First P27 Vendor Forum ‘exceeds all expectations’

Almost 350 participants logged in to P27’s Vendor Forum webinar on May 18. It was the first in a series of planned series of dialogues designed to keep financial institution vendors and service providers up to speed on the planning of P27’s implementation.

“From our perspective, the first P27 Vendor Forum really exceeded expectations,” says Danny Pedersen, Product Manager at P27.

“We couldn’t be happier with the result. Hopefully, all the participants feel the same way.”

The two-hour event, which was held as a webinar due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, kicked off with an overview of P27 by COO Claus Richter.

A ‘future-proof’ payments ecosystem

Among other things, Richter stressed P27’s vision of harmonizing, simplifying, and standardizing payments across the Nordics. The goal was to create a “future proof” payment ecosystem.

P27 Product Manager Harry Rymert then provided more details about the various ways P27 acts and communicates with different stakeholder groups. He also reviewed P27’s expected core services, including instant and batch credit transfers, Euro overflow, request-to-pay, account assurance, and alias services.

“The aim of the Vendor Forum is to keep you informed so we can together ensure the fastest possible introduction of value-creating opportunities in the market,” Rymert explained.

Jacob Belton Groth, P27 Implementation Manager, then provided more details on P27’s onboarding programme. He outlined a two-track process that covers both customer onboarding and service onboarding. The approach is designed to ensure participant readiness prior to when P27 expects to go live in 2021 after having received the necessary regulatory approvals.

A high level of engagement

Audience participation was lively throughout the event, with a steady stream of feedback and comments in the webinar chat window. In addition, participants submitted more nearly 100 questions to the Vendor Forum speakers over the course of the session.

“The quantity and breadth of the questions were more than we could have hoped for,” says Pedersen, who was responsible for managing the event.

It didn’t take long for participants to start submitting questions on topics ranging from high-level, strategic matters to very specific, technical details.

“All of us at P27 are really encouraged by the high level of engagement,” says Pedersen.

“This was a great first step in what we hope is an ongoing and productive dialogue with vendors and service providers as we move toward the expected launch of P27 next year.”

Plans call for presentation materials from the first Vendor Forum to be shared with all registered participants.

In addition, P27 plans to curate a Vendor Forum FAQ populated with questions received during each session. This living “knowledge bank” will also be made available to all registered Vendor Forum participants.

“We aim to hold the next Vendor Forum in early autumn, but until then we want to share as much information as possible on an ongoing basis to help everyone stay up-to-date,” Pedersen adds.

Note: P27 is in a preliminary stage, and the establishment of P27 is subject to regulatory approvals and requirements