Agenda

Workshop

Commercial Card Fundamentals (Optional)

This complimentary workshop requires a separate registration. The three-hour classroom-style workshop is an introduction to launching commercial cards, tailored for banks looking to issue a commercial card product, issuers that offer a consumer card and might be new to the commercial segment, or evaluating the decision. This “fundamentals” portion of the event is appropriate for banks of all sizes, but best for regional and local banks looking to expand cash management and treasury services, many of whom already have strong relationships with their locally-based clients. Delegates will learn about the provider partners that can help issue a robust commercial card product, and the emerging technologies making market-entry easier and more affordable. Delegates for this workshop will hear first-hand how banks have been able to fortify relationships with existing customers by offering a valuable working capital solution, while creating an additional revenue stream for their institutions.

Andre Hattingh

Chair: Andre Hattingh, Managing Partner & Regional Director EMEA, PayTech Consulting

Andre Hattingh
Andre Hattingh PayTech Consulting Managing Partner & Regional Director EMEA

Andre has almost three decades’ experience in banking of which 18 years’ in payments working across a wide variety of disciplines and business areas – from acceptance, consumer payments, loyalty products and commercial payment solutions across both corporates and SMEs. He has held senior positions in Absa Bank First National bank and Visa where he led Consumer products for SSA later Commercial solutions for Visa CEMEA and before moving to PayTech he Managed the Visa Consulting practise for SSA. Andre's key focus is on strategy development, product development, business planning, product and process feasibility studies and program implementation.

  • 8:30am
    Check-in and breakfast
  • 9:30am
    Welcome and introductions
  • 9:45am
    How commercial cards fulfills corporate needs

    Obtain insights about corporate and business customers, and how they can extract value from commercial cards and payments. You’ll hear about the stakeholders and their roles in the purchase-to-pay (P2P) process; including common pain points; pros and cons of different payment methods (non-card options and commercial cards); and how and where commercial card products fit, including the benefits for your customers along with barriers to adoption.

    Learn the basics about how commercial cards fits into a financial institution’s cash management and transaction services function, which lay at the heart of the commercial card value proposition.

    Issuers that are operating their commercial card program from their consumer division will understand how to better maximize the full spectrum of commercial card value as a working capital solution for their corporate and business customers, and understanding the key use cases from T&E to B2B.

  • 10:30am
    Build, buy, partner: Maximizing emerging technologies

    One of the most important considerations in launching any product is evaluating resources and determining what can be built from the ground up, and assessing where a technology provider can come in to fill gaps. It’s no different with commercial cards, and today’s providers are solving what have been existing barriers to adoption, including card acceptance, providing better efficiencies and data/ERP integrations and reconciliation services. Hear how providers can be better partners to providing your corporate clients with commercial card solutions.

  • 11:15am
    Networking break
  • 11:45am
    Commercial cards case study

    Hear first-hand from a bank that has launched a card product, the process used to evaluate the decision, and how they made the business case. Hear how they evaluated third-party providers and the challenges they overcame.

    Arda Yağcıoğlu

    Arda Yağcıoğlu, Corporate & Commercial Cards Payment Solutions Senior Manager, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank

    Arda Yağcıoğlu
    Arda Yağcıoğlu Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Corporate & Commercial Cards Payment Solutions Senior Manager

    Arda is leading Commercial Credit and Debit Card Payments Solutions (Business, T&E and P-Cards) and UAEPGS at ADCB. With over 15 years of experience in the card payment systems and financial industry, he has also held key roles in product management & development, partnership management, strategy and marketing. Prior to joining ADCB he was based in Istanbul where covered an affluent Miles Program at Akbank, implemented a B2B commercial card product at Finansbank and launched and leaded the sales of Amex Corporate Card in Garanti Bank. He holds a BA in Political Science and MSc in European Ecomonics. He is married with a 5-year-old daughter.

