According to the criteria, the "Merchant Acquirer of the Year" Award goes to the merchant acquirer who has demonstrated success in their merchant relationships through the provision of excellent products and services.

"Fiserv won this Award for their new way of thinking about people, processes, and technology, resulting in the launch of the Carat system," said Andy Ivanis, Head of Sales & Customer Engagement at MPE.

"Fiserv deserved the award for its new approach to the commerce journey, delivering global payment opportunities across all channels, devices, and payment methods."

Fiserv is a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology solutions including the recently launched Carat omnichannel commerce operating system. Carat helps businesses drive revenue, reduce costs and grow at global scale, facilitating the delivery of a seamless customer experience through a single integrated platform. Carat has proven results with the world’s most successful brands, including enabling Aldi to launch in-store and click and collect acquiring across Europe, ExxonMobil to deliver a voice-enabled payment experience via Amazon Pay, and Selecta to offer cash-free contactless payments for self- service food and beverage solutions across 16 markets. Currently, Carat processes more than 15 billion ecommerce and 1 billion global omnichannel transactions for merchants across North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East and Africa and Asia Pacific, spanning multiple retail verticals.

"This has been a pivotal year for Fiserv and our clients across Europe and the world, who are embracing omnichannel commerce as a new way of doing business, addressing the changing ways people want to pay while enhancing customer experience and increasing conversion," said Peter O'Halloran, Head of Enterprise & Digital Commerce for Fiserv in EMEA.

"We're proud to be named "Merchant Acquirer of the Year" for the success we've enabled our clients to achieve with the launch of Carat, which is helping merchants enable digital payments, optimize commerce, embed financial services, and scale during a time of increasingly pressing market and customer demands."

According to the criteria, the "Most Innovative Fraud/Prevention Solution” Award goes to the provider who launched an innovative solution in the last 18 months that can demonstrate tangible benefits to merchants regarding fraud prevention, identity, or authentication.

"ACI Worldwide won this Award for their field use of their patented Fraud Management Incremental Learning Technology," said Andy Ivanis, Head of Sales & Customer Engagement at MPE.

"ACI Worldwide deserved the award for their multi-tiered approach to merchant fraud and the industry-first approach to machine learning."

Incremental learning technology is integral to ACI Fraud Management and considerably enhances fraud protection for merchants and financial institutions. While traditional machine learning models need to be 're-trained' as fraud patterns change, models using incremental learning make minor adjustments on an ongoing basis, allowing the model to adapt itself in production when new behaviors are observed.

“Fraud is evolving more rapidly than ever, so the tools used to detect and prevent it need to be highly adaptable and responsive to emerging threats,” said Richard Jolly, Head of eCommerce, Fraud & Omni-Commerce, Europe, ACI Worldwide.

“Recognition at this year’s MPE Award is proof that our approach - combining modern and market-oriented adaptive machine learning with a multi-tiered fraud strategy is helping payment providers and merchants to gain the upper hand in the fight against fraud. It also reflects the tireless efforts of our fraud analysts and experts, backed by innovations from our award-winning data science team, to deliver a best-in-class solution.”

According to the criteria, the "Best Use of Data Analytics & AI" Award goes to the company that uses Data Analytics or AI to support merchants in any way that is NOT involved in Fraud prevention. To stress, this is not about Fraud Prevention using AI/Data analytics but covers areas such as loyalty, customer engagement, customer & merchant support/service, etc.

"PAIR Finance collected this Award for their unique, AI-based debt collection technology, which motivates overdue clients to pay their outstanding amounts without negatively affecting the customer relationship," said Andy Ivanis, Head of Sales & Customer Engagement at MPE.

PAIR Finance intends to change the debt collection industry with the help of artificial intelligence, behavioral analytics and data science, introducing consumers and business clients to a completely new debt collection experience. With its AI technology the fast- growing fintech creates a real USP in financial processes, showing decision-makers how they can give their organization a real boost in the digitization.

