Shaping the cash cycle of the future

Pascal Wicht is a strategic systems researcher and designer studying how societies adapt to technological, social and environmental transitions globally. A specialist in adoption and systemic change, his work examines the invisible architectures that shape trust, sovereignty and the circulation of value, with a particular focus on cash and its interactions with mobile money and fintech innovations, especially in the Global South.

In parallel to his international research and consulting work, he also teaches at the University of Lausanne and ECAL Art and Design School, where his courses connect strategic design, social sciences and future thinking to explore how infrastructure, economies and societies can evolve within planetary boundaries and strong social foundations.

Graham joined LINK in 2006 and is currently Director of Strategy. This also covers initiatives like the future of cash, and interchange, as well as external relations, public affairs, fraud management, physical ATM crime and liaison with LINK’s Members. During the coronavirus pandemic a large part of Graham’s role has been the analysis of consumers cash and ATM use, helping LINK develop the best responses to a fast-moving crisis.

External relations remains a key element of Graham’s role, leading LINK’s liaison a wide range of organisations such as the Government, the Bank of England, Treasury as well as contacts with police, service suppliers, local authorities and regulators such as the Payments System Regulator (PSR) and consumer and charity groups.

Graham was formerly Head of ATMs at Santander during which time he was a LINK Board Director and also worked for several years with cahoot, the on-line bank. He has an MBA from Warwick University, completing a dissertation on the future of financial services over the Internet.

He is married and lives in Buckinghamshire, England.

Matthee le Cointre is strategist at Geldmaat, where he drives innovation across the cash value chain. He leads initiatives in payments strategy, exploring alternative transactions and digital currencies, and contributes to policy development around the digitale euro. His work includes strategic foresight on the future of cash, scenario planning, and shaping Geldmaat’s long-term positioning in the payments landscape.

Professor Franz Seitz teaches Economics with a special focus on Monetary Policy and Financial Markets at Weiden Technical University of Applied Sciences in Germany. He is author of numerous articles in national and international journals. His main fields of research are monetary theory and policy, financial markets as well as payments markets, especially cash in circulation. For many years, Professor Seitz has been acting as a consultant in different projects for central banks, commercial banks and financial as well as non-financial corporations.

Malte Krueger is Professor of Economics at the University of Applied Sciences in Aschaffenburg (Germany) and works as a consultant for PaySys Consultancy (Frankfurt). He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Cologne (Germany) and has worked as a research fellow for the Bank of Spain, the University of Western Ontario, the University of Durham, the University of Karlsruhe, the University of Applied Sciences in Frankfurt and the European Commission. Consulting projects have focused on payments – including internet payments - and the list of clients includes banks, processors, merchants, card schemes, payment service providers, government institutions and others, in Germany and other European countries. Academic research has focused on payments in general, two-sided markets, monetary economics and exchange rates. Malte has published widely in academic and industry journals.

Mikael is a senior financial services leader with over 15 years of experience in banking, capital markets, and financial technology innovation. His career spans central banking, global consulting, and strategic advisory, equipping him with deep expertise in financial market infrastructures, digital transformation, and regulatory-driven innovation.

A managing consultant at PA Consulting, Mikael is recognized for his ability to lead large transformation programmes, shaping strategies that drive efficiency, transparency, and resilience in the financial ecosystem.

Marc Schwartz, born in 1963 in Paris, is Chairman and CEO of La Monnaie de Paris, the French National Mint. He is also a lecturer in media and cultural economics at Sciences Po, a leading Social Sciences University in Paris.

Marc Schwartz started his career as an Auditor with the National Court of Audit (Cour des comptes) in 1988 and joined the Treasury Department in 1992. He became, in 1997, special advisor to the minister for Economy, Finance and Industry and to the secretary of State for Budget.

He joined the media group France Télévisions in 2000, as CFO, then deputy CEO. In 2010, he became a senior partner with the international audit and consulting firm Forvis-Mazars, in charge of Public Sector and Media. He returned to the Cour des Comptes in 2014 and was appointed Chief of Staff to the minister of Culture in 2017, before joining Monnaie de Paris in 2018.

He holds a BA’s in economics and public finance (Sciences Po), certificates of finance and international finance from the London School of Economics (LSE), a master in corporate finance from Conservatoire national des Arts et métiers (CNAM), and a master of public administration from Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA).

Marc Schwartz is the author of various articles on monetary and financial issues and of two books: The French Financial System (Montchrestien, 1992) and The New Currency War (Odile Jacob, 2025), co-authored with Pr. Christian de Boissieu.