  • 12:15pm
    Registration, check-in and welcome lunch

    Sponsored by:

    PayMate

  • 1:30pm
    Welcome and introduction
    Melissa Sefic

    Melissa Sefic, SVP and Head of Commercial Payments International, The Economist Group

    Melissa Sefic
    Melissa Sefic The Economist Group SVP and Head of Commercial Payments International

    Melissa Sefic is SVP, Head of Commercial Payments International, an organization that produces educational networking events for professionals in the commercial card and payments industry. With over 15 years’ experience in the conference and events business, Melissa comes from American Banker where she oversaw sales and business development initiatives acting as a consultant to many organizations looking to expand their brand and thought leadership presence in the U.S. She is based in New York City.

    Nicki Bisgaard

    Nicki Bisgaard, Group Head, PayTech Group

    Nicki Bisgaard
    Nicki Bisgaard PayTech Group Group Head

    Nicki has enjoyed more than 35 years in the cards and payments industry internationally. Most recently as Group Head for PayTech – a specialist advisory services company supporting payment schemes, banks, processors and corporate clients on leveraging the opportunities provided in this highly specialized space worldwide. PayTech has under his leadership delivered more than 700 projects in 32 countries in the past 10 years alone and provided consulting services to 65% of the world’s 20 largest banks and a long list of smaller ones. Today, PayTech is recognized as a leader in their field of specialist payments expertise. Prior to founding PayTech, Nicki had a distinguished career from leadership positions as CEO at EnterCard, Head of Corporate Products at Visa Europe, Senior Vice President and head of products at DNB and Marketing Director at Sparebankort in Norway. He was instrumental setting up the new and very successful FinTech company EedenBull in 2018 in response to customer demand from banks looking for practical support for new and innovative payment solutions in a time where new technologies, new regulations and new players are changing the way consumers and businesses think about payments. He was consequently appointed Chief Executive Officer at EedenBull in May 2018.

  • 1:45pm
    The commercial payments opportunity in the region

    Though commercial card use in Middle East and Africa is not as widespread as it is in the UK, Europe, and North America, the instances where it has developed demonstrates the great potential of commercial card adoption. And the environment is just right, given innovations in payment technologies, a growing enthusiasm for digital transactions, and public sector initiatives to support cashless advancements. What can the industry do to better engage and educate key constituencies? And what can it do to better communicate its value? What commercial cards innovations will be the key to expanding acceptance?

    Mark Turner

    Mark Turner, Chief Commercial Officer, Vice President Global Commercial Card , American Express Saudi Arabia

    Mark Turner
    Mark Turner American Express Saudi Arabia Chief Commercial Officer, Vice President Global Commercial Card

    Mark Turner is Chief Commercial Officer and Vice President of the Commercial Card Group at American Express Saudi Arabia. In this role Mark is responsible for the Commercial Card business. He is also responsible for bank partnerships and the associated product development. He champions corporate payment innovation and advises senior executives on their digital/enterprise payments across all industries, in many cases designing new and complex solutions from a suite of Islamic based products. Mark leads the digital corporate product development to ensure the company provides relevant next generation solutions for his clients. Prior to this Mark was the Chief Strategy Officer for Saudi Arabia leading the Strategic Partnership Group in Saudi Arabia. Mark spent 8 years in Singapore as Vice President Asia Pacific leading various regional businesses. During Mark’s tenure in Asia, he was responsible for significantly expanding American Express’ footprint across the JAPA region, re-designing and successfully growing various business lines, in addition, he was also responsible for leading the Joint Venture & Acquisitions group. This included successfully leading and concluding market entry with the first equity based joint venture for The American Express Company (AXP) to the People’s Republic of China. Mark joined American Express in 1990, and has held various senior executive roles across 4 Continents managing and growing both card issuing and acquiring businesses around the globe. Mark was educated in the UK and holds an MBA in Business Studies from Hull University UK and holds an Honorary Professorship by Guangzhou University, PR China. Mark is married, enjoys travelling and the occasional round of golf.

  • 2:15pm
    Panel discussion: Driving acceptance - the key to commercial card success

    Acceptance remains a crucial success factor for commercial card growth, especially among hotel chains, government institutions, and large merchants. What will it take to grow acceptance across these categories? Will commercial cards be the solution that the public sector look to, or will the focus be on closed loop instead? surcharging and fees play a role, as well as how regional governments view commercial cards. Hear how various constituencies in the payments value stream are working to drive acceptance.

