Zepto's Banking and Payment Operations Lead, Ben Bianchi, was on hand [and on-stand] at AP+'s 'Beyond Tomorrow' summit, and he was taking notes. Here's what caught his eye.
Australian Payment Plus' [AP+] brilliant 'Beyond Tomorrow' summit was a superb day loaded with impressive speakers, lively panel discussions and engaging content.
Attended by what seemed like the entire payments industry and stakeholders from across the business spectrum, the summit focused on payments and identity — two things we obsess about at Zepto.
The day kicked off with a moving Welcome to Country by Brendan Kerin, whose unique experiences and insights were a highlight. Emcee — journalist, TV presenter and Gamilaroi woman, Brooke Boney — then got to work introducing the sessions of the day.
The morning commenced with an introductory address from AP+'s CEO Lynn Kraus, and an informative conversation with Ellis Connolly, Head of Payments Policy Department, RBA.
Sessions right through this jam-packed day covered a mountain of pertinent territory including:
- How can we better support and protect people in the relentless battle against scams and fraud.
- Merging of identity and payments, and how to make that a reality to bring greater security to the digital economy.
- The latest on the NPP – PayID, PayTo, international payments and preparations for the retirement of the BECs framework.
- Digital exchange of invoices between a supplier and buyer’s software or systems, or ‘eInvoicing’. And why is the NPP an important part of that process.
- The drivers of choice in payments for consumers and businesses over the coming years.
- Emerging digital identity solution use cases, their benefits, who is taking advantage of them, and how will these develop and extend over time?
- Why interoperability between identity verification systems is so important.
As a keen banking and payments buff it was fascinating, and tricky to pick a singular standout moment.
But here are my four key takeouts from 'Beyond Tomorrow'.
Fighting the good fight
One idea I found really compelling was that fighting fraud — and the ability to fight it — shouldn't be seen as a competitive advantage. It's in everyone's interest to fend off fraud collectively. It's such a sophisticated landscape these days with bad actors using AI and deepfakes, for example, to target people in ever more insidious and impactful ways.
To counter this we all have to understand these technologies, and embrace the tools and processes required to detect them.
We're all in this together. By collaborating, sharing best practices, and continually up-skilling teams and tech we can create a secure ecosystem that's harder for fraudsters to pierce.
An interesting discussion point here was around applying proportional friction to some real-time payments. Small daily purchases like an oat latte from your favourite hole-in-the-wall, for example, should be frictionless. I think most people would consider that a no brainer.
But, if you're about to pay for that bucket-list trip to Antarctica, it's reasonable for there to be some friction in the payment flow.
That might be inserting a step that briefly slows you down. Something as simple as entering a one-time code before finalising a high-value, irrevocable transaction could do the trick. That pause might allow you to double-check everything, confident in the protections and controls that are in place.
That would be a great customer experience.
Speed, safety & accessibility
As often happens when thought-leaders gather to discuss big ideas, there were analogies and metaphors galore.
A nice thread through the day was the idea that the flow of money is akin to roadways along which the economy travels. In this context, it's clear that collectively we should be building high-speed, multi-lane, accessible, safe highways [payments infrastructure] that enable the free-flow of value. There's no point building meandering, low-speed country roads anymore.
The lesson: Going big will improve the flow of money right through the economy.
Bringing customers along on the journey is an important part of this, too. By that, I mean providing them with the tools and resources to understand what we're building as an industry. Educating consumers on how [and why] we're accelerating the flow of money, and elevating safety by introducing identity verification processes will build trust and increase uptake of new payment methods.
"That's what we need in the digital economy — that fundamental, unshakable knowledge that transactions have taken place, that identities are real, and that value has been exchanged. And that is what everyone in this room can support to deliver to everyone in Australia."
LYNN KRAUS, CEO, AUSTRALIAN PAYMENTS PLUS
Facing your fears head on
Professional big wave surfer Mark Mathews blew the roof off with his unforgettable keynote about fear and conquering it. As someone who seeks out towering, volatile mountains of ocean swell, Mark knows a thing or two about fear. He also knows a thing or two about adapting to stress, and resilience techniques that can strengthen mindsets and sustain long term performance.
Mark suffered an almost career-ending leg injury after crashing into a reef, and was told he'd never surf again.
Facing numerous obstacles on his journey, Mark ultimately found a deep sense of gratitude. He came out the other side, got back on the board and faced his fears head on — the only way to conquer them.
Much of what he spoke about aligned with Zepto's company values of embracing uncertainty, being good humans, and together we're stronger — values that we should certainly all live by.
It was truly inspiring.
PayTo in the wild
As the event's Platinum sponsor, Zepto's activation was impactful and insightful.
Along with Zepto swag, our live, real-time PayTo and PayID demos raised nearly $1100 for Disaster Relief Australia.
It was fascinating to watch many attendees interact with PayTo for the first time. Accompanying them through the process was really satisfying, with many commenting how seamless it was.
Working through the PayTo demo with participants with accounts at different banks was intriguing as the experiences across the board are all quite different. Some banks have quite a seamless in-app process while others are still getting up to speed, which is understandable given the newness of PayTo.
I think it's vital that all those with a stake in the PayTo rollout continue to collaborate. Streamlining these processes and customer experiences will be important as PayTo volumes ramp up.
Massive congratulations must go to the team at AP+ for putting on such a superb forum. We were delighted to support 'Beyond Tomorrow' by way of Platinum sponsorship, and are extremely grateful to everyone who generously donated to Disaster Relief Australia via our live PayTo and PayID demos.
If you'd like to experience a PayTo demo to see how this game-changing payment method works in the real world, just drop us a note at [email protected].
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