Anne Willem de Vries, CEO & Co-founder, Silverflow
with Anne Willem De Vries, CEO & Co Founder, Silverflow
Anne Willem de Vries positioned Silverflow as a company focused on modernising legacy payment infrastructure, with the aim of benefiting the entire payments ecosystem. He described its role as enabling banks and payment service providers to innovate faster, rather than merchants engaging with the platform directly.
He shared the company’s rapid growth, scaling from just 180 transactions per day three years ago to approximately 1.8 million transactions daily, with continued monthly growth of 10 to 15 percent. This growth reflects increasing demand for more flexible and modern payment processing capabilities.
A key challenge facing merchants, he explained, is expanding into new regions and currencies while maintaining visibility over transaction data. Many struggle to understand the full lifecycle of a payment, including authorisation, settlement and associated fees. Silverflow addresses this by providing greater transparency and insight into transaction data.
From a partnership perspective, he emphasised that banks often face challenges building modern solutions internally due to organisational complexity. Fintechs, by contrast, can move faster by focusing on targeted innovation. As a result, collaboration between banks and fintechs is essential for banks to remain competitive.
Reflecting on MPE, he noted how the event highlights both company growth and brand recognition, as well as providing valuable opportunities to build trust and strengthen relationships within the ecosystem.
Sandra Mianda, Founder & CEO, Paypr.work
with Sandra Mianda, Founder & CEO, Paypr.work
Sandra Mianda focused on the complexity of payment operations within industries such as travel, airlines and hospitality, which are heavily reliant on legacy infrastructure. She described how global payment strategies in these sectors are particularly challenging due to fragmented systems, multiple partners and complex value chains.
She highlighted that expansion into new markets introduces both front end and back-end challenges. While merchants often prioritise customer experience and conversion through local payment methods, foreign exchange and checkout design, the real complexity lies in the back end. This includes reconciliation, system integration and cost management, all of which are critical to enabling scalable growth.
Mianda also discussed the rapid emergence of new players in the payments space, particularly since the Covid period, as traditional providers adjusted their risk appetite. This shift has created opportunities for technology-first companies to enter the market and address previously underserved segments.
When evaluating payment partners, she stressed the importance of understanding their ecosystem and market positioning, rather than simply selecting the most visible or established provider. The right partner should offer not only technology, but also insight and knowledge that can accelerate growth.
Looking ahead, she identified modularity as a defining capability for future bank and fintech partnerships. Merchants increasingly want the flexibility to select specific components that suit their needs, rather than relying on a single, all-in-one solution.
Anurag Chitlangia, Senior Product Manager, Uber
with Anurag Chitlangia, Senior Product Manager, Uber
Anurag Chitlangia shared insights from Uber’s perspective as a global merchant operating in over 80 countries. He noted that different stakeholders across the ecosystem, including banks, networks and merchants, each have their own vision of the future, although these perspectives are likely to converge over time.
On agentic commerce, he described the current phase as experimental, with organisations testing different approaches to understand what delivers value. He emphasised that consumer adoption will ultimately determine which solutions succeed.
From an operational standpoint, he highlighted the importance of detailed transaction data in an agent-driven environment. Data such as settlement timing, fraud rates and transaction outcomes will become critical inputs for automated decision making between systems.
Expanding into new markets presents ongoing challenges, particularly when dealing with diverse account to account payment methods that vary significantly by region. While card payments offer consistency, local alternatives are often necessary to achieve adoption, requiring additional integration and complexity.
Fraud management remains a constant priority, with Uber leveraging in-house models and cross-market learnings to mitigate risk while maintaining a seamless user experience.
When selecting partners, he emphasised the importance of scalability, reliability and cost efficiency, given the high transaction volumes and low margin nature of the business.
Kilian Thalhammer, Managing Director, Deutsche Bank
with Kilian Thalhammer of Deutsche Bank
Kilian Thalhammer described the relationship between banks and fintechs as significantly more mature than in previous years, with both sides now recognising the value of collaboration rather than competition.
He explained that banks should focus on identifying where they can add the most value within the payments value chain, rather than attempting to compete across all areas. For many global banks, this means acting as an enabler rather than a direct competitor in acquiring.
Successful partnerships, he noted, depend on alignment, transparency and cultural understanding. While fintechs bring speed and innovation, banks contribute regulatory expertise and stability, which remain essential for maintaining a licence to operate.
He also highlighted the importance of advisory capabilities for banks operating internationally. Supporting merchants with regulatory requirements across different markets can be a key differentiator, particularly as core banking products become increasingly commoditised.
Looking ahead, he believes banks should invest in improving their ability to work with fintechs more efficiently. This includes not only technology, but also mindset and organisational openness.
Victor Padee, Chief Revenue Officer, Aevi
with Victor Padee, Chief Revenue Officer, Aevi
Victor Padee introduced Aevi as an in-person payment orchestration platform, connecting front end devices with back-end acquirers while managing the complexity in between. He described the company’s role as simplifying what has become an increasingly fragmented ecosystem.
He reflected on a shift in industry mindset from building end-to-end solutions in-house to adopting best-of-breed components through partnerships. This change is driven by the pace of innovation and the need for faster time to market.
Fragmentation, he noted, is one of the biggest challenges facing merchants today. The proliferation of devices, payment methods and providers has created complex technology stacks that are difficult to manage, particularly when expanding across regions.
Partnerships between banks and fintechs can help address this by reducing integration complexity and enabling merchants to focus on their core value proposition. He emphasised that flexibility and transparency, particularly access to data, are critical when evaluating payment partners.
Looking forward, he believes the next generation of partnerships will be defined by a stronger focus on customer experience. Organisations that listen to their customers and build solutions around their needs will be best positioned to succeed.
Closing Thoughts
Across all interviews, a clear theme emerges: the payments industry is becoming more complex, but also more collaborative.
Banks and fintechs are moving towards a model built on partnership, modularity and shared strengths. Success will depend on balancing innovation with stability, while ensuring that merchants have the flexibility, insight and support needed to scale in an increasingly global and fragmented landscape.
