The consensus is clear: global payment networks see collaboration, not competition, as their path to future dominance. Major networks are already building bridges – Mastercard with Ant International, Swift with blockchain layers, NGP's Nexus connecting instant payment systems worldwide. But as these technical integrations accelerate, a critical question emerges: what policy frameworks will govern this interconnected future?
 
When payment networks interoperate across borders, whose rules apply? How do regulators ensure consumer protection when a transaction touches multiple jurisdictions and networks? As networks become more interdependent, how do policymakers balance innovation with systemic risk? And perhaps most importantly – how can policy frameworks evolve to support beneficial network effects while preventing any single player from wielding excessive market power?
 
This roundtable brings together payment network leaders, financial regulators, and policy experts to explore how regulatory frameworks must adapt to govern an era of payment network collaboration. The stakes are high: get the policy right, and we unlock unprecedented efficiency and inclusion in global payments. Get it wrong, and we risk creating new systemic vulnerabilities or stifling the very innovation that promises to transform how the world moves money.

Denmark is among the most digitalised countries in the world when it comes to payments. This high degree of digitalisation has brought significant efficiency gains, but it also makes operational resilience and sovereignty key policy considerations, both for the payments landscape of today and of tomorrow.

Taking Denmark as a case, the session addresses both perspectives. For today's payments, it presents Danmarks Nationalbank's work to ensure that payments function even under significant disruptions. For the payments of tomorrow, it considers new types of digital money and the role of central banks in the future payments landscape.

The global payments system is being rebuilt simultaneously across every layer: real-time rails, ISO 20022, CBDCs, stablecoins, and B2B clearing infrastructure are all live at once, each pulling in different directions. Leaders representing the full stack - from consumer networks and B2B rails to global messaging, public digital money, and the next frontier of SME payment access debate the architectural choices that will define how $320 trillion moves each year.