Payments Associations Launch Center for Payments™

Collaborative Program Strives to Prepare Members for Evolving Payments Landscape

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (April 16, 2019) – Eleven payments associations representing over 10,000 financial institution members, businesses and stakeholders, today announced a new program to advance the payments industry through joint development of market intelligence and thought leadership. The participating payment associations–ePayResources, EPCOR, MACHA, NEACH, PaymentsFirst, SHAZAM, Southern Financial Exchange, The Clearing House Payments Authority, UMACHA, WACHA and WesPay–span all 50 states and U.S. territories, and form a nationwide network of payments professionals.

The Center for Payments™ was 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.  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, especially small and mid-sized financial institutions that may not have access to this type of market intelligence.

In addition to market intelligence, The Center for Payments will actively engage with industry partners and rule-making organizations, such as ECCHO, The Clearing House, the Federal Reserve Financial Services, NACHA and others, to inform the direction of payments changes and to jointly develop the staffs of the participating associations to assure that these associations maintain their reputation as experts across existing and emerging payment systems.

“Participants in U.S. payment systems frequently turn to trusted partners when investing in a new payment network or technology platform,” said Bill Schoch, inaugural Chair of the Center for Payments and President & CEO of WesPay. “This is a significant role each of the eleven payments associations collaborating on the Center for Payments have provided for more than 40 years. By working cooperatively in gathering market intelligence and advancing our teams, the Center for Payments will generate new expertise that will facilitate payment systems modernization.”

The Center for Payments is finalizing 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.  Similar studies are being considered in the future.

For more information on the Center for Payments, visit www.centerforpayments.org or Booth #513 at NACHA’s Smarter. Faster. PAYMENTS 2019 conference May 6-8 in Orlando, Florida.