    Amer Qavi

    Amer Qavi, CEO, Swipezoom

    Amer Qavi
    Amer Qavi Swipezoom CEO

    Amer Qavi is Founder & CEO of Swipezoom, a fintech company that develops and markets SaaS-based solutions for the B2C and B2B sectors. Amer’s experience as a problem solving entrepreneur spans 27 years across several industries such as healthcare, hospitality, telecommunications and IT and include notable exits from businesses he founded along the way. Prior to that, he has held numerous positions within the healthcare industry. As a certified clinical specialist, he has trained Ophthalmic, ENT and Neuro surgeons on the use of minimally invasive surgery and laser based procedures; has been involved in setting up master distribution networks for ICU Medical, 3M, Alcon and Johnson & Johnson and helped architect numerous government-backed healthcare initiatives, most notably in the area of laser surgery and infection control. He is a regular speaker at entrepreneurship, e-commerce and technology industry events; is an e-exporting advisor to the UK Department for International Trade (DIT), has held steering positions in entrepreneurship organizations, such as the EO and MBRE, and is a mentor to several technology startups. Amer studied Bioengineering at Texas A&M University.

    Gouranga (GD) Dhanagare

    Gouranga (GD) Dhanagare, VP, Commercial Cards Head, MENAPT, Citi

    Gouranga (GD) Dhanagare
    Gouranga (GD) Dhanagare Citi VP, Commercial Cards Head, MENAPT

    GD is the VP and Commercial Cards Head in MENAPT cluster, based in Dubai, UAE. His professional experience spans 25+ years, encompassing key roles in Global Program Leadership, Strategic Client Partnerships, Business Development, E-commerce Product Development and Project Management – within the Financial Services (Commercial Payments & Cards), Business Travel and Airline sectors. He joined Citi in 2016 – after having relocated to Dubai in 2013 as the Commercial Payments Solutions (CPS) business leader for MasterCard Middle East & Africa – responsible for Strategy, Product Management, Issuer Enablement and B2B / SME Partnerships. Prior to his Middle East move, GD had an extensive tenure with American Express, based in Sydney, Australia – covering regional and global Client Relationships, E-commerce Product Management and Business Transformation projects – in the Asia-Pacific region. GD holds a Computer Science degree, with progressive Management Studies and Project Management qualifications.

    Rawan Alkhatib

    Rawan Alkhatib, Acceptance Products Manager, Mastercard

    Rawan Alkhatib
    Rawan Alkhatib Mastercard Acceptance Products Manager

  • 3:00pm
    Networking break

    Sponsored by:

    Dataflexnet

  • 3:30pm
    Moderated roundtable discussions

    Delegates will participate in two 30-minute sessions and will have an opportunity to exchange insights, ideas and best practices with peers in commercial payments during moderated roundtable discussions.

    • T&E: New developments that can grow the business
      David Jimenez, UATP

    • Payments convergence – cards as part of an overall payments strategy
      Kripa Hadani, Mastercard

    • Working capital solutions
      Inna Jovic, Mastercard

    • Virtual card applications and use cases
      Clyde Rosanowski, Visa

    • Understanding small business pain points
      Aloysius Dias, Visa

    • The keys to expanding card acceptance
      Amer Qavi, SwipeZoom

    • Mobile payments: where commercial cards fit
      Nick Reid, Conferma Pay

    David Jimenez

    David Jimenez, Chief Commercial Officer, UATP

    David Jimenez
    David Jimenez UATP Chief Commercial Officer

    Kripa Hadani

    Kripa Hadani, Commercial Payments Solutions, UAE, Mastercard

    Kripa Hadani
    Kripa Hadani Mastercard Commercial Payments Solutions, UAE

    As specialist sales manager, Kripa Hadani helps companies optimize their payment processes through solutions that improve cashflow, ease reconciliation and support digitization. Since joining Mastercard in 2017, she has served as specialist sales manager to large corporates for B2B payments. More recently, she is working with organizations in the travel sector to support their unique needs. Before joining Mastercard, Kripa was an entrepreneur running an adventure travel company. Prior to that, she worked at Standard Chartered and National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE.

