The MPE 2021 AWARDS VIRTUAL CEREMONY was a part of the 14th annual MPE 2021 (Merchant Payments Ecosystem) VIRTUAL conference, February 22-25.
MPE Awards Sponsor
MPE Awards Media Partners
As the new awards chair, it gives me a great pleasure to welcome you to the prestigious Merchant Payment Ecosystem Awards for the 14th Annual Conference for the Payments Industry, organised by the Empiria Group. In these strange times, I will obviously not be welcoming you in Berlin, but virtually. As we remain committed to our “Guiding Hand” theme, it is therefore fitting that the underlying meaning for our theme this year will be “Resilience through Innovation”, and our popular statuette will reflect this.
As we all know, from merchant payments to multi-channel retailing, from customer experience, to mobile innovation and new business models, from loyalty, to data analytics and technology disruption, not forgetting regulations, and of course Open Banking and real-time payments, MPE has something for everyone. The current crisis has shown how payments acceptance businesses can demonstrate resilience and cooperation in the face of adversity.
The MPE Awards remain an important benchmark of global excellence in merchant payments, and I wish the best of luck to all entrants! This year, the awards ceremony will be a virtual one taking place on 24th February 2021, and I look forward to welcoming you then.
- featuring 12 Categories
Winners of the Judge’s Choice Award were selected by the panel of independent expert judges.
- featuring 2 Categories
MPE Influencer of the Year
The winner will be determined via public online voting.
Best Start-Up Innovation Award
Winner was determined by MPE audience.
This award will go to the company who uses open banking data, or as part of a card of payment initiation solution that drives end user payments to merchants.
At the Merchant Payments Ecosystem (MPE 2021) Virtual conference, Nuapay was announced as the Winner of the „BEST USE OF OPEN BANKING IN MERCHANT PAYMENTS ECOSYSTEM, during the prestigious MPE Awards Ceremony.
The MPE 2021 Awards were a part of the MPE 2021 conference held virtually (February 22-25), attended by 750+ MPE2021 conference participants represented by Global merchants and senior level payment industry professionals.
The Merchant Payments Ecosystem Awards (MPE Awards) celebrate and honour the achievements of companies across European merchant payments ecosystem.
„Nuapay have taken open banking and made it truly useable for merchants by building out functionality including full reconciliation capabilities, collection capabilities, refund capabilities, embedded recurring solutions, as well as solutions to support a complete omni-channel offering with payment online, over the phone, physical POS and now also via mail.“ commented Neira Jones, the Chairman of MPE 2021 Awards Judging Panel.
This award will go to the year’s oustanding merchant acquirer or merchant processor who has delivered an outstanding service to merchants located in a single or multiple countries.
At the Merchant Payments Ecosystem (MPE 2021) Virtual conference, Sberbank was announced as the Winner of the BEST MERCHANT ACQUIRER/ MERCHANT PROCESSOR AWARD during the prestigious MPE Awards Ceremony.
The MPE 2021 Awards were a part of the MPE 2021 conference held virtually (February 22-25), attended by 750+ MPE2021 conference participants represented by Global merchants and senior level payment industry professionals.
The Merchant Payments Ecosystem Awards (MPE Awards) celebrate and honour the achievements of companies across European merchant payments ecosystem.
„The judges found Sberbank to be the best performer in this category being particularly impressed with their continued focus on Innovation, Product Development and Customer Service. Despite the difficult circumstances in the last year they were successful in growing their business significantly during 2020 based, specifically, around their empathy with customers and an ability to respond quickly and effectively to the changing requirements of a very competitive market.“ commented Neira Jones, the Chairman of MPE 2021 Awards Judging Panel.
«It is a great honor and responsibility for us to become the winner of one of the prestigious international award in the field of acquiring. With the help and support of our customers and partners, we are doing everything possible to develop payment ecosystems and offer customers innovative high-tech services that foreseeing their expectations. Our global goal is to make the world a better, more convenient and more comfortable place for everyone with seamless, instant and secure payment solutions“ says Dmitry Malykh, Head of Acceptance, Sberbank
This award will go to a solution showing the best use data analytics/ AI for fraud prevention or security applicable to the merchant payments ecosystem. This category is not open to ID/ Authentication solutions (another category is provided for this).
