1. Healthcare

Payments: cornerstone
of the digital economy
28 January 2015
#EVpaymentsEvent
The event
Payments: cornerstone of
the digital economy
Thon Hotel EU
Rue de la Loi, 75
1000 Brussels
The ability to make electronic payments safely, quickly and conveniently has become an
import part of the digital economy. Every day millions of businesses and consumers pay for
goods on services with card, online and increasingly using their mobile phones.
This event will bring together high-level speakers to assess the state of the electronic
payments sector, the degree of innovation in the sector and the pace of development of new
services and products. Speakers will discuss whether the regulatory framework for the sector
encourages innovation and the development of safe and convenient services and products for
retailers and consumers. The event will address the role of electronic payments in the digital
economy.
The event will address questions including:
n What is the level of innovation in the sector?
n How important are electronic payments for the digital economy?
n Are consumers being offered safe and convenient services they can use throughout the EU?
n Is there a single market for payments in the EU?
n Is the payments market competitive and open to new entrants?
n Is there a level playing field for different payment systems? Is enough being done to address
consumers’ security concerns?
The programme
5.30pm
Registration
6pm-6.30pm
Introductory remarks
Pablo Zalba Bidegain MEP, rapporteur on regulation on
interchange fees;
Jörgen Gren, member of the private office of Andrus Ansip,
the European Commission vice-president for the digital
single market;
Fernando Herrero, heads of communications, ADICAE
Martin Weiderstrand, senior adviser, payments, IKEA group
treasury;
Chris Kangas, head of contactless payments and near field
communications, MasterCard
6.30pm-7.30pm
Panel debate
Followed by question and answer session with the audience.
Audience participation strongly encouraged
7.30pm
Networking reception
The speakers
Pablo Zalba Bidegain
Pablo Zalba Bidegain is a Spanish MEP for the centre-right Partido Popular
(PP), part of the European People’s Party (EPP). He is a vice-chair of the
committee on economic and monetary affairs and a substitute member of the
committee on international trade.
He is rapporteur on the proposal for a regulation on interchange fees for
card-based payments.
Before being elected as MEP in 2009, he worked as commercial and business
development manager for SIC Lazaro, a Spanish producer of industrial counterweight systems. Before that, in 2004-05, he was head of exports at Comansa,
a Spanish crane manufacturing company.
From 1998-2004, he worked at Arcelor Mittal, where he held the positions of
head of business development and head of marketing, construction unit.
He graduated in business administration and management from the
University of Navarra in 1997. He also holds an executive MBA from the
London Business School (2005-07).
The speakers
Jörgen Gren
Jörgen Gren has been a member of the private office of Andrus Ansip,
vice-president of the European Commission responsible for the digital single
market, since 2014.
Before this, Gren was head of unit, dealing with the digital agenda for
European co-ordination and digital market policies in the Commission’s
department for communications, networks, content and technology. He also
worked as deputy head of unit in the same department, negotiating the
financial framework for the Connecting Europe Facility on broadband and
digital services, as well as the co-ordination of impact assessments.
Gren was head of press and media unit for Sweden’s presidency of the EU’s
Council of Ministers in 2009. Before this, he was a member of the private
office of Danuta Hübner, commissioner for regional policy in 2007-09.
Before being appointed head of European affairs in Kreab-Gavin Anderson,
an international consultancy based in Brussels, Gren started his career as a
systems programmer for IBM in Sweden.
Gren holds a master’s degree from l’Institut d'Etudes Politiques in France and
a PhD from Queens' College, University of Cambridge.
Fernando Herrero
Fernando Herrero has been head of communications for ADICAE, a Spanish
consumers’ organisation specialising in financial services, since 2012. He was
ADICAE’s secretary-general before that, after having been the organisation’s
vice-president since 2004. Herrero has been a member of ADICAE since 1998.
In addition, Herrero is member of the stakeholders group of European
Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).
Herrero was a member of the observatory of migration at Spain’s central
bank (SEPA). He was also on the advisory board of the general directorate of
insurance and pension funds for the Spanish ministry of economy and on the
observatory for electronic payment cards for the Spanish ministry of industry,
trade and tourism in 2006-11.
Herrero holds a master’s degree in sociology of consumption from
Complutense University in Madrid.
Martin Weiderstrand
Martin Weiderstrand is a senior adviser for payments with IKEA’s Group
Treasury. He is, among other things, responsible for public policy issues related
to payment. Prior to joining IKEA, Martin worked in the government sector.
