europe?
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