"This recognition is another milestone achievement, proving our unique commitment to develop cutting-edge AI technology to help our 350 european enterprise customers transform their debt collection process and provide market leading technology," said Stephan Stricker, Founder and CEO of PAIR Finance.

"Our AI-powered collections service delivers an immediate increase in recovery across all industries while enabling companies to safeguard their customer relationship and helping consumers to manage their finances in a personalized and self-determined way. I'm very proud to accept the prestigious MPE award on behalf of all my hard-working colleagues at PAIR Finance."

According to the criteria, the "Best Cross-Border Merchant Solution" Award goes to the payments provider that supports cross-border e-commerce expansion (globally or in multiple high-growth markets) at scale while optimizing authorization rates and reducing fraud.

"PayU won this Award for the simplicity and user-friendliness of their PayU Hub solution," said Andy Ivanis, Head of Sales & Customer Engagement at MPE.

"Their global payment platform allows merchants to accept payments in any country, with top expertise across 50+ emerging markets, while enabling a wide range of payment optimisation and security features via a single API."

The PayU Hub facilitates quick and easy cross-border payments by bridging the gap between local and global payments. It allows merchants across over 50 emerging markets to streamline and consolidate all aspects of the payment stack into one, customizable payment platform.

"We are proud to be recognized as the leading solution for cross-border payments by the MPE Awards. It confirms our commitment to adding value for global merchants who use our all-in-one payment platform to expand beyond national borders,” said David Sebel, Head of Commercial Excellence, PayU

“Our innovative global payments solutions are trusted daily by more than 450,000 merchants worldwide, enabling our customers to reduce cost, time to market, and increase approval rates. More than anything, our local expertise on the ground genuinely helps our global cross-border merchants understand and tap into the local potential and consumer segments, helping them grow their online business faster.”

“With a proven track record in +50 emerging markets across Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, we partner with merchants that have seen increases in their incremental sales. After working with us to optimize their payments strategy, their approval rates rose by 20-30%. Our mission to help online businesses grow continues, and this award confirms that working with partners that help drive profitability is key for merchants across the globe."

According to the criteria, the "Best In-Store Payments Solution" Award goes to the organization that has developed the most innovative in-store payment acceptance solution that provides value and differentiation for merchants and a great payments experience for customers.

"Global Payments received this Award for their GP Tom app, a revolutionary application that allows merchants to accept cards and cryptos with a mobile phone," said Andy Ivanis, Head of Sales & Customer Engagement at MPE.

GP tom is the only application that allows merchants to accept card and crypto payments on their mobile devices. The app turns a mobile phone into a payment terminal that accepts card and crypto payments so that small business owners do not need to obtain a traditional payment terminal anymore. The GP Tom App is especially suited for smaller shops and restaurants, market vendors, doctors, vets, couriers, taxi drivers, car and boat rentals, and other businesses requiring mobile card acceptance. No additional devices are needed. The app is also eco-friendly because it does not generate any paper receipts. All receipts are issued electronically by scanning a QR code or sent via SMS or email.

"Our recognition by the MPE Awards means that we are going in the right direction and changing the market for the better with our products," said Radovan Bryx, Head of Innovation at Global Payments.

"Our extensive efforts and investments in new products & features and innovation during the COVID era are positively perceived by our customers and industry experts."

According to the criteria, the "Best Merchant Payment Acceptance Provider" Award goes to the provider who can demonstrate real benefits to merchants either in terms of omnichannel or multi-rail payment acceptance service provision facilitation, open banking, payment orchestration, embedded finance, innovative commercial constructs, or other demonstrable and quantifiable merchant benefits (fraud reduction/chargebacks).

"Checkout.com deserved this Award for the quality of service delivered to their clients, thanks to their in-house built infrastructure and fully-owned and controlled technology stack," said Andy Ivanis, Head of Sales & Customer Engagement at MPE.