At the Merchant Payments Ecosystem (MPE 2021) Virtual conference, Fraugster was announced as the Winner of the „BEST USE OF DATA ANALYTICS/ AI FOR FRAUD PREVENTION / SECURITY AWARD, during the prestigious MPE Awards Ceremony.
The MPE 2021 Awards were a part of the MPE 2021 conference held virtually (February 22-25), attended by 750+ MPE2021 conference participants represented by Global merchants and senior level payment industry professionals.
The Merchant Payments Ecosystem Awards (MPE Awards) celebrate and honour the achievements of companies across European merchant payments ecosystem.
„What three things made Fraugster stand out of the crowdy Best Use of Data Analytics / AI for Fraud Prevention / Security Category? The judges acknowledged their ability to provide explainable AI scores, to provide seamless and quick onboarding (within two weeks) and their proven record in significantly reducing false positives“ commented Neira Jones, the Chairman of MPE 2021 Awards Judging Panel.
“We have invested thousands of hours in R&D to fine tune our deep learning models. Winning the MPE award in the category of data analytics and AI is not only a great honour, but confirmation that we are setting a new standard for online trust in fraud prevention. Our mission continues to be to accelerate our customers speed to value from their fraud protection solution, and to stay ahead of the curve across payment methods and regions.”says Chen Zamir, Co-Founder and CTO Fraugster.
This award will go to the PaaS (Payments as a Service) provider offering the best payment services and/or best IT platform solutions to banks, acquirers, PSPs and merchants. A PaaS must be able to provide these crucial characteristics: Open APIs, Data Security, Core Integration, Consent Management, Anomaly Detection, 3rd Party Onboarding, Regulatory Reporting 3rd Party Lifecycle Management, Strong Customer Authentication, Developer Portal.
At the Merchant Payments Ecosystem (MPE 2021) Virtual conference, Limonetik was announced as the Winner of the „BEST PAAS PROVIDER AWARD“ during the prestigious MPE Awards Ceremony.
The MPE 2021 Awards were a part of the MPE 2021 conference held virtually (February 22-25), attended by 750+ MPE2021 conference participants represented by Global merchants and senior level payment industry professionals.
The Merchant Payments Ecosystem Awards (MPE Awards) celebrate and honour the achievements of companies across European merchant payments ecosystem.
„Limonetik is the winner in the Payments as Service category since they take away the complexity of all aspects of handling payments. They manage financial complexity (reconciliation, bookkeeping fees handling), payment complexity (enabling access to over 260 payment methods), and risk and compliance complexity. They leverage their capabilities across the ecosystem, from Marketplaces to merchants, PSPs, Fintech and more.“ commented Neira Jones, the Chairman of MPE 2021 Awards Judging Panel.
Christophe Bourbier, CEO, Limonetik "We are really proud to have been named Best PAAS Provider in the MPE awards. It is a great honor to be recognized within the tops merchant payments acceptance companies." commented Christophe Bourbier, Limonetik CEO. "This award is a testament to Limonetik incredible growth, and our strong focus on innovation, technology and globalization. This is an acknowledgment of all the talented and committed people – both the wonderful creative teams at Limonetik and the many dedicated and discerning clients and consortium partners—whom I have been fortunate enough to work with over the past few years"
This will be awarded to two organisations who have formed a business partnership and by working closely together have delivered outstanding value that goes far beyond a customer-supplier relationship.
At the Merchant Payments Ecosystem (MPE 2021) Virtual conference, Square was announced as the Winner of the „BEST PAYMENTS PARTNERSHIP AWARD, during the prestigious MPE Awards Ceremony.
The MPE 2021 Awards were a part of the MPE 2021 conference held virtually (February 22-25), attended by 750+ MPE2021 conference participants represented by Global merchants and senior level payment industry professionals.
The Merchant Payments Ecosystem Awards (MPE Awards) celebrate and honour the achievements of companies across European merchant payments ecosystem.