He recently joined the board of advisers for the consumer payment research
centre at the Boston Federal Reserve. He holds a master’s degree in political
science and a master’s degree in East and Southeast Asian studies from Lund
University, Sweden.
Chris Kangas
Chris Kangas has been the head of MasterCard’s department for contactless
and near field communication (NFC) payment solutions in the European region
since 2014. Before that, he was vice-president of marketing at MasterCard
from 2007-14.
Before this, Kangas was senior vice-president director of loyalty marketing at
Citigroup in 2006. He joined Citigroup in 2000 as vice-president of online
money transfer.
He previously worked at MasterCard from 1993-2000 as vice-president of
franchise management where he oversaw settlement risk management in the
Latin American market and spent time developing MasterCard’s franchise
rules and policies relating to the then emerging digital wallet operators like
PayPal.
Kangas began his career in the back-office cheque clearing operations of
Chemical Bank, now JP Morgan Chase.
The moderator
Simon Taylor
Simon Taylor is European Voice’s assistant editor, responsible for editorial
content of events. He was previously news editor from January 2010, and
before that was senior reporter from March 2006.
He is a regular commentator on the BBC and other international media on EU
affairs. He has also worked for the Sunday Times and Guardian newspapers.
He is a graduate in French and German from Cambridge University.
List of participants
A
Acumen public affairs
Addocted
Adicae
Afore Consulting
Allen & Overy
Amazon
Apple
Application Developers Alliance
Atomikos
B
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria
Banco Santander
Bank of Slovenia
Bayer Ag
BBA
Biontino Europe
Bitkom
BNP Paribas
BNYM
Bouygues Europe
Brandshout
Brunswick Group
Bureau Brussels
C
CGPME
Comeos
Committee of the Regions
Community of European Railway
and Infrastructure Companies
Confederation of Norwegian
Enterprise
Confindustria
Confrontations Europe
D
Danish Chamber of Commerce
Der Mittelstandsverbund – SME
Groups Germany
Deutscher Industrie-und
Handelskammertag
Digital Business Consulting Group
(DBCG)
DLA Piper UK LLP
DSV Global Transport and Logistics
E
Eacon
Ebay Inc.
Ecommerce europe
Edenred
EDF
Edima
EDRI
EFTA
ETSI
EU40
EU-Logos Athena
Eurocinema
Eurocommerce
European Advertising Standards
Alliance (EASA)
European Association of
Co-operative Banks
European Business Summit
European Commission
European Council
European Parliament
European Publishers Council
European Small Business Alliance
Eurostat
EUtop Brussels sprl
F
Facebook
Federation of Small Businesses
FEDMA
FleishmanHillard
Fod Justitie
French Banking Community
FTI Consulting
G
Gide Loyrette Nouel
Grayling
Groovyfuture.com
GSM Association
H
Heyns & Co.
Hill+Knowlton Strategies
HSBC
I
IAB Europe
IDA Ireland
IFPI
Ikea Group
Independent Retail Europe
Information Risk Management
Consultancy
Intergraf AISBL
K
King Consulting
Kotra
Kreab
KuLeuven
L
Land Berlin
Lisbon Council
Logos Public Affairs
Lukoil
Luxemburger Wort
M
Mastercard
Mayer Brown
MHP Communications
Mission of Albania to the EU
Mission of Norway to the EU
Mission of the Russian Federation
to the EU
N
N-Square Consulting
O
Odgers Berndtson
OLAF
Orange
P
Paylife Bank Gmbh
People's Daily
Permanent Representation of
Belgium to the EU
Permanent Representation of Latvia
to the EU
Permanent Representation of the
Czech Republic to the EU
Pierstone
Platte Consult
Polish Confederation Lewiatan
Political Intelligence
R
Raiffeisen Zentralbank AG
Rand
Representation of the Free State of
Bavaria to the EU
Respresentation of the Free
Hanseatic City of Bremen to the EU
Ryanair
S
Samman Law Firm
Samsung EU
Siemens ag
Slovak Liaison Office for Research
and Development
Société Générale
Sovereign Strategy
SDF Finances – Belgian Internet
Service Center (BISC)
StartupDNA
State Department
T
Technology Policy Advocates
Telage
Telefonica
Telint Ltd
Tesco
Thambo
The European House – Ambrosetti
ThinkYoung
Thomson Reuters
Tusiad-Turkish Industry & Business
Association
U
Universite Libre de Bruxelles
University of Macedonia
V
Vertretung des Landes
Niedersachsen bei der EU
Vesalius College
Visa Europe
VNO-NCW en MKB Nederland
Vodafone
Vonprussia
W
Weber Shandwick
WSBI-ESBG
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