The wait is over. The Banking 4.0 agenda has been published: who is speaking, when, and on what topics — all these questions now have answers on the platform banking40.ro. The panel themes are as follows:
26 NOIEMBRIE
Panels
1. Embedded Finance & Invisible Banking
How banking integrates into non-financial platforms (super apps, e-commerce, mobility), powering contextual experiences. Beyond payments – lending, insurance, investment directly in platforms.
2. From Transactions to Advantage: The Omnichannel Journey
Payments are no longer just a back-office operation — they are becoming a strategic lever for banks and retailers to differentiate, engage customers, and unlock new value.
3. European sovereignty in payments
Europe’s answer to Big Tech & international payment schemes.
4. Digital Identity & Trust in Embedded Finance
. Future outlook: digital wallets as a universal financial passport?
. The promise of decentralized identity (DID) and verifiable credentials for finance.
. Interoperability challenges between different digital identity providers.
5. Digital cash & Stablecoins – the next critical financial infrastructure.
Where is digital finance really headed?
Keynotes
Towards SEPA 2.0: shaping the future of European payments – Gijs Boudewijn, Chair of the European Payments Council
CBDCs and banks: threat, opportunity or transformation – Catalin Dumitrescu, Economist – Financial Stability Department at the National Bank of Romania
EUDI Wallet – State of Play – The keynote provides a concise, authoritative overview of the current European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet landscape – Viky Manaila, Trust Services Director Intesi Group
Latest trends in payments: agentic commerce & stablecoins – Alexandru Marinescu, Visa – GTM Products Director, Romania, Croatia, Slovenia and Bulgaria
27 NOIEMBRIE
Panels
1. From utility to lifestyle: The future of banking as part of a lifestyle ecosystem.
The vision for 2030
2. New Business Models, in the context of migration from Open Banking to Open Finance
. Expanding beyond traditional banking data
. Collaborations across sectors – building trust in open data ecosystems
. From Services to fully connected Ecosystems / From BaaS to Wallet-as-a-Platform
3. From digital bank to agentic bank
The panel signals a shift from simply digitizing banking to rethinking the business model with AI at the core. Is this a technology shift or a business model shift?
4. The Smart POS: reinventing SME banking
What if a POS was not just a payment terminal, but the financial hub of a small business? Today’s SMEs need more than card acceptance – they need liquidity, credit, automation, and insights. A new generation of smart POS devices can connect entrepreneurs to a full suite of services: payments, cash withdrawal and deposit, credit lines, accounting integration, inventory management, and even real-time scoring and loyalty tokens. This panel will bring together key players to explore how we can turn the POS into an all-in-one business assistant for SMEs.
5. Lifestyle Wallets & Gen Z Habits
. Social finance
. Youth banking — gamification, education & financial experience
. What “banking as identity” means for future generations
6. AI banking & Digital Assistants: Challenges, opportunities & practical adoption
. Real-time data and behavioural analytics to tailor financial journeys
. AI copilots and advisors embedded in life decisions (shopping, investing, housing)
. Emotional intelligence in banking UX
Leveraging behavioural analytics and empathetic design
7. Lifestyle banking beyond 60’s: financial wellbeing for the next chapter
. From retirement to reinvention: redefining financial services for the golden years.
. From pensions and healthcare to digital inclusion and intergenerational wealth, smarter banking can support the next chapter in life.
. How banks, credit unions, investment funds, insurers, and telcos can co-create products that match the needs of Europe’s fastest-growing and wealthiest customer segment.
Keynotes
Beyond resilience: Success Patterns in Digital Banking Transformation – PhD Leda Glyptis
In her keynote, Leda will explore why some digital ventures thrive while others fail — and what banks can learn from their success stories to shape the next decade of transformation. Participants will also have the opportunity to join an exclusive book signing of ”Beyond Resilience”.
Banking 4.0 Premieres
This year’s edition brings a number of notable firsts. To begin with, alongside banking and fintech, the leasing and insurance industries will also be represented.
Additionally, the panel discussions dedicated to infrastructure and payment technology trends, as well as the business opportunities in this field, will place a stronger focus on merchants and SME entrepreneurs.
There will also be product and service launches, as well as announcements of new partnerships.
A very important part of the thematic content is the series of roundtable discussions, which will explore in depth some of the most relevant current topics. There will be no fewer than seven roundtables, as follows:
NOVEMBER 26
. Roundtable on Digital Identity – powered by Evrotrust
. Roundtable on Digital Transformation – powered by GFT
. SME Roundtable – powered by Salt Bank
. Roundtable on Payments – powered by BLIK
. Women in finance
NOVEMBER 27
. Roundtable Omnichannel journey – powered by Symphopay
. Roundtable on Fraud & Cybersecurity (NIS2 & DORA)
. Roundtable Preparing MiCA (Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation)
The agenda is available here
This year’s edition of Banking 4.0, entitled “From Utility to Lifestyle,” will take place at the International Hotel Complex in Sinaia from 25–27 November 2025. The event is expected to bring together over 300 experts from 15 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the United Arab Emirates, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Spain, and Hungary.
Tickets can be reserved here.
Banking 4.0 – „how was the experience for you”
„To be honest I think that Sinaia, your conference, is much better then Davos.”
Many more interesting quotes in the video below:
