Gary Munro, Vice President, Payments Consulting at Consult Hyperion, Consulting by Fime, summarizes the key discussions and insights from Merchant Payment Ecosystem (MPE) 2025 - Europe’s largest payment acceptance conference.
With over 1,400 attendees, including merchants and payment experts, this year’s MPE Berlin provided the industry with the opportunity to collaborate and participate in numerous insightful discussions.
I was honored to represent Consult Hyperion at one of the key industry conferences of the year alongside my colleagues, including David Birch and Arnaud Crouzet, as well as our partners at Fime, Tim Allen, Patricia Winter and Sihame Baïche.
This industry is changing rapidly and I’m delighted to share some interesting insights and my key takeaways from the event.
Get ready for AI in payments.
Arguably the headline topic of the event was artificial intelligence. It has the potential to completely transform the way we transact and bring unparallelled efficiency to the payments ecosystem, but in equal measure it could bring about radical changes to the threat landscape that cannot be ignored.
David Birch, Consult Hyperion Global Ambassador and Co-Chair of MPE, kickstarted the conference with a fascinating panel that explored AI and non-human customers. He discussed the implications that radical AI use cases could have on retail payments, a theme that continued throughout the conference.
It is therefore no surprise that payments resilience in the face of AI was central to many of our discussions. Following the introduction of the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) earlier this year, financial entities now must be prepared for cyber-attacks, especially in this turbulent geopolitical climate.
Merchants control the payment experience.
A stark reminder of this geopolitical climate was given to us by Levgen Zaigraiev from Ukraine’s PrivatBank. I moderated the day one session “The Evolution of a Shop”, in which he gave us insight into how digital payments are helping keep his nation’s economy moving during the war. Central to this, he attested, was SoftPOS. It provided easy and affordable access to the digital economy and has been a valuable lifeline for both merchants and their customers.
The importance of merchant sovereignty was echoed by keynotes from Petri Ahti from Market Pay and Marie Herbiet from Mastercard, who both spoke on the value of omnichannel payments.
Merchants remained the focus on day two of the event where I co-chaired a merchant-only workshop alongside the CEO of payabl., Kristaps Zips. The workshop, “Decoding Consumer Behavior – What Drives Conversion and What Kills Them?”, considered if there can be too much choice in how to pay. In what was a well-rounded discussion, many of the merchants fed back that a full roster of payment solutions can potentially come across as overwhelming to customers.
The key is to give enough options to ensure there is at least one that the customer is comfortable with, without providing too many and risk making the checkout experience overly complex. Payment options must be optimized for the sector the merchant is in, and the average customer profile that visits the retail site, be it online or in store.
Digital wallets are the future.
Many of the representatives in our workshop also stressed that accepting digital wallets is now a necessity for them. Consumers are increasingly demanding digital first solutions, and merchants recognize the seamless checkout experience they can provide. To many that we spoke with, a digital first solution that reduces cart abandonments while also mitigating fraud is a no brainer. Delivering on this promise is now the challenge.
Arnaud Crouzet had the opportunity to share Consult Hyperion’s expertise on this topic in his presentation “European Digital Wallets: Innovation, Interoperability & Strategic Insights for Merchants”. He spoke on the enhanced checkout experience they provide, then went on to explore the added value integrations digital wallet services could provide. At the heart of this is the upcoming EUDI regulation that enables a universal pan-continental digital ID wallet.
Integrating payments and identity solutions within the same digital wallet is unsurprisingly a key priority for many of the global titans in these ecosystems. A lively panel discussion followed Arnaud’s presentation in which experts debated if such solutions were the remit of the so called “Big Tech” companies such as Apple and Google, or if there was a place for a more collaborative approach.
The power of collaboration with Fime & Consult Hyperion.
One of my personal highlights from the conference was the dinner hosted by Consult Hyperion. A select group of MPE speakers were invited to join us for a special event where we were able to discuss the emerging challenges and opportunities within the payments landscape.
Tim Allen welcomed our guests with his insights into the ecosystem. I then delved into how Fime’s acquisition of Consult Hyperion enhanced our ability to support our clients around the globe in navigating the rapidly evolving landscape of our industry according to their unique local needs. Readers can learn more in this video. David Birch ended the lovely evening with a fascinating talk that explored the past, present and future of payments.
Keeping our finger on the pulse.
Conferences like MPE Berlin are important for the ecosystem as they encourage innovation through insightful discussions and networking. I always enjoy representing Consult Hyperion at these events, meeting our customers and sharing our experiences across payments and digital identity.
We are already excited about MPE 2026!
Learn more about Fime and Consult Hyperion’s expertise across the payments industry.
