Alona Shevtsova joins Payments Innovation Panel at MEBIS 2026 in Dubai
On 17 September, the 17th edition of the Middle East Banking Innovation Summit (MEBIS 2026) brought together banking, fintech and technology leaders at Jumeirah Emirates Towers in Dubai. Among the industry experts taking part was Alona Shevtsova, CEO of Sends, who joined the panel discussion “Payment Innovation in Banking: Real Time, Cross Border and Wallet Driven Evolution,” exploring the forces shaping the next generation of payments across the region.
Alona Shevtsova joined 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.
The discussion explored where financial institutions are already seeing tangible value from real-time payments, how wallets and increasingly connected digital financial ecosystems are changing customer expectations, and what is still required to make cross-border payments faster and more efficient.
A key focus was the growing importance of interoperability. As payments increasingly move across platforms, currencies and jurisdictions in real time, banks and fintech companies face the challenge of connecting established banking infrastructure with new payment rails while maintaining security, compliance and 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,” said Alona Shevtsova, CEO of Sends.
Alona Shevtsova’s participation at MEBIS follows her involvement in a number of international industry discussions throughout 2026. Earlier this year, she joined expert panels at PAY360 in London covering agentic AI in AML and KYC and the evolution of embedded finance, as well as discussions in Riyadh focused on AI, risk, blockchain and digital finance.
Her participation at MEBIS also reflects Sends’ growing engagement with the Middle East financial ecosystem as the region continues to invest in real-time payment infrastructure, digital banking and new models for cross-border financial services.
MEBIS brings together C-level banking executives, technology leaders and innovators from across the Middle East. The 2026 programme covers AI and intelligent automation, digital banking, payments innovation, open banking, embedded finance, cybersecurity, data strategy and next-generation financial infrastructure.
About Sends
Sends is a UK-based financial technology company providing payment services for businesses and individuals operating across domestic and international markets. Smartflow Payments Limited, trading as Sends, is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority as an Electronic Money Institution.