    Inna Jovic

    Inna Jovic, Associate Director - Commercial Payment Solutions, Mastercard

    Inna Jovic
    Inna Jovic Mastercard Associate Director - Commercial Payment Solutions

    Inna Jovic holds over 15 years of Corporate Banking and Fintech experience between Australia and Middle East. Prior to Mastercard Inna was a Sector Head, Global Liquidity Solutions team at HSBC bank managing a portfolio of top tier Multinationals. Inna was born in Kiev, Ukraine. At the age of 14 her family moved to Australia where she obtained her degree in Finance and began her career as a Business Banking Relationship manager at Westpac bank in Australia.

    Clyde Rosanowski

    Clyde Rosanowski, Head of Large & Middle Market, Business Solutions, CEMEA Region, Visa

    Clyde Rosanowski
    Clyde Rosanowski Visa Head of Large & Middle Market, Business Solutions, CEMEA Region

    Clyde Rosanowski is the Head of Large and Middle Market Business Solutions across the CEMEA region. Prior to joining Visa Clyde has spent the majority of his career in Cash Management/Transaction Banking Sales Leadership roles across Australia and New Zealand. Clyde’s immediately previous role before joining Visa was the Head of Transaction Banking for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s New Zealand subsidiary ,ASB where he had full responsibility for Sales, Transition/Integration and Relationship Banking of their Corporate and Institutional clients.

    Aloysius Dias

    Aloysius Dias, Senior Director, SME for CEMEA Region, Visa

    Aloysius Dias
    Aloysius Dias Visa Senior Director, SME for CEMEA Region

    Amer Qavi

    Amer Qavi, CEO, Swipezoom

    Amer Qavi
    Amer Qavi Swipezoom CEO

    Amer Qavi is Founder & CEO of Swipezoom, a fintech company that develops and markets SaaS-based solutions for the B2C and B2B sectors. Amer’s experience as a problem solving entrepreneur spans 27 years across several industries such as healthcare, hospitality, telecommunications and IT and include notable exits from businesses he founded along the way. Prior to that, he has held numerous positions within the healthcare industry. As a certified clinical specialist, he has trained Ophthalmic, ENT and Neuro surgeons on the use of minimally invasive surgery and laser based procedures; has been involved in setting up master distribution networks for ICU Medical, 3M, Alcon and Johnson & Johnson and helped architect numerous government-backed healthcare initiatives, most notably in the area of laser surgery and infection control. He is a regular speaker at entrepreneurship, e-commerce and technology industry events; is an e-exporting advisor to the UK Department for International Trade (DIT), has held steering positions in entrepreneurship organizations, such as the EO and MBRE, and is a mentor to several technology startups. Amer studied Bioengineering at Texas A&M University.

    Nick Reid

    Nick Reid, Commercial Manager, Conferma Pay

    Nick Reid
    Nick Reid Conferma Pay Commercial Manager

    As Commercial Manager, Nick is responsible for the strategic development of Conferma’s banking partnerships and initiatives. Having joined Conferma in 2011 and since accumulated experience in a number of roles, he works closely with the company’s global commercial payments network to deliver innovative ways for corporations to make business payments with virtual cards. In collaboration with Conferma’s travel management and technology partners, one of Nick’s areas of focus is streamlining virtual payments for commercial card issuers and their clients in the corporate travel sector.

  • 4:30pm
    Roundtable round up

    Moderators from each roundtable topic will share key takeaways that emerged from their discussions with the entire group.

  • 4:45pm
    Welcome reception

Overview

A focus on the customer

  • 8:00am
    Breakfast and check-in

    Sponsored by:

    Mastercard

  • 9:00am
    Welcome and recap of Day 1
    Melissa Sefic

    Melissa Sefic, SVP and Head of Commercial Payments International, The Economist Group

    Melissa Sefic
    Melissa Sefic The Economist Group SVP and Head of Commercial Payments International

    Melissa Sefic is SVP, Head of Commercial Payments International, an organization that produces educational networking events for professionals in the commercial card and payments industry. With over 15 years’ experience in the conference and events business, Melissa comes from American Banker where she oversaw sales and business development initiatives acting as a consultant to many organizations looking to expand their brand and thought leadership presence in the U.S. She is based in New York City.