„A true partnership not just a supplier relationship between Mastercard, The Falkland Islands Government and Square that delivered a much needed digitalization of the economy and ability to accept cards“. commented Neira Jones, the Chairman of MPE 2021 Awards Judging Panel.
The award will celebrate the most innovative alternative payment method considering efficiency, security and creativity in a more and more competitive market.
At the Merchant Payments Ecosystem (MPE 2021) Virtual conference, Currence iDEAL was announced as the Winner of the „BEST ALTERNATIVE PAYMENT METHOD AWARD, during the prestigious MPE Awards Ceremony.
The MPE 2021 Awards were a part of the MPE 2021 conference held virtually (February 22-25), attended by 750+ MPE2021 conference participants represented by Global merchants and senior level payment industry professionals.
The Merchant Payments Ecosystem Awards (MPE Awards) celebrate and honour the achievements of companies across European merchant payments ecosystem.
„The judges found Currence iDeal to be the outstanding performer in this category. This is an incredible success story and congratulations to iDeal for celebrating their 15th year with further significant growth across the world. The entry was a model for others; iDeal met all the criteria particularly around speed of adoption, relevance to all stakeholders, innovation and integration with existing platforms. A stand out business.“ commented Neira Jones, the Chairman of MPE 2021 Awards Judging Panel.
„Currence iDEAL is very honoured to be the winner of the MPE 2021 Award for Best Alternative Payment Method, with such fierce competition. iDEAL is the largest omni-channel online banking e-payment (OBeP) method in Europe, in transaction volume and in total transaction value. Furthermore, iDEAL is a broad partnership with 13 issuers, 13 acquirers and 49 PSPs. Hence our ambition is to win the MPE Award for Best Payments Partnership or Best Omni-Channel or Multi-Rail Payment Solution in the future. With iDEAL 2.0, the next upgrade of the iDEAL payment method to be launched in 2021, we are confident that we can meet that challenge.“ says Rob Hoitink, Product Owner iDEAL Currence iDEAL B.V.
This award will go the organisation that has developed a solution that provides real value and differentiation at the Point of Sale.
At the Merchant Payments Ecosystem (MPE 2021) Virtual conference, Izicap was announced as the Winner of the „BEST POS/PAYMENT SOLUTION AWARD, during the prestigious MPE Awards Ceremony.
The MPE 2021 Awards were a part of the MPE 2021 conference held virtually (February 22-25), attended by 750+ MPE2021 conference participants represented by Global merchants and senior level payment industry professionals.
The Merchant Payments Ecosystem Awards (MPE Awards) celebrate and honour the achievements of companies across European merchant payments ecosystem.
„The jury has awarded Izicap and its loyalty application with Best POS/Payment solution. Izicap’s loyalty solution offers easy integration to a data analytics platform for smaller sized merchants that could not run their own solution. Case studies of implementations have demonstrated the appeal and measurable success of Izicap’s solution.“ commented Neira Jones, the Chairman of MPE 2021 Awards Judging Panel.
As winner of the 'Best POS/Payment Solution' category at Merchant Payments Ecosystem 2021, Izicap is proud to be rewarded for its expertise & innovation across the global Merchant Payments Ecosystem.", said Miguel MATEUS, Izicap co-founder & COO. “Izicap works closely with key players from the Payment Industry (Acquires, Acquiring Banks, POS manufactures & ISOs) to increase awareness across SMBs on how CRM and Loyalty Solutions can help thrive during these unprecedented times. Today, more than 10,000 Merchants use Izicap on a daily basis to develop their digital presence, increase consumers’ stickiness & boost their sales.”
This award will go to the year’s outstanding payment transaction service provider who provides the best overall service to its merchants.
At the Merchant Payments Ecosystem (MPE 2021) Virtual conference, dLocal was announced as the Winner of the „BEST PSP/ ISO/ FACILITATOR / AGGREGATOR (Third Party Provider) AWARD, during the prestigious MPE Awards Ceremony.
The MPE 2021 Awards were a part of the MPE 2021 conference held virtually (February 22-25), attended by 750+ MPE2021 conference participants represented by Global merchants and senior level payment industry professionals.
