The Green Sheet Online Edition

August 23, 2021 • Issue 21:08:02

Tradeshow News: MPC attracts diverse global audience

The eleventh annual MPC Digital Commerce Event, the virtual show, which took place from Aug. 17 to 19, 2021, attracted registrants from numerous industries, countries and organizations, conference planners stated.

Marla Ellerman, founder and executive director of The MPC Digital Commerce Event, thanked sponsors, partners and friends for their support. "Eleven years ago, a small group of mobile payments leaders met in New York City," she said. "Today, we meet online all the time to discuss emerging trends and opportunities in digital commerce."

Keynotes

MPC has evolved from a once-a-year gathering to an always-on digital platform, Ellerman noted, adding that MPC21 Virtual included the following keynote speakers: Dominic V. Venturo, SVP and chief digital officer, U.S. Bank; Kevin Gosschalk, founder and CEO at Arkose Labs; Eric Allen, CEO, LISNR; Scott Goldthwaite, president, Aliaswire; Jean-Pierre Lacroix, president, SLD; Kathy Crumley, global banking strategist, Intel; Kash Razzaghi, SVP, revenue and partnerships, Circle Internet Financial Inc.; David Lott, Retail Payments Risk Forum, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta; Emmanuel Daniel, Chairman, The Asian Banker; Eagle Yi, fintech executive and former head of WeChat Pay North America; Todd McDonald, chief product officer, R3; Ashish Arya, global head of strategy and marketing, Pinterest; and Rob Hanlon, CEO, Cybermoney.

MPC21 united a rich cohort of finance, technology, regulatory and infosec leaders, Ellerman stated. "Global cyberprivacy expert Dr. Ross Federgreen, chief executive officer, CSR Privacy Solutions Inc., is MPC21's master of ceremonies," she said just before the show opened. "Ross will open each day of the show, prepping the audience for a fun-filled day of education, engagement and networking."

Highlights

Following offers a taste of the many conference highlights:

• U.S. Bank: In addition to delivering the opening keynote, U.S. Bank hosted workshops, networking and panel discussions on connectivity, commerce optimization, payroll best practices and emerging digital commerce trends. Peter Gordon, head of enterprise money movement at U.S. Bank, noted that the pandemic made a lasting impact on digital commerce. "Twenty-two percent of consumers reduced use of cash during the pandemic," he said, adding the pandemic compressed years of change into a few months.
• OV Loop: The post-COVID landscape, from mobile wallets to touch-free commerce, was explored in a two-part discussion with panelists Will Graylin, CEO and chairman, OV Loop; Eric Allen, CEO at LISNR; Christopher Brunner, founder and CEO, AuthVia; and David Shackleton, CEO, OpenBack. Dale S. Laszig, senior staff writer at The Green Sheet, moderated. "The capabilities we celebrated 10 years ago are today's baseline requirements," Laszig said. "I was excited to share perspectives on the new digital literacy from future commerce innovators."
• Arkose Labs: In his keynote address, “Playing the Long Game in Mobile Security,” Kevin Gosschalk, CEO at Arkose Labs, explored emerging trends in cybercrime and digital channels, as well as offered advice on how business and technology partners can collaboratively mitigate fraud. To further explore these topics, Ashish Jain, chief product officer at Arkose Labs, moderated a panel with Rafael Lourenco, executive vice president, partner, ClearSale and Rich Stuppy, vice president and senior customer experience officer at Kount.

  In a pre-conference interview, Gosschalk said, "At the conference I'll provide insights into how fraudsters look at this space and discuss longer-term strategies for dealing with increased attacks on mobile transactions. [This includes] how businesses and their technology partners can better work together, through increased accountability and more committed partnerships."

  Jain agreed, stating he was looking forward to exploring these topics with experts. "Off the back of a year like no other, we have seen some dramatic shifts in fraud patterns," he said. "We have all been racing to keep up with fast-changing consumer habits; the economic turmoil which pushed more people into fraud than ever before; and changing regional and industry attack patterns."

Special presentations and more

Other topics explored in a variety of formats included global trends; next-gen banking; human-centric digital transformation; smarter bill payments; prepaid in the digital payments, open banking era; how checks enhance digital payments; StableCoin's impact on payments, the Fed's ecommerce study; safe, secure contactless commerce, and much more

Special presentations included the Aite-Novarica Group Digital Wallet Awards, The Green Sheet Inc.'s 2021 Visionary Award presentation to Bluefin and a virtual happy hour with live magic show sponsored by U.S. Bank.

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