At Malta Finance Week 2025, OpenPayd joined the conversation on how infrastructure, regulation, and cross-border capabilities are shaping the financial services industry. Two of the company’s directors took the stage across the event’s Payments and Compliance tracks, offering a clear view into the direction OpenPayd believes financial services should be heading: collaborative, connected, and compliance-driven from day one.
Malta Finance Week is a flagship event tailored to the island’s vibrant financial services ecosystem. The two-day conference brings together professionals from fintech startups, iGaming operators, payment service providers, fund managers, insurance firms, and family offices. With a strong focus on fostering collaboration and industry dialogue, the event aims to highlight the latest trends and challenges across payments, finance, and compliance in a rapidly evolving regulatory and technological environment.
This year’s event took place on March 26th and 27th, at the AX ODYCY Hotel in Qawra. The first day of the event was dedicated to Payments & Finance, offering attendees insights into transformative developments reshaping the sector. Discussions explored the growing dominance of mobile payments and super apps, the emergence of social commerce, and the expansion of alternative payment rails such as instant payments and buy now, pay later solutions.
Day two turned the spotlight on Compliance, examining the critical regulatory and operational issues expected to dominate the agenda in 2025. Topics included the regulatory implications of AI and climate risk, as well as the increasing pressure from geopolitical instability, financial crime, and cyber threats. With ESG considerations gaining prominence and regulatory scrutiny intensifying, the event provided a timely forum for professionals to discuss best practices and strategic approaches to compliance.
On the Payments Day, Shahrukh Saud Khan, OpenPayd’s Head of Customer Success, shared insights during the panel “Innovation in Cross-Border Payments.” With platforms scaling globally faster than ever, Khan spoke about the operational hurdles they face—and why choosing the right infrastructure partner is key.
“The winners in this space are those who stop treating payments as a bolt-on and start building with it at the core,” he said. “Our role is to make borderless money movement simple, accessible and compliant—so businesses can focus on growth.”
The following day, Lara Barbuto, Director of Compliance and MLRO at OpenPayd, brought a strong message to the Compliance Day stage: effective compliance isn’t reactive—it’s structural. In a session focused on regulatory strategy for 2025, she urged businesses to see compliance not as an afterthought, but a source of clarity and speed.
“Embedding compliance teams early gives companies a huge advantage,” Barbuto said. “It helps shape better decisions, reduces rework, and brings focus when it’s most needed.”
OpenPayd’s unified platform provides digital businesses with access to global banking, payments and FX through a single API, enabling fast deployment of embedded finance services across sectors such as SaaS, marketplaces, crypto, and fintech.
The company’s contributions at Malta Finance Week underlined its belief that financial services should be both powerful and invisible—delivered in the background, enabling businesses to move faster and scale smarter.
OpenPayd is a universal financial infrastructure that powers the growth of the digital economy founded by Dr Ozan Ozerk in 2018. By providing seamless, API-driven access to global financial services, OpenPayd enables businesses to move and manage money globally.
The OpenPayd platform delivers a full suite of banking and payments services, including payment accounts, trading capabilities, international and domestic payments and Open Banking services – all accessible via a single API. With a growing network of global banking partners, OpenPayd is providing the robust banking infrastructure digital businesses need to thrive.
To learn more, visit openpayd.com.