    Nicki Bisgaard

    Nicki Bisgaard, Group Head, PayTech Group

    Nicki Bisgaard
    Nicki Bisgaard PayTech Group Group Head

    Nicki has enjoyed more than 35 years in the cards and payments industry internationally. Most recently as Group Head for PayTech – a specialist advisory services company supporting payment schemes, banks, processors and corporate clients on leveraging the opportunities provided in this highly specialized space worldwide. PayTech has under his leadership delivered more than 700 projects in 32 countries in the past 10 years alone and provided consulting services to 65% of the world’s 20 largest banks and a long list of smaller ones. Today, PayTech is recognized as a leader in their field of specialist payments expertise. Prior to founding PayTech, Nicki had a distinguished career from leadership positions as CEO at EnterCard, Head of Corporate Products at Visa Europe, Senior Vice President and head of products at DNB and Marketing Director at Sparebankort in Norway. He was instrumental setting up the new and very successful FinTech company EedenBull in 2018 in response to customer demand from banks looking for practical support for new and innovative payment solutions in a time where new technologies, new regulations and new players are changing the way consumers and businesses think about payments. He was consequently appointed Chief Executive Officer at EedenBull in May 2018.

  • 9:15am
    The corporate perspective: How cards provide client value

    Instead of focusing on what the cost is to corporates; the focus should be on what the industry can deliver in terms of value to corporates: efficiency; savings; reducing friction; providing working capital. Hear this corporate perspective and what the experience has been with commercial cards.

    Jane Sutherland

    Jane Sutherland, Financial Controller, Doosan MENA Service Centre

    Jane Sutherland
    Jane Sutherland Doosan MENA Service Centre Financial Controller

  • 9:45am
    Panel: Convergence and card as a working capital and cash flow solution

    At the heart of commercial cards for the B2B use case is its value as a working capital, cash flow and data provider solution for clients. And today, clients are looking for payables and receivables solutions, and cards can address both sides of the equation. How have issuers been successful in providing this integrated approach and where does card fit into the broader spectrum of commercial payments types? Hear examples of how commercial card providers are meeting these specific corporate needs.

    Rakesh Khanna

    Rakesh Khanna, VP, Head of Business Solutions for CEMEA, Visa

    Rakesh Khanna
    Rakesh Khanna Visa VP, Head of Business Solutions for CEMEA

    Rakesh Khanna is the Vice President, Business solutions head for CEMEA at Visa Inc. focused on commercializing and executing key solutions for Small, middle & large market and the public sector. He is responsible for the strategy and delivery of Visa’s business solutions for the region. He joined Visa in 2014 as head for CEMEA and also managed the European region for Large Market from Oct 2016-May 2018. Rakesh has 20 years of experience across financial services and banking. He joined Visa in Nov 2014 from Standard Chartered Bank where he spent 10 years in London and Singapore heading strategic products and solutions for the bank globally that included lending and Asset backed finance. His last position was the Global Head product for Receivables Services & Invoice financing. Prior to this, he was with GE in a variety of roles in India, US & London spanning sales, relationship management, change and transformation roles including Six Sigma and Lean initiatives.

    Feroz Khan

    Feroz Khan, Director, Corporate Cards Solutions & Retail Cards Acquisitions, Majid Al Futtaim Finance

    Feroz Khan
    Feroz Khan Majid Al Futtaim Finance Director, Corporate Cards Solutions & Retail Cards Acquisitions

    Feroz is currently heading Corporate Cards Business & Retail Cards Acquisitions for Majid Al Futtaim Finance in the United Arab Emirates and successfully leading the Digital Transformation of customer on-boarding process. He oversees the Corporate Cards Business covering T&E, Purchase Card & Central Travel Account solutions along with responsibility for new customer acquisition for retail cards. He has spent over 18 years in payment business and has held senior leadership roles covering product, portfolio, partnerships and sales management areas. Before joining Majid Al Futtaim, he worked with several prestigious global and regional financial institutions including Citibank, Barclays, Mashreq & Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank.

