Kelley: Advocacy, Connection, Expertise Guiding Principles for Future

The only thing that is constant is change.

Although that sentiment was articulated initially thousands of years ago by ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus, it perfectly describes today’s payments technology industry.

Over the past decade, payments technology has changed dramatically, focusing on deploying technology to enhance customer experience, and provide elegant solutions.  In doing so, the payments technology industry has changed the way in which we live our lives. Every day, we quickly order and pay for meals on our phones, tap our way onto transit systems and instantly send each other money. We conveniently shop online with our information securely stored so that one click gets us from start to purchased.  Merchants are also reaping the benefits, leveraging powerful insights and peace of mind through data analysis and security technologies. It is just this kind of innovation that puts the “tech” in “FinTech.”

The data highlights the momentous shifts away from the status quo. Since 2000, the number of transactions by check has diminished from over 40 billion to under 18 billion.  At the same time, the value of credit and debit card payments have grown to over $7 trillion at an accelerating rate.  Credit card transactions are now growing 10 percent year-over-year. The value of ecommerce transactions has soared, doubling from $1.5 trillion to $3 trillion in just 5 years.

At ETA, we are proud to support this dynamic and innovative industry and are committed to being as nimble, innovative and customer-focused as our member companies.  The stories of innovation and payment security are powerful, and we are excited to tell them.  And we will support our members by advocating on their behalf, by fostering connections, and by leveraging our expertise and providing educational offerings to our membership.

All of this is a work in process.  As we move forward, I encourage you to reach out to me and to the ETA team and make sure we know how we’re doing, and how we can do even more to support you.

Advocacy

As regulators focus on our industry, there is an increasing need to ensure that we are providing education about our industry and advocating strongly for a regulatory and policy environment that supports, rather than stifles, innovation – including innovation aimed at making the payments ecosystem safe and secure.

ETA is working hard to meet that need.  We meet daily with policymakers on your behalf, and the messages we bring, stories we tell and issues we fight for are designed to directly support your business.

This year, we will push for a national privacy standard that allows our members to continue to fight fraud by leveraging powerful technologies and the responsible use of data to protect consumers and merchants.  We will also support legislation that promotes the use and development of advanced technologies like artificial intelligence, and we will continue to support a diverse and talented workforce for our members.

As our industry grows and the technology it powers grows with it, our policy advocacy efforts will also continue to grow.  I hope you’ll engage with us this year and beyond by joining a working group, attending a fly-in or subscribing to our Voice of Payments: It Pays to be Heard newsletter.

Connection

Networking is the core of our industry, and it is a long-standing legacy of our association. Across our thirty-year history, we have consistently provided the premiere opportunities to connect and network across the ecosystem.

As we move forward, we are growing and adapting the events we provide to our members to make the connections that foster innovation in our ecosystem. In this thirtieth year of our association, our flagship event TRANSACT is being revamped to bring the entire ecosystem into the fold – FinTech, ISOs and agents, ISVs and payment facilitators, networks and acquirers – in a celebration of our past, present and future.

Broadly, our guiding principle for TRANSACT and for our Strategic Leadership Forum, TRANSACT Tech Series, Government Relations fly-ins, lunch debriefs, policy days and everything between them, is to put an emphasis on collaboration, identifying and solving problems, and fostering the sharing of resources and information. Above all, we will be guided by an unrelenting commitment to the principles of customer-focused products; we’re working hard to ensure we understand the networking opportunities our members want and need, and are creating those opportunities in a world-class manner.

Expertise and Education

Providing comprehensive resources is the hallmark of a stellar association, and ETA’s industry affairs department is unmatched in our ecosystem. On the business side, we are advocates for and experts to stakeholders in our industry. We sit on the PCI SSC Board of Advisors and the Faster Payments Council as representatives of the entire payments technology ecosystem. We also provide guidance and expert perspectives to other standard-setting bodies including EMVCo on behalf of our members.

More than that, though, ETA’s industry affairs team provides resources, consultation, connection and expertise on the leading-edge topics driving innovation. Hundreds of leaders participate on ETA Committees and are responsible for white papers, research, long-form journalism, infographics, webinars and other products available on-demand to our members whenever they need them. Nearly 1,000 ETA Certified Payments Professionals last year furthered their careers and grew their businesses through achieving their certification. ETA will grow and expand our role as the epicenter of payments discussion and expertise by expanding the accessibility, range and value of our industry affairs work so that members of our association are always engaging and contributing to the evolution of our payments technology industry.

As I look forward to what the future holds, I am confident that the guiding principles of our mission will help us grow alongside our members: to be bold, to be nimble, to be innovative and to keep the value and satisfaction of our members in the front of our minds in everything we do.