Webinar: Physical cards are here to stay. It's time to rethink issuance. by The Paypers

Physical cards are here to stay. It's time to rethink issuance.

About

For years, innovation in card issuing has focused on digital onboarding and virtual cards. Yet one critical part of the customer journey often remains fragmented, opaque and operationally heavy: the physical card journey.

From production and personalisation to delivery and activation, issuers frequently rely on disconnected processes that create unnecessary customer enquiries, operational inefficiencies and limited visibility across the card lifecycle.
As customer expectations continue to rise, cardholders increasingly expect the same level of transparency and real-time experience from physical card delivery that they get from e-commerce platforms and digital services.
The good news? Modernisation is already within reach and does not require heavy integrations.

Join experts from Nickel, Lithic and Thales to look at how they transformed their physical card operations to gain real-time visibility, accelerate product launches and simplify expansion into new markets, without rebuilding integrations from scratch.

Through practical insights and industry perspectives, discover how leading organisations are turning physical card issuance into a strategic customer experience advantage while laying the foundations for the next generation of card operations.

This session is designed for leaders in:
• Card issuing and product management;
• Card operations and fulfilment;
• Customer experience and customer service;
• Payment transformation and digital banking.

When

Thursday, October 29, 2026 · 6:00 p.m. Bucharest (GMT +2:00)

Agenda

The operational blind spots hiding in today's card issuance processes;
How Nickel, Lithic and Thales have transformed physical card issuance through real-time orchestration;
The lessons learned from building a more visible, agile and scalable issuance model;
What the future of card operations looks like and how issuers can prepare for it.

Presenters

Cyril Gabon

Vice President and Business Owner for Card Issuance at Thales Payment Services

Cyril Gabon is Vice President and Business Owner for Card Issuance at Thales, where he leads the strategy and development of next-generation card issuance solutions.

With more than 25 years of international experience across strategy, product management, operations and industrial transformation, he has played a key role in the evolution of payment technologies, card personalisation and issuance services.

Throughout his career at Thales, Gemalto and Gemplus, Cyril has led major transformation programmes, including EMV migration, global personalisation operations and the modernisation of card issuance platforms.

Today, he focuses on helping financial institutions modernise card issuance, improve operational efficiency and create more agile, customer-centric payment experiences.

Kelly Hernandez

Senior Partnership Operations Manager

Ms. Hernandez has nearly a decade of experience in payments, spanning network enablement, customer management, and implementation execution. At Lithic, she has scaled and leads physical card and mobile wallet issuing.

Anthony Poujol

Head of Cards, Nickel

Anthony Poujol has been Head of Card at Nickel for four years. In this role, he leads product development related to card issuance and payment processes, connecting customer needs, payment market trends and the development of innovative solutions.
With nearly 15 years of experience in payments, Anthony began his career in consulting. He has also developed valuable expertise in cybersecurity and the management of critical information systems, giving him a broad perspective on today’s challenges in the payments industry.

Esther Groen [Moderator]

NED, Strategy Consultancy, Banking & Fintech, Financial Health & Inclusion, Chair & Moderator, Mentor

Esther Groen is a seasoned executive and board member with extensive experience in Banking, Payments, and Fintech. She has held leadership roles across the full payments value chain, combining strategic insight with a proven ability to drive digital transformation and customer-centric growth.
Passionate about the role of fintech in driving financial inclusion and sustainability, Esther actively promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as key enablers of innovation and business performance across the financial industry.

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