For years, payments modernisation was defined by faster, cheaper and more transparent transactions. Today, those are baseline expectations.
According to Payments NZ Chief Executive Steve Wiggins, the bigger challenge is how to build a payments system that remains trusted, resilient and able to adapt as technology, risks and customer expectations continue to evolve.
In the first episode of Payments NZ's new podcast series, Payments NZ General Manager Strategy Chad Haighmark sits down with Steve, international payments commentator Dave Birch, and digital identity expert Victoria Richardson to explore how thinking about payments modernisation is changing.
Their conversation explores why payments are increasingly being viewed as critical infrastructure, why resilience matters as much as speed, and how trust, interoperability and coordination help create systems that can evolve with confidence.
The discussion also examines the growing importance of digital identity, governance and system-wide thinking as payments become more connected, automated and embedded in the wider digital economy.
For Steve, the message is clear: the future of payments is not simply about moving faster. It is about building systems that are trusted, adaptable and designed to support long-term innovation and resilience.