Worldline [Euronext: WLN], the European market leader in payment and transaction services, is proud to announce it will be hosting the third edition of its e-Payments Challenge, to take place in an innovative fully virtual format for the first time ever on 17-18 September 2020.

The e-Payments Challenge is Worldline’s annual forum that brings together all parties involved in the payment technology ecosystem, including Fintechs, banks, merchants and Worldline’s own technology experts. After two successful years of facilitating and supporting collaboration between enterprises and Fintechs, this year’s e-Payments Challenge will be conducted completely online through a virtual environment, making the co-creation process an entirely digital journey.

Participating enterprises and business partners will be able to present their very own challenges based on their market strategies to Fintech teams for competitive selection and work together with them to co-create innovations on a given topic.

As a brand-new formula, customers can also participate in the event in a ‘spectator mode’ meaning customers can join without a challenge but explore all the latest innovation ideas raised by fintechs and startups

In addition to the new virtual and open setting, this year’s e-Payments Challenge will also introduce two entry options for participating Fintechs to choose from - open entry and closed entry. Fintechs participating in an open entry will answer a challenge that is inspired from the three main categories Financial Sustainability, Consumer Experience, and Digital Disruption, while those that chose a closed entry will have to respond to a challenge raised by a customer of Worldline.

All Fintech teams, regardless of the type of entry they select, will have the opportunity to work closely with sponsoring or participating enterprises, and bring their ideas to life using Worldline’s assets – including APIs, offerings and expertise in R&D and regulation.

Digital co-creation journey

The overarching challenge of this year’s edition is to “co-create a cashless society powered by data”. Participants will be tasked with creating solutions to the various challenges, from B2C payments, P2P and B2B payments to payment data analysis, fraud management and open banking. Worldline will select participating Fintechs from applicants from across all segments of payment technology - and beyond.

Participating Worldline customers will not only be a part of the e-Payments Challenge by contributing to some tasks, they will also have the opportunity to nominate Fintechs and experiment with them. As a result of the co-creation process, they will ideally have put together an applicable solution that significantly shortens their go-to-market cycle.

A wide range of themes will be covered, throughout the following key topics:

•    Strengthen financial sustainability through innovative payment services

•    Create an efficient and seamless consumer experience with new cross-channel use cases

•    Co-create a cashless society and stimulate economy through digital disruption powered by data

Out now: the e-Payments Innovation Playbook

While people, companies and governments are looking at ways to recover from the pressure that came along with COVID-19, new technologies are seeing rise. In its recent whitepaper, Worldline analysed the influence factors, the drivers and the opportunities for technologies that will reshape the payments landscape, bring transformation through transactions and create renewed opportunities for growth and prosperity. Free copy available here: https://fairs.worldline.com/content/worldline-fairs/epayments-challenge-2020/home/download.html.

Pascal Mauz, Head of Global Sales and Marketing at Worldline, says: "The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the emergence of the cashless society and the arrival of the open data economy. It is changing the way we shop, the way we pay, how we manage our money and the way we authenticate our identities online. The e-Payments industry is thus playing an increasingly critical role in shaping the world to become a better place. I am looking forward to the new fully digitised e-Payments Challenge and to facilitating with our customers many exciting projects for our ambitious Fintech participants to work on.”