Stewart MacKinnon, Secretary General of the European Payments Council, and Norbert Bielefeld, Deputy Director, Payments and Securities at the European Savings Banks Group in Belgium, will be the two main speakers at the forthcoming national conference on “Making the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) a reality in Malta”.

The conference, organised by the Central Bank of Malta, the Malta Bankers’ Association and the Financial Services Economic Group of the Malta Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise, will be held at the Malta Hilton on Friday.

Mr MacKinnon will give an in-depth overview of what the Single Euro Payments Area project is all about and how this will streamline payments in euro all over Europe. In his delivery, Mr MacKinnon will explain how SEPA will be harmonising millions of everyday “retail” payments and how this programme, which is supported by Europe’s banks, should lead to the strengthening of the internal market, the enhancement of competition, improved efficiency and more economic prosperity.

Formerly chief executive of the Irish Payments Services Organisation Limited, Mr MacKinnon was a director of the company and of the three Payment Schemes under the IPSO umbrella. He served as Ireland’s Plenary representative at the European Payments Council and led the Irish implementation project for the creation of SEPA. He also held senior level appointments at APACS in the UK as Head of European Affairs and Single Currency, and subsequently company manager of the CHAPS Clearing Company Limited. He was also a member of the senior management team at BACS Limited (now VOCA) – the UK’s automated clearing house – where he was Head of Planning and Business Development.

Norbert Bielefeld will speak about the Payment Services Directive and how this will apply to all payment services, retail or corporate, whether in euro or any other currency of an EU member State. Once it is transcribed into national laws, the Directive will affect all payments within the 27 member States of the EU, irrespective of currency or transaction value, and whether it is affected by card or any other form of electronic means of payment.

A graduate of ESSEC (Ecole Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales, Paris), and a chartered accountant, Mr Bielefeld started his career with Union de Banques à Paris. He moved to Clark Credit France as finance manager, prior to setting up Econocom Deutschland as finance director, and ECS International Belgium as managing director. At SWIFT, he was successively Head of Marketing and Customer Support, senior manager New Network Services, Director Payments Strategy, and Director Banking Industry Initiatives.

For further information or to book a place at the national conference on “Making the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) a reality in Malta” call the Malta Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise on telephone number 2123 3873 or e-mail info@chamber. org.mt.