Monday, June 1, 2020
“COVID-19 and its impact on a new and developing social isolation is shaking up consumer and business behavior worldwide,” Group Futurista representatives wrote. “However, countries like Sweden [were] already moving towards digital payments and away from cash payments.”
Noting the Swedish predilection toward implanted microprocessor chips to expedite consumer checkouts, Group Futurista called the trend “a clear indicator of consumer choice to move towards a cashless world without the hassle of carrying cash.”
Group Futurista, a global events company, has been exploring new forms of human and machine collaboration in various virtual summits. The company’s stated mission is to create a legacy that drives sustainable growth while maintaining the balance of life on this planet for future generations, according to the organization's website.
“Human subjectivity has become so deeply and inextricably embedded with technology that 'post human' is born at the interstices of data and flesh, erasing the traditional demarcation between man and machine,” Group Futurista researchers wrote. “This calls for alternative ways of thinking about humanity and its environments, a new way of embracing change and a new way of understanding ourselves.”
Group Futurista researchers additionally noted that financial markets and institutions have undergone radical transformation in recent years, largely fueled by deregulation, liberalization, globalization and emerging computer technologies. They believe these changes are impacting lifestyles around the world and indicate that humans are entering a fourth industrial revolution.
The webinar’s digital sessions and virtual panel discussions will highlight specialists from every facet of the payments industry value chain, according to Group Futurista representatives. Viewpoints from financial institutions, global and regional payment networks, merchant processors and acquirers, mobile payment providers, and payments industry suppliers and integrators will represent varying approaches and best-practices for optimizing contactless solutions in the cashless society of the future, they stated.
A live chat component and one-on-one video chats are designed to facilitate engagement and networking with attendees and industry leaders. Speakers include Ritesh Jain, COO, CTO and global head of digital technology at HSBC; Robbert Wesche, product owner customer onboarding business clients, ABN AMRO Bank N.V.; Maria Khan, digital product owner at RBS; Anna Marekwica, senior manager, cards product and proposition for Barclays; Prakhar Jain, head, business development, external payments at Amazon; Rui Pimentel, head of unit for Banco de Portugal; Sergio Ortega, director, global commercial cards product owner at BBVA; Briony Krikorian-Slade, principal at UK Finance; and Kevin Mountford, co-founder of Raisin Bank.
The June 3, 2020, webinar will take place online at 9 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. “We are counting on you to invite others," event organizers said. "Help us spread the word. You can simply share the link to this page, and they can register at their convenience:
www.groupfuturista.com/webinar3/ .” 
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