US payments associations launch Center for Payments

Eleven payments associations representing over 10,000 financial institution members, businesses and stakeholders, has announced a new collaborative program dubbed ‘Center for Payments‘.

Its purpose is to advance the payments industry through “joint development of market intelligence and thought leadership.”

The participating payment associations consist of: ePayResources, EPCOR, MACHA, NEACH, PaymentsFirst, Shazam, Southern Financial Exchange, The Clearing House Payments Authority, UMACHA, WACHA and WesPay.

Reach of the firms spans across all 50 states and US territories and congregate to form a nationwide network of payments professionals.

The Center for Payments has been formed with the “common belief that dynamic changes in the payments industry requires improved insights to aid payment systems participants and help inform decisions to evolve and grow payments capabilities.”

It is hoped by developing and gathering market intelligence, the Center for Payments will generate “actionable data” for decision-making that can be used by all members of the participating associations.

Bill Schoch, inaugural chair of the Center for Payments and president & CEO of WesPay, said: “Participants in U.S. payment systems frequently turn to trusted partners when investing in a new payment network or technology platform.

“This is a significant role each of the eleven payments associations collaborating on the Center for Payments have provided for more than 40 years.”

In particular, its aim is to assist small and mid-sized financial institutions that may not normally have access to the type of market intelligence that will be produced by the program.

In addition to market intelligence, the Center for Payments will “actively engage” with industry partners and rule-making organisations in an effort to inform the direction of payments changes.

Schoch continued: “By working cooperatively in gathering market intelligence and advancing our teams, the Center for Payments will generate new expertise that will facilitate payment systems modernisation.”

The Center for Payments is finalising the results of its first nationwide market study ‘examining payments strategy and the intersection of faster payments in the U.S.’ The results will be announced on May 6, 2019.