Advancing Payments Evolving Our SIGs: A New Format Designed for How Merchants Operate Today

Building on what works while creating deeper, more focused conversations.

Our Special Interest Groups (SIGs) have long been one of the most valued parts of MAG conferences, earning consistently high satisfaction for their open, merchant-only discussions. Since their introduction at MAG’s inaugural conference in 2008, SIGs have evolved alongside commerce itself, expanding in format, frequency, and focus.

Over time, one thing became clear: merchants no longer fit neatly into a single category. Today’s convenience store may also operate a QSR. Most merchants sell across physical and digital channels. Consequently, key issues like fraud, rules, routing, and tokenization were being discussed across multiple SIGs. The opportunity wasn’t to reduce these conversations, but to bring them together in a more intentional, topic-driven way.

In 2025, the SIG leadership team, consisting of merchant co-leaders, facilitators, and staff, came together to reimagine what SIGs could look like next. Using a start, stop, continue exercise, one theme rose to the top: preserve what makes SIGs special, while enabling deeper dives into the issues merchants are actively navigating today. The result is a refreshed format designed to foster richer discussion, reduce duplication, and surface practical insights across industries.

What to expect at Payments MAGnified 26

Day 1: SIGs (unchanged)
- Six rooms organized by:
  - eCommerce
  - Fuel & Convenience
  - Mass Merchant
  - Recurring & Subscription Billing
  - Restaurant & QSR
  - Technology
Day 2: SIGs & Snacks
- Continuing at Payments MAGnified events
Day 3: Topic-Based SIGs (new)
- Extended time and a new, theme-based format aligned to real-world merchant challenges
- Two blocks of five concurrent sessions
- 40-minute sessions with a 10-minute transition break
- Topics organized across three themes:
  - Emerging Topics
  - Core Insights
  - Trending Views
- Merchant co-leaders, facilitators, and staff in every room
- Combined session notes posted to the MAG Learning Center

Below is a preview of the Day 3 Topic SIG sessions, designed to give merchants multiple entry points into the conversations most relevant to their business today.

Day 3 Topic SIGs Block #1 - February 20, 8:30-9:10 a.m. local

Topic	Context
Emerging Topics: State Regulatory Issues	EBT chip migration, product restrictions, interchange on tax legislation, etc.
Core Insights: Spring Release	What's coming from the card brands in April, and beyond
Trending Views: Fraud Trends	Emerging threats and how merchants are combatting fraud in various channels and industries
Trending Views: Standards Bodies Updates	What's new with EMVCo, PCI, X9, and other standards bodies that affect payments
Trending Views: Tokenization	A token for every transaction type, how merchants are adapting their strategy

Day 3 Topic SIGs Block #2 - February 20, 9:20-10:00 a.m. local

Topic	Context
Emerging Topics: Agentic Commerce	Discuss the challenges merchants face with the variety of protocols introduced in the market
Core Insights: Debit Routing	Card-Present and Card-Not-Present debit routing trends, multi-funded card impacts to routing strategies
Trending Views: Alternative Payment Methods	ACH, pay-by-bank, embedded payments, faster payments, stablecoins
Trending Views: Cash Management	Penny circulation issues, armored car management, smart safes, etc.
Trending Views: Chargeback Management	Discuss what works and doesn't in the dispute process today