Checkout.com is a global payment solution that helps businesses and their communities thrive in the digital economy. Purpose-built with performance, scalability, and speed in mind, their modular payments platform is ideal for enterprise businesses looking to integrate better payment solutions seamlessly.

According to the criteria, the "Best Payments Partnership" awards up to two organizations who have formed a business partnership and, by working closely together, have delivered outstanding value that goes far beyond a customer-supplier relationship.

“Paratika Payment Systems got this Award for their Turkey’s first ever equity-based crowdfunding project, working beyond the payment infrastructure and offered in both
the local and global markets," said Andy Ivanis, Head of Sales & Customer Engagement at MPE.

Paratika is the payment facilitator company of Payten certified by the Central Bank of Turkey. Payten is a R&D-based payment systems company and a member of the Asseco Group, the 6th largest software company in Europe with nearly 30000 employees and operations in 60 countries. Paratika having achieved 300% growth in 2021, offers B2C and B2B online payment acceptance solutions, including marketplace payment infrastructure.

According to the criteria, the "Best Platform / Marketplace Provider" Award goes the organization offering the best, most comprehensive, most useful platform or marketplace supporting merchants or other players in the merchant payments ecosystem such as banks, PSP, service providers, consumers with solutions in any area of the ecosystem.

"Parkopedia got this Award for their integrated in-car payment platform, aggregating multiple suppliers and payment providers into one API," said Andy Ivanis, Head of Sales & Customer Engagement at MPE.

Parkopedia is the leading connected car services provider used by millions of drivers and organizations such as Audi, Apple, BMW, Ford, Garmin, GM, Hyundai Kia, Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Peugeot, Sygic, TomTom, Toyota, Volkswagen, and many others. Parkopedia helps drivers find and pay for parking, EV charging, fuelling, and tolls in 15,000 cities across 89 countries. Parkopedia is also developing highly detailed parking maps and corresponding algorithms to help drivers and self-driving vehicles navigate to an open parking space indoors.

"We are honored to have won the 'Best Platform/Marketplace Provider' for our In-Car Payment Platform at the 2022 Merchant Payments Ecosystem Awards. This award embodies the team's hard work and dedication that has gone into making the multi-domain Platform what it is today," said Eugene Tsyrklevich, Founder and CEO of Parkopedia.

"We are truly committed to creating an effortless payment experience for drivers that compliments their journeys without adding any unnecessary layers of friction, and we look forward to the continued rollout of the Parkopedia Payment Platform into new vehicles around the world."

According to the criteria, the "Best Use of Crypto / Blockchain in Merchant Payments Ecosystem" Award goes to the organization offering an exceptionally flexible, functional, and innovative CRYPTO/BLOCKCHAIN- based solution for payments or other uses in the merchant payments ecosystem.

"Orbital received this Award for their multi-blockchain stablecoin support accompanied by a provision of FIAT multi-currency IBAN offered to all merchants," said Andy Ivanis, Head of Sales & Customer Engagement at MPE.

Orbital bridges the gap between traditional and digital asset treasury solutions, building innovative financial tools for multi-national corporates. Multi-currency accounts, powerful international payments and FX, digital asset vaults, trading and liquidity and crypto- commerce C2B payments. All through one interface - the Orbital platform.

"We’re so proud to receive this award from the payment industry’s most respected event, the MPE. This just serves as such great validation that, what we’re building at Orbital, not only solves a real world problems for global merchants, but is innovative and leading in the crypto space," said Luke Wingfield Digby, Orbital’s Co‐founder & Chief Innovation Officer.

"We’re extremely proud of our team and what they’ve built. Orbital is excited to be enabling the next wave of global businesses to accept and handle crypto."

Orbital, the Winner in the Category: BEST USE OF CRYPTO/ BLOCKCHAIN IN THE MERCHANT PAYMENTS ECOSYSTEM received first ever NFT Art (Metaverse is here) specially created for MPE2022 Awards by Zuzana Mokos, a Slovak artist creating NFT Arts

According to the criteria, the "Best Use of Open Banking For Payments” Award goes to the company that best uses open banking data or a payment initiation solution that drives end- user payments to or from merchants. Includes enabling loans at the point of sale and all account-to-account payments.