The Merchant Payments Ecosystem Awards (MPE Awards) celebrate and honour the achievements of companies across European merchant payments ecosystem.
„The judges found dLocal to be the best performer in this category who illustrated how their strategy of ‘thinking local and acting global’ has been very successful. dLocal now operates in 29 markets across the emerging markets in Latin America, Asia Pacific and the Middle East and Africa and are well positioned to grow further through use of their easy integration API. Their focus on emerging markets is to be applauded.“ commented Neira Jones, the Chairman of MPE 2021 Awards Judging Panel.
„At dLocal we focus on making the complex simple, redefining payments along the way in Emerging Markets. Receiving the MPE Best PSP award is an honor that shows how our commitment to our customers is recognized by our peers in the industry. We are very proud of this achievement and will keep our focus on innovating and connecting global merchants seamlessly with billions of emerging market users to get an award again next year!“ says Mathieu Limousi, VP Marketing at dLocal
This award will go to the best merchant payment initiative of the year. It can be won either by a merchant who developed the solution or by a provider of a payment service to a single or portfolio of merchants.
At the Merchant Payments Ecosystem (MPE 2021) Virtual conference, PAIR Finance was announced as the Winner of the „BEST MERCHANT PAYMENTS INITIATIVE OF THE YEAR AWARD, during the prestigious MPE Awards Ceremony.
The MPE 2021 Awards were a part of the MPE 2021 conference held virtually (February 22-25), attended by 750+ MPE2021 conference participants represented by Global merchants and senior level payment industry professionals.
The Merchant Payments Ecosystem Awards (MPE Awards) celebrate and honour the achievements of companies across European merchant payments ecosystem.
„In the current challenging times we have seen a far greater use of credit in all forms by consumers and merchants. PAIR through its AI-based Fintech for debt collection and receivables management services has gained significant traction, has strong growth and good end user/debtor advocacy all with higher recovery rates than the average..“ commented Neira Jones, the Chairman of MPE 2021 Awards Judging Panel.
Stephan Stricker, Founder and CEO of PAIR Finance: "We are very honored to receive the award for the best merchant payment initiative of the year. More than ever, merchants face the challenge of dealing with high default rates due to unpaid invoices in their daily business. Corona has reinforced this trend. We are pleased that we are helping to support the business community with our technology and consumer-focused payment strategies, and we are thrilled that this is being valued by a prestigious award."
This award will go to the best omni-channel payment solution that runs on either card, bank or multiple payment rails.
At the Merchant Payments Ecosystem (MPE 2021) Virtual conference, Paysafe was announced as the Winner of the „BEST OMNI-CHANNEL OR MULTI-RAIL PAYMENT SOLUTION AWARD, during the prestigious MPE Awards Ceremony.
The MPE 2021 Awards were a part of the MPE 2021 conference held virtually (February 22-25), attended by 750+ MPE2021 conference participants represented by Global merchants and senior level payment industry professionals.
The Merchant Payments Ecosystem Awards (MPE Awards) celebrate and honour the achievements of companies across European merchant payments ecosystem.
„The judges found Paysafe to be the best performer in this category because of their success in creating a state of the art implementation of frictionless commerce across multiple channels. Their flexible Cloud based solution facilitates swift and easy integration for merchants operating across multiple channels including card present, card not present, offline, online and mobile. There is further flexibility given the system is hardware agnostic.“. commented Neira Jones, the Chairman of MPE 2021 Awards Judging Panel.
This award will go to the provider of the best ID/ Authentication solution applicable to the merchant payments ecosystem. All evidence provided to the judges will be treated confidentially.
At the Merchant Payments Ecosystem (MPE 2021) Virtual conference, Accertify Inc. was announced as the Winner of the „BEST IDENTITY/ AUTHENTICATION SOLUTION AWARD, during the prestigious MPE Awards Ceremony.
The MPE 2021 Awards were a part of the MPE 2021 conference held virtually (February 22-25), attended by 750+ MPE2021 conference participants represented by Global merchants and senior level payment industry professionals.
The Merchant Payments Ecosystem Awards (MPE Awards) celebrate and honour the achievements of companies across European merchant payments ecosystem.
