Europay International was not a client in the ordinary sense. It was the organisation Philip helped build — and the stage on which the most consequential work of his career took place.
Philip joined in 1991 as interim General Manager of EPSS — the European Payment Systems Services, the technology company jointly owned by Eurocheque, Eurocard, and MasterCard. When EPSS was folded into the newly formed Europay International, Philip was asked to join the executive team as Director of Information Technology. From that position, he sat at the centre of the formation of the European card payment infrastructure — watching national schemes collide, cross-border ambitions take shape, and chip technology arrive as the answer to a question the industry had not yet fully articulated.
In November 1993, the CEO of Europay International asked Philip to bring Europay, MasterCard, and Visa to the table and get them to agree on a single chip card specification. Six people met in a first-floor conference room at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare. Three organisations. Two drafts each. One naming war. Philip proposed the name: EMV — alphabetical order, no hierarchy, no politics. The standard that emerged is now on more than ten billion cards.
In the final months of his time at Europay, Philip proposed the mobile wallet concept — a decade before the iPhone. The proposal documented the architecture of what would eventually become contactless payment, NFC, and Apple Pay. In June 1996 he left Europay, restarted PA&A, and established its new headquarters in Switzerland. The mobile wallet prior art is preserved on this site.
Europay International is where the Payments work begins. Every engagement that followed — at PA&A, at Oberthur, at the FIDO Alliance — traces its roots to what was built inside Europay between 1991 and 1996.
The Work
EMV co-founder and Executive Committee signatory, Versions 1–3 — the specification Philip helped name, architect, and deploy across the global card payment infrastructure.
European Card Payments — Part 1 & Part 2 (circa 1998) — Philip’s two-part deep-dive into the European card payment landscape, written from inside Europay while the infrastructure was still being assembled.
My Wallet — Prior Art and the Mobile Wallet Concept (1996–Present) — Philip’s 1996 proposal to Europay for an electronic wallet, documented as prior art against the patents that followed fifteen years later.
PA&A Switzerland — The First Years (1996–2001)
After leaving Europay in June 1996 and restarting PA&A from Switzerland, Philip continued to work across the European payments landscape — now as an independent advisor. The presentations and client work from this period reflect that transition: the same depth of knowledge, applied without the institutional frame.
An Alternative to the Smart Card — PA&A working with Unicate BV, from the Belgium years, 1996–2001.
An In-Depth Review of Payment Systems — the two-part educational session produced for British Telecom Financial Services.
Payments and Telecommunications — Friend or Foe — Philip’s exploration of the intersection between payment networks and telecoms infrastructure.
The Enabler of eCommerce Payments — assembled during Philip’s time as Interim Director of Financial Services consulting for Oracle EMEA, circa 1999.
And Then There Is EMV — the presentation that brought the standard to new audiences.
Full archive of presentations from 1996–2013 →
EMV → · Payments → · PA&A → · Client Projects →