Sends was represented by chief executive Alona Shevtsova, who lined up with senior banking and payments leaders at this year’s Middle East Banking Innovation Summit to examine how real-time payments, digital wallets and cross-border infrastructure are developing.
The Middle East Banking Innovation Summit returned for its 17th edition on 17 September, with MEBIS 2026 drawing banking, fintech and technology leaders to Jumeirah Emirates Towers in Dubai. Sends chief executive Alona Shevtsova was among the industry specialists on the programme, taking a seat on the panel session “Payment Innovation in Banking: Real Time, Cross Border and Wallet Driven Evolution,” which considered the forces set to reshape the next generation of payments across the region.
Sharing the stage with Alona Shevtsova were Hasan Jaber, Deputy CEO at Al Fardan Exchange and CEO of AlfaNow; Ananth Srivatsa, Executive Vice President at RAKBANK; Mohamed Hussein, Head of Banking Solutions Center of Excellence at BANK NXT; Kamran Khan, Executive Director, Product Innovation & Implementation (EMEA) at First Abu Dhabi Bank; Ashish Gupta, Head of Digital, Retail SME and Sales at BankDhofar; and Naveed Minhas, EMEA IPC Payments Leader at IBM.
Speakers looked at where lenders are already extracting measurable value from instant payments, how wallets and steadily more connected digital finance ecosystems are altering what customers expect, and what still has to change before cross-border transfers become quicker and leaner.
Interoperability emerged as a central theme of the session. With funds now travelling between platforms, currencies and jurisdictions instantaneously, banks and fintech firms must bolt established banking systems onto newer payment rails without weakening security, compliance or operational resilience.
“The future of payments will not be defined by a single technology or payment method. The real opportunity is in connecting the ecosystem around the customer. Real-time payments, wallets and cross-border infrastructure need to work together so that moving money becomes simpler for the user, while the technology, compliance and risk infrastructure behind that experience continues to evolve,” commented Alona Shevtsova, CEO of Sends.
The MEBIS appearance caps a run of international industry debates that Alona Shevtsova has taken part in during 2026. She sat on expert panels earlier in the year at PAY360 in London, addressing agentic AI in AML and KYC as well as the maturing of embedded finance, and joined sessions in Riyadh devoted to AI, risk, blockchain and digital finance.
Sends is meanwhile strengthening its ties across the Middle East financial ecosystem, a market that keeps channelling investment into instant payment rails, digital banking and fresh models for cross-border financial services, and the Dubai appearance underlines that focus.
MEBIS assembles C-level banking executives, technology chiefs and innovators from every part of the Middle East. Its 2026 agenda spans AI and intelligent automation, digital banking, payments innovation, open banking, embedded finance, cybersecurity, data strategy and the financial infrastructure of tomorrow.
About Sends
Sends is a financial technology business headquartered in the UK, supplying payment services to companies and private customers active in both home and overseas markets. Trading under the Sends name, Smartflow Payments Limited is authorised as an Electronic Money Institution by the Financial Conduct Authority.