„The jury has awarded Accertify and its Digital Identity (ADI) product with Best Identity/Authentication solution. The solution addresses the growing risk of account takeovers and has demonstrated since its inception 12 months ago that this scalable solution is highly reliable and effective in producing response times to target fraudsters. The jury has been impressed with how Accertify was able to demonstrate how the usage of machine learning technologies can provide real value to merchants and other stakeholders.“ commented Neira Jones, the Chairman of MPE 2021 Awards Judging Panel.
Mark Michelon, President Accertify Inc. on being awarded Best Identity/Authentication Solution at MPE 2021: “Accertify is honored and excited to have been recognized for Best Identity / Authentication Solution at this year’s MPE conference. For more than a decade, we have been helping companies navigate the complex and dynamic challenges of online fraud. Our Accertify Digital Identity solution, a powerful new tool against increasingly sophisticated fraud attacks, was designed with our customers in mind: helping them to protect not only their bottom-line, but more importantly, their customers and corporate reputation. We are thrilled to have been recognized by the industry and our peers as the best of the best. Thank you to MPE for this great honor!”
This award will go to the winner of the Innovation Corner competition for the most innovative start-up company in Merchant Payments Ecosystem.
At the Merchant Payments Ecosystem (MPE 2021) Virtual conference, Trstpays was announced as the Winner of the „BEST STARTUP INNOVATION AWARD“ during the prestigious MPE Awards Ceremony.
The MPE 2021 Awards were a part of the MPE 2021 conference held virtually (February 22-25), attended by 750+ MPE2021 conference participants represented by Global merchants and senior level payment industry professionals.
The Merchant Payments Ecosystem Awards (MPE Awards) celebrate and honour the achievements of companies across European merchant payments ecosystem.
„Trstpays is really honoured to receive the Best Startup Innovation Award from MPE against some terrific competition. It’s a great accolade for our service which aims to eliminate collateral and credit risk for Airlines, Cruiselines, and other delayed delivery businesses. Thank you to MPE and everyone who voted for us“ commented Marc O'Brien, CEO, Trstpays
Open to merchants only, this brand new category is awarded by the chairman and co-chairman and its theme will be different every year. For 2021, the Chairman’s Award will go to the merchant that has demonstrated the “Best Response to the COVID 19 Pandemic”.
At the Merchant Payments Ecosystem (MPE 2021) Virtual conference, Safal Fasal was announced as the Winner of the „CHAIRMAN AWARD – BEST RESPONSE TO THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC AWARD, during the prestigious MPE Awards Ceremony.
The MPE 2021 Awards were a part of the MPE 2021 conference held virtually (February 22-25), attended by 750+ MPE2021 conference participants represented by Global merchants and senior level payment industry professionals.
The Merchant Payments Ecosystem Awards (MPE Awards) celebrate and honour the achievements of companies across European merchant payments ecosystem.
„Safal Fasal was deserving of this award for building a successful ecosystem of farmers, input providers, farm equipment companies, financial services institutions and other service providers. Safal Fasal acts as a marketplace supporting the ndian agriculture community from “seed to market”. As the COVID-19 pandemic drove the demand for digital access to markets, this model has become a lifeline to help farmers digitise their services. During the Spring of 2020, Safal Fasal unlocked financial access for 75,000 Indian farmers, boosting financial inclusion and farmers’ instant access to income, whilst optimising the supply chain across more than 68 districts with a farmer reach of more than 129,000.“commented Neira Jones, the Chairman of MPE 2021 Awards Judging Panel.
To be awarded to the individual (or team) who has provided a significant contribution to the development of the Merchant Payments Ecosystem either on a domestic or international basis.
At the Merchant Payments Ecosystem (MPE 2021) Virtual conference, Adam Sharpe was announced as the Winner of the „INFLUENCER OF THE YEAR AWARD“ during the prestigious MPE Awards Ceremony.
The MPE 2021 Awards were a part of the MPE 2021 conference held virtually (February 22-25), attended by 750+ MPE2021 conference participants represented by Global merchants and senior level payment industry professionals.
