Jason Oxman, ETA: "The global payments industry is heavily regulated"

Could you provide a brief presentation of the ETA and its member groups?
Jason Oxman: The Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) is the world’s largest trade association in the payments industry with headquarters in the US. The ETA represents more than 500 companies across the payments ecosystem.

As a non-profit trade association, the purpose of the ETA is to influence, monitor and help shape the merchant acquiring industry by providing leadership through education, advocacy and the exchange of information. The ETA is the voice of the payments industry in the US on issues of importance regarding regulation, legislation and other government activities that impact the industry. In addition, the ETA owns and produces the largest payments industry event in the world, namely the ETA Show where it brings together companies from across the payments and technology industries to network, to do business together and to display their latest innovations on the show floor.

I know the ETA is the voice of the payments industry in the US, do you have plans for growth in other regions, in Europe for instance?
Jason Oxman: The ETA is preparing its first event outside the US, namely the International Acquiring Forum. The conference will take place between 17-19 September in London, UK. We have decided to organize this event because our member companies are interested in exploring growth opportunities outside the US. Additionally, we want to see if there is an unmet need for a payments trade association such as the ETA outside the US.

Where do you see the key challenges and demands in knowledge regarding cross-border expansion?
Jason Oxman: From my point of view, the global payments industry is very heavily regulated. Therefore, one key area of education refers to the regulatory landscape, the main rules for expanding outside the border and what should the payment industry do to help markets open-up to competition outside the US. Particularly, challenges often come where there is a state-controlled financial institution as in China, for example. That poses a challenge to market entry by US companies. I think that an important educational focus point for our London event will be the way landscape looks in different countries and if it makes market entry possible.

I know that the 2013 ETA Annual Meeting & Expo took place between 30 April and 2 May at the New Orleans Convention Center. What was the main focus on?
Jason Oxman: I think one of the most interesting developments in our industry is the continuous deployment of mobile payments to merchants and consumers; the show floor was full of innovative new products and services for merchants that enable mobile payments. Consumers around the world are in love with their mobile phones and they also prefer to use electronic payments as a main form of payment. And I think that’s kind of one of the most exciting things in our industry.

Apart from mobile payments what are the other key topics that were addressed this year during the US show?
Jason Oxman: Currently, the US is in the middle of a migration to EMV, which is something the rest of the world has already done. Therefore, the EMV migration was an important topic during the conference. Another topic of conversation on the show floor was the new world of data and privacy and how that relates to consumer products in mobile payments and in traditional payments. Other topics included the deployment of interesting new payment products such as Paypal’s new cards that they’re putting on the market place in partnership with Discover.

Also, during the show the ETA has released its quarterly economic report, which analyzes the state of the payments business. And according to results, the payments industry is doing very well, growth is primarily driven by the successful deployment of new products and services to merchants and consumers in the US. Our industry in the US processes USD 4 trillion worth of payments every year. So we really are an engine of economic growth in this country and our industry is doing very well as the US economy continues to recover.