The Future of Payments Looks Bright at Opening of ETA’s Strategic Leadership Forum

Today, the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) opens the 2017 Strategic Leadership Forum, the premier event for payments executives. Every year, the industry’s high-level players and their executive teams gather to receive the latest insights from the experts and network with their peers. Attendees received first-access to the latest industry intelligence, including a breakdown of payments-centric economic data and an update on the regulatory and legislative landscape for the industry.

In partnership with The Strawhecker Group, The Electronic Transactions Association released its Strategic Leadership Forum (SLF) Special Report on the U.S. Economy, focused on the role of the electronic payments ecosystem. Among findings, the study revealed that the fundamentals of payments and FinTech remain strong despite a slow start to 2017 because of economic payments growth drivers including:

• The economy has rebounded after a slow start to 2017, bringing the growth rate for the first half of the year to just under 2 percent. In 2016, the economy expanded at an annual rate of 1.5 percent. The growth was driven by gains in household and business spending. In the second half of the year, economists predict growth will remain in the range of 2 percent to 2.5 percent. Sectors like technology, healthcare and banking are thriving, even as industries such as retail shed jobs. Clearly, the stock market has also reached new heights.

• The economy has benefited from steady consumer spending. Retail sales excluding gasoline in 2017 are expected to rise by 4 percent, up a bit from its 3.8 percent pace in 2016. Demand for automobiles, appliances and furniture contributed to the growth. Building materials sales should have a strong year, mirroring the strength in housing construction in general. In addition, restaurant sales are slowing to a more sustainable growth pace this year.

• eCommerce sales are expected to now grow 14 percent this year, slightly less than the 15 percent gain in 2016. eCommerce has shown solid growth over the past seven years, and is expected to account for 9 percent of all retail sales (13 percent of all goods sales) by the end of 2017. On the other hand, in-store sales are predicted to show 1.8 percent growth, a slight pickup from last year’s 1.4 percent gain.

• The recent flurry of hurricanes may have dented Americans’ outlook over the past few weeks. However, economists expect the regions impacted to recover quickly and may even experience a bump in growth from rebuilding.

The next three days promise high-impact programming and insights tailored to the needs of today’s payments executive. SLF is the place to be if you’re looking to make career-long connections and stay up to date on the latest developments in the payments space.

Follow us on Twitter at @ElecTranAssoc and stay tuned to Transactions Trends for the latest updates from #ETASLF – the most impactful payments tech gathering of the year!

ETA members can access the full report free by clicking here.

For media inquiries, contact Patrick Nolan at 202.677.7415/ [email protected]