The Merchant Payments Ecosystem Awards (MPE Awards) celebrate and honour the achievements of companies across European merchant payments ecosystem.
“I’m a lucky guy. As founder and CEO of Cardstream, my Fintech career is also my passion, running first equals with my lifelong love of endurance sportscar racing. Both run deeply through my work, social and family activities, although I’ve eased back from motorsport, I’m looking forward to what the hybrid and fully electric era will bring. Both passions demand and deliver respect, collegiality and friendship within a highly competitive environment. My vision and achievement was to bring those qualities to Fintech with Cardstream’s Open Payment Network. This unique ecosystem enables Fintech providers to promote a wide diversity of creative and innovative services to merchants and consumers. It also provides many established Fintech businesses and new payments companies with an ever evolving white-label platform that provides independent global connectivity for tens of thousands of merchants. Winning MPE’s public vote to become Influencer of the Year is a huge reward for the efforts and success that both Cardstream and I continue to enjoy. For the future, I am working on bringing the same values to healthcare that have worked so well for payments and commerce. And I look forward enthusiastically to seeing Fintech, Cardstream and MPE evolve further, progressing new opportunities as we overcome COVID-19, whilst our industry continues to thrive and innovate.”commented Adam Sharpe, CEO, Cardstream
MPE Awards - are The Only European Awards recognizing TOP merchant payments acceptance companies and their achievements.
With a category for each player of the merchant payment ecosystem, the Awards are all-inclusive. No other European awards program provides such industry-wide recognition in true reflection of the breadth and strength of our industry.
MPE Award winners will be able to promote their accomplishment all year long.
All winners will be given a 2021 MPE Awards logo and jury testimonials to be used in their PR & marketing activities in addition to special coverage from Merchant Payments Ecosystem Awards & conference. Winners will record personal acceptance video that will be uploaded on MPE Awards website and MPE TV YouTube channel and further promoted through MPE channels.
You can enter the contest until January 31, 2021.
Important note: Contestants enrolling for the Innovation Corner at MPE, aspiring to win the „MPE Innovator of the Year“ award, should submit their entries also until January 29, 2021. Also, their submission process and overall management differs from the rest of the award categories. Please refer to the MPE Innovation Corner section to see the steps and eligibility to enter.
Any company qualifying as part of the payment acceptance value chain worldwide.
Anybody working as part of a team or department responsible for a particular solution/service (one to become a subject of the entry), a marketing, communication or PR specialist whom has been appointed this task or who is generally responsible for awards submissions.
The sole process of sending the application is done via an online form and is thoroughly described in the next section as well as the steps you need to do before you actually submit anything.
You can enter maximum of three categories.
Yes, you can enter the same category/categories with the same or different product/service. You can also enter category/categories you have not attended before with a product/service you have previously used. However, if you previously won any of the categories, please also refer to the next point.
Definitely, the only condition here is that you cannot enter neither the same nor the rest of the categories with the same product/service you won with previously. However, you can enter the same category you won previously with a different product/service.
MPE Awards is very prestigious and unique in its concept. Therefore, you should carefully consider your choice. The awards ceremony traditionally takes place on the second night of the three day conference. Since the conference itself is attended by senior representatives, there is a pretty good chance you already have the right person on spot. As winning parties are notified several days prior to the ceremony, you will have enough time to appoint the proper member of your crew to pick up your prize. If you won the „Acquiring Personality of the Year“ category, well, it is your call to take what is yours :-)
Recognition and prestige. You being the winner, it is our commitment to make sure your name is spelled in the organizer.
The major card and payments acceptance media after the conference. A separate PR campaign utilizing the world-class media distribution companies follows your success hand-in-hand with social media coverage performed by us.
The MPE Awards do not reward its winners with laser-engraved glass or „wannabe Oscars“. Instead, MPE went the harder way of finding highly skilled artists and recognised artists whose task is to create unique Guiding Hand statuettes, using valuable materials with design changed from year to year, reflecting the current trends and important happenings in the payment industry.
From 2014 a Croatian artist Gordana Turuk created her new organic glass and gold plated statuette to please the eye of the winners.
She continues to design the MPE statuette also for 2021...