    Ajay Adiseshann

    Ajay Adiseshann, Founder & CEO, PayMate

    Ajay Adiseshann
    Ajay Adiseshann PayMate Founder & CEO

    Ajay is a technology entrepreneur with strong experience in building and leading successful technology companies. In 2006, he founded PayMate India Pvt. Ltd. with an aim to introduce mobile payments in the country. Over the years, he transformed PayMate into a leading B2B digital payments provider in India. Prior to PayMate, Ajay founded and grew Coruscant Tec, an early leader in mobile content, that offered VAS services to leading Indian Telecom companies for a number of years. The company was sold to Mukta Arts a listed media firm in 2008. As a serial entrepreneur, Ajay’s first venture was Webresource, which was a web applications and design company. Ajay holds the patent for mobile payments in India and invests in tech startups, serving as a trusted mentor and advisor to a number of technology entrepreneurs in India.

  • 10:30am
    Case study: Virtual cards for T&E

    The introduction of virtual cards to the business travel use case could provide T&E payment volume a bosst especially in the age of online travel agencies. Hear about key lessons learned in the adoption of virtual cards for travel; use cases, travel segments, successes and failures, and the value it can provide.  Additionally, hear how consumerization in the travel sector is impacting this segment.

    Nick Reid

    Nick Reid, Commercial Manager, Conferma Pay

    Nick Reid
    Nick Reid Conferma Pay Commercial Manager

    As Commercial Manager, Nick is responsible for the strategic development of Conferma’s banking partnerships and initiatives. Having joined Conferma in 2011 and since accumulated experience in a number of roles, he works closely with the company’s global commercial payments network to deliver innovative ways for corporations to make business payments with virtual cards. In collaboration with Conferma’s travel management and technology partners, one of Nick’s areas of focus is streamlining virtual payments for commercial card issuers and their clients in the corporate travel sector.

  • 11:00am
    Networking break

    Sponsored by:

    Diners Club International

  • 11:30am
    Fintech showcase

    Four fintechs with new solutions in the commercial payments space present in this quick-fire format, presenting how their digital solutions are solving problems.

    Kelly Cleeton

    Kelly Cleeton, Director, Global Business Development, Conferma Pay

    Kelly Cleeton
    Kelly Cleeton Conferma Pay Director, Global Business Development

    Amer Qavi

    Amer Qavi, CEO, Swipezoom

    Amer Qavi
    Amer Qavi Swipezoom CEO

    Amer Qavi is Founder & CEO of Swipezoom, a fintech company that develops and markets SaaS-based solutions for the B2C and B2B sectors. Amer’s experience as a problem solving entrepreneur spans 27 years across several industries such as healthcare, hospitality, telecommunications and IT and include notable exits from businesses he founded along the way. Prior to that, he has held numerous positions within the healthcare industry. As a certified clinical specialist, he has trained Ophthalmic, ENT and Neuro surgeons on the use of minimally invasive surgery and laser based procedures; has been involved in setting up master distribution networks for ICU Medical, 3M, Alcon and Johnson & Johnson and helped architect numerous government-backed healthcare initiatives, most notably in the area of laser surgery and infection control. He is a regular speaker at entrepreneurship, e-commerce and technology industry events; is an e-exporting advisor to the UK Department for International Trade (DIT), has held steering positions in entrepreneurship organizations, such as the EO and MBRE, and is a mentor to several technology startups. Amer studied Bioengineering at Texas A&M University.

    Minella D’Souza

    Minella D’Souza, Customer Relationship Manager, PayMate

    Minella D’Souza
    Minella D’Souza PayMate Customer Relationship Manager

    Jens Nes

    Jens Nes, Regional Director, EedenBull

    Jens Nes
    Jens Nes EedenBull Regional Director

    Jens has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in payments in the Nordics, from Sales & Marketing Director Norsik (now Idemia), SVP Head of Issuing Services at Nets, SVP Head of Acquiring at Nets before joining Visa Europe as Country Manager for Norway. Jens joined the EedenBull team in February 2019 as Regional Director and Head of Business Development.

  • 12:00pm
    Fintech showcase Q&A
  • 12:15pm
    Conference summary and wrap up
  • 12:30pm
    Networking lunch

    Sponsored by:

    Visa

  • 1:30pm
    Summit concludes