"Trustly collected this Award for their bank payment solution, offering multiple benefits to e- commerce merchants and PSPs, including seamless payment and authentication process, rapid settlement of payments, fast refunds, and a simplified collection of cross-border payments," said Andy Ivanis, Head of Sales & Customer Engagement at MPE.

Trustly’s digital account-to-account platform redefines the speed, simplicity and security of payments, letting consumers pay merchants directly from their online bank accounts. Trustly can handle the entire payment journey, setting us apart from the competition and enabling us to offer an attractive alternative to the traditional card networks at a lower cost.

“We are extremely proud that Trustly has won the award for Best Use of Open Banking Payments at Merchant Payments Ecosystem. This award is reflective of the hard work by every team at Trustly and we are honoured that this was recognised by the prestigious jury,” said Ciaran O'Malley, Vice President of Financial Services & Ecommerce at Trustly.

“We pride ourselves on building industry leading solutions and on enabling our merchants and partners in achieving their goals. Thank you MPE for the award- we are very excited about the future."

According to the criteria, the "Best Non-Profit / Charities Initiative" Award goes to the organization that, on its own or in partnership with others, has delivered the best merchant initiative in support of the 3rd sector.

"Pennies collected this Award for their success in enhancing the effectiveness of the charity sector and for encouraging and promoting the importance of charitable giving," said Andy Ivanis, Head of Sales & Customer Engagement at MPE.

Pennies make giving a few pennies to charity when shopping and socializing simple, data- free, quick - and crucially affordable. With society going increasingly cashless or "less cash" - and personal and household budgets being squeezed by spiraling energy and food costs, Pennies is perfectly placed to offer consumers the chance to give small digital donations in affordable and multi-channel ways. Pennies allow the public to give back without breaking the bank.

"From everyone at Pennies, we want to say an enormous "Thank you" to the judges for the Chairman's award for Best Non-profit/Charities Initiative at this year's Merchant Payments Ecosystem Awards. This award is recognition of the wonderful collective effort of our staff and many Pennies' Partners, from payments technology companies to merchants and their customers, who have so generously donated," said Peter Nugent, Director of Finance at Pennies.

"Micro-donations really can change the world, and as over 145 million individual donations testify, there is a huge demand and response from customers for this affordable way of giving, particularly suiting peoples' lifestyles and desire to continue to help those less fortunate than themselves."

According to the criteria, the "MPE Influencer of the Year" Award is 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.

"Candice collected this Award for the leading role she takes in setting the direction for her organisation to deliver better outcomes for merchants.She is an inspiration to the payments industry professionals,” said Andy Ivanis, Head of Sales & Customer Engagement at MPE.

Candice is a Payments Fraud and Data Security ambassador in the industry and a Commercial Program Leader specializing in P2PE, Tokenisation, and Transaction Risk Analysis. Her rare blend of subject matter expertise (encompassing personal and payment data security, legal, fraud, and compliance), program and process management skills, combined with an emotionally intelligent, creative, collaborative, and supportive approach. Candice delivers market-leading solutions by having a holistic vision of what success means for both the customer and Elavon. She is passionately engaged in knowledge sharing through mentoring, industry panels, workshops, and merchant briefings.

“To receive the recognition of my peers and be named MPE Influencer of the Year is an absolute honour, and a high point in my career,” said Candice Pressinger, Director of Customer Data Security and Fraud at Elavon Merchant Services.

“I’m passionate about helping customers and bringing innovative solutions to the market, and I hope to inspire others to reach their goals by being passionate and active in the payments industry and giving and getting in equal measure. I also hope it shows others that women have a place in the payments industry, where they can have an amazing career and be part of a community that lifts each other, because we are an amazing network and industry.”