Banking news: Welcome to Banking News from Kathmandu! How are you feeling, and can you share your experience at the Global Fintech Festival?

Stavroula Kampouridou: First of all, thank you! The experience at GFF 2024 has been amazing. It’s my first time in India, and I love the country, the people, and the food. GFF is the largest fintech festival in the world, with 85,000 attendees, which is incredible. All the panels were highly engaging, especially those focused on payments, which is my area of expertise. It’s been an excellent learning experience, and I look forward to coming back.

Banking news: Can you brief us on your sessions? What were the key topics discussed?

Stavroula Kampouridou: I’m the CEO of the Automated Clearing House of Greece, also known as DIAS, which is like the NPCI of Greece. We manage IRIS, our equivalent of UPI. In our sessions, we emphasized the importance of collaboration—not just within our country, among banks, fintechs, and the government, but also between countries. We discussed real-time payments and how to expand collaboration across regions. For example, allowing Nepali tourists to pay in Greece using their own mobile apps and vice versa. The goal is for payments to become as seamless as sending messages on WhatsApp, where users can interact instantly, no matter where they are.

Banking news: What challenges do you foresee in implementing cross-border payments, considering different regulations across countries?

Stavroula Kampouridou: The main challenge is harmonizing standards. In Europe, we have committees like the European Payments Committee, but similar standard-setting bodies exist in other regions like India and Nepal. Harmonization across these standards and regulations is crucial. However, a positive step is the adoption of ISO 20022 messaging standards globally, which helps streamline communication. The G20’s agenda prioritizing real-time payments is also encouraging, with a target of 70% of payments being instant by 2027.

Banking news: When can we expect Nepali users to pay in Europe using their mobile banking apps, and vice versa for Europeans in Nepal?

Stavroula Kampouridou: We’re getting closer to that reality. Yesterday, for example, the general manager of the Eiffel Tower announced that it’s the first European institution to accept UPI QR codes for Indian tourists. Similarly, we are working on collaborations to allow Indian tourists to use UPI in Greece for things like visiting the Acropolis or using public transportation. I believe within the next five years, we’ll see a much broader acceptance of mobile payment systems across the world, allowing seamless cross-border transactions.

Banking news: That’s exciting! Let’s hope for the best. Thank you for your time.

Stavroula Kampouridou: Thank you for having me. It was a pleasure speaking with you!