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Reflections on ETA The ETA has also emphasized bringing together finan-
cial technology (fintech) companies with established
2019 Transact Tech payments enterprises, many of which have evolved into
fintechs themselves. In the United States alone there are
almost 6,000 fintech startups. The focus has been on the
retail space, with online payment systems, mobile wallets
and even cryptocurrency. Consumers can shop from their
smartphone or tablet, with any number of apps, online
or offline, with immediacy – and even use real-time pay-
ments. As observers have noted, in the near future pay-
ments will be powered by artificial intelligence, machine
learning, transaction security, data science, blockchain,
distributed ledger, and bots.

Multiple fintech avenues exist: B2C, B2C, P2P, etc. The big
opportunity seems to be B2B, which is where the largest
amount of dollars is spent every year (one estimate I've
seen stated the B2B market is 25 times the B2C market).
However, more initial emphasis has been on offering bet-
ter financial services to consumers. This could be a bank-
By Brandes Elitch ing app, new ways for the consumer to buy something, a
CrossCheck Inc. marketplace, etc.

n Nov. 18, 2019 the Electronic Transactions In time, fintech companies per se may not exist, but almost
Association hosted Transact Tech, an annual every enterprise will need to incorporate embedded
event that takes place in San Francisco, which financial services. An attendee at Transact Tech told me
O is half an hour's drive north of Silicon Valley. fintech has combined with previous work in the internet,
Yes, there are other high tech hubs in the country, but the cloud, and mobile apps to do traditional financial
Silicon Valley is still the center of the U.S. tech universe. services (retailing, banking, insurance, investing, among
In the area from roughly Palo Alto to San Jose, there are others) in a digital way. New entrants will not struggle
over 2,000 tech companies, the densest concentration in with audit, compliance and regulatory issues to the same
the world. Transact Tech was sold out, and the quality degree as their regulated old-school predecessors.
of speakers was high – a tip of the hat to Amy Zirkle, the
ETA's vice president of industry affairs, who I suspect had Event highlights
a great deal to do with planning this one-day event.
Jodie Kelley, the ETA's CEO, kicked off the event and
About the ETA introduced keynote speaker, Braden More, an executive
vice president at Wells Fargo in charge of partnerships
For new readers of The Green Sheet, here is a description and industry relations. The bank hosted Transact Tech at
of ETA excerpted from its website, www.electran.org: "The its Market Street headquarters in San Francisco's financial
ETA is the leading trade association for the payments in- district. A networking reception followed.
dustry, representing over 500 companies in 30 countries
involved in electronic transaction processing products Five speaker panels addressed the following subjects:
and services. The purpose of the ETA is to influence,
monitor, and shape the payments industry by providing 1. Bringing value to small and midsize businesses
leadership through education, advocacy, and the exchange through payments
of information. Membership includes Independent Sales 2. Big data for small merchants
Organizations, payments networks, financial institutions, 3. Software in partnership with payments
transaction processors, mobile payments products and
services, payments technologies, and software providers 4. Expanding the payments ecosystem: blockchain,
(ISV) and hardware suppliers. " cross-border, and real-time payments
5. Funding and investment trends driving payments
A primary focus of the ETA is education. It provides an in-
dustry certification, the Certified Payments Professional, Sixteen panelists and one moderator comprised each of
and supports it with an online review course, the online, the five sessions. To give you an idea of the speaker quali-
interactive ETA University, and live and on-demand webi- fications, here are examples of the caliber of speakers at
nars on current industry topics. In addition, the ETA holds every session, all of whom were seasoned industry profes-
a major tradeshow every spring in Las Vegas that attracts sionals:
around 4,000 attendees.

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