Faster, better, more secure - the future of payments

The Hub October 2018

We had a fantastic turnout for both our sessions of The Hub last week, which were held in Wellington and Auckland. Over 140 people joined us over the two breakfast sessions to listen to our Chief Executive, Steve Wiggins, give an update about the work we’ve been doing. That was followed by a presentation from Ian Gausden of Vocalink, a Mastercard company, about “Real-time in the real world”.

Payments NZ update: Our evolving payments landscape

After an impressive breakfast spread to kick start the day, Steve gave an update about what our team had been up to this year, what was on the radar for 2019, and where the industry’s focus would be in the coming months.

Steve spoke about the continued growth of our Member and Participant base, before outlining some of the highlights in our upcoming 2019 programme of work. At the top of the list was the upcoming completion of our API pilot, progressing the in train and new initiatives under the Payments Direction umbrella, and continuing to improve access rules and standards for the clearing systems we manage as well as investigate widening SBI settlements from a five-day a week process to 365 days of the year

He spoke about the work the industry was leading through Payments Direction, and how collectively these priority areas would deliver the ecosystem of the future.

Steve provided some insights from the P7 Asia-Pacific forum of payments associations that he and our GM Strategy and Corporate Affairs attended in September. He provided an update on developments in Asia-Pacific countries including the rapid uptake of digital in-app payments, the appetite to collaborate on a common approach for cross-border payments, the proliferation of QR codes for payments and the call for regional interoperability, and how India was set to be the next frontier for growth in payments innovation.

Steve closed by talking about how major real-time payment solutions in Australia, China, Europe, India, UK and the US now had the potential to reach over half the global population. He also gave an overview on the recent FIS report’s Faster Payment Innovation Index (FPII) which is a comparative rating system where diverse payment schemes around the globe can be compared and contrasted. The report’s 2018 findings indicated steady usage and adoption of existing real time schemes. 

Vocalink presentation: Real-time in the real world

Ian’s presentation expanded on the theme of real-time payments. As the Executive Vice President of International Real-time Payments at Vocalink, he spoke about the company and how they helped people move money safely and securely in real time.

Global trends are changing the way banking is done and feeding the world’s appetite for ever faster payments, with large corporates and small businesses continually looking for more innovative ways to make payments.

Since its inception in 2008, the UK’s Faster Payments model had been a driver of profound and positive change, allowing inter-bank payments to be made quickly and securely at the touch of a button, 24 hours a day, almost instantly. He talked about the lessons learned from this model, including the importance of end user education to encourage adoption, the need for any operation to be scalable, collective acceptance by the industry of the need for faster payments, and how to ensure faster payments did not cannibalise other payment methods.

Ian used Thailand’s economy as an example of a market that had taken on board the lessons learned from the UK. Thailand’s faster payments initiative, PromptPay, has transformed their ecosystem and driven the growth of their digital economy by improving consumer access to e-banking, and bringing the previously excluded such as micro businesses into the financial fold.

The Thai experience resulted in lower cash consumption across the country, improved market efficiency from competition, and offered an efficient way to pay taxes and benefits, as well as tackle identity fraud.

Ian concluded by talking about the rise of mobile banking, and how it could offer an innovative solution for banks to become the lifetime financial partner for consumers.
 

Thanks for attending

We would like to thank everyone who attended across both Auckland and Wellington events for the fantastic turnout.

Thank you also to our guest speaker Ian for coming all the way from the UK to share his knowledge and expertise.