Transforming the payments industry

Driving purposeful transformation in payments

I love technology and always stay curious on emerging technologies and how it may solve real problems especially for underserved markets and populations.

May Lam
Chief Information Officer, Australian Payments Plus

Making an impact in payments

Payments is the lifeblood in economies, societies, businesses, and individual lives, and as a payments technologist it is my mission and duty to leverage technological advancements − making sure payments are safe, secure, fast, accessible, simple and cost-effective.

With technological advancements such as automation, payments need to enable easy access for new entrants and foster digital innovators to build better experiences and business models to serve the underserved and bring financial inclusion.

The role of AI in payments

The reality of AI has arrived and it's here to stay. All industries need to embrace AI to survive before it thrives.

The payments industry is no exception. AI will play a key role in the future of payments across the below five areas:

Enhancing fraud detection in payments
Hyper-personalisation to improve customer experience and diversifying products and value-added services
Enhancing business and consumer services e.g., 24-7 AI chatbots
Streamlining back office processes and accuracy
Uplifting payments infrastructure resilience − leveraging AI in the end-to-end system observability correlation and self-healing to enhance service availability

What does transformation in payments mean to me?

Leading with purpose and overcoming challenge in payments

A sense of purpose drives us beyond eating and sleeping.

Our individual purpose gives us a sense of meaning and fills us with so much energy that we can feel the sparks flying out of fingers when we are living it. My Viking ancestors passed their need to go and discover new worlds onto me. I was born in the USA, live in Italy and am never still. My purpose? I’m here to bridge people, cultures and ideas in order to energize genuine discovery within shifting worlds.

Susan Barton
Director and Client Executive
Global Shared Services S.r.l

Susan Barton is a Director and Client Executive at EY in Italy who is serving as a board member and mentor for women across the payments’ ecosystem at RiseUp for Money20/20.

Here’s how Susan leads with purpose:

Money20/20 is the largest global fintech event enabling payments and financial services innovation. It has committed to enabling diversity on stage by creating RiseUp, a program that champions diversity across the money ecosystem. At RiseUp, Susan works with each cohort, as participants look ahead on how to make their next steps forward. Why? Well in Susan’s words − “from each other, we discover new ways of defining the world.”

RiseUp has over 175+ women globally as part of the cohort and 75%+ of RiseUp participants received a promotion or took on a more senior role. Since 2023, Money20/20 has jointly sponsored RiseUp with Amplify − focused on empowering minorities and underrepresented leaders.

Rise Up Cohort Alumni – leading with purpose

People don’t buy ‘what’ you build, people buy ‘why’ you’ve built it. By aligning our focus on the ‘why’ behind our innovations, we can create meaningful value for society, prioritize the well-being of people, and strive for a sustainable and positive impact on our environment.

Lesley Li,
CEO and Co-founder,
U Impact

There should be a clear understanding of your core values and an intentional effort to align with the vision of any company you choose to work for. There should never be any doubt in the minds of those you lead what that vision is, and their role in achieving it.

Perpetua Gitungo,
MLRO and FinCrime Compliance Lead, Wise

Having a clear vision broken down into digestible steps has always helped to lead with a purpose. Ability to speak my mind, even during difficult conversations, while invariably trusting my intuition is what makes me succeed in getting the job done.

Pooja Singh,
Senior Financial Regulations and FinTech Expert,
International Monetary Fund

Louisa is a senior manager in the technology consulting team at EY in Ireland.

Working on complex projects means having a supportive and open environment to bridge teams together. Louisa shares her experience and what it means to have the right culture.

Having the right culture to transform

I’m thrilled to be working on an exciting large scale corporate credit transformation project, where our client needs to replace their critical corporate lending systems before 2025 to safeguard business continuity for their capital markets division.

We have more than two hundred resources mobilized across the project, so it’s crucial that we work together and deliver results without compromising quality.

With multiple stakeholders, deadlines and workstreams, there are a lot of moving parts involved. Due to the complexity of the project, it’s important we harness relationships and foster collaboration across the different teams within the program.

Building the right culture for transformation

There is a really strong culture of teaming within EY. It’s collaborative and there is a sense that we are all allies working together towards a common goal.

I work in an open environment where everyone’s voice is heard, and we can collectively shape the project. Really, it’s about creating a safe space to collaborate and discuss challenges on an ongoing basis and encourage feedback internally and from clients.

Recognising that we are a collective of people from different cultures at varying stages in our careers, we are working hard to create an inclusive and supportive environment. Historically, the technology industry has been dominated by men, but we are proud that our financial services technology consulting team in Ireland has a 50:50 gender split due to our continued efforts.

Jefferson Cowhig
Partner, Technology Consulting
Ernst & Young LLP