P20, the voice of the global payments industry, announces the publication of its latest report, Payments in a Post-COVID-19 World.

P20 Board Members featured in the report include Steve Ledford, SVP Product and Strategy at The Clearing House; Sara Castelhano, Managing Director and EMEA Head of Payments and Digital Product at J.P. Morgan; Jim Johnson, EVP and Head of Merchant Solutions for FIS; and Philip McHugh, CEO of Paysafe.

Jessica Richards, Head of Market Development at NatWest and Martina King, CEO of Featurespace, also share their thoughts on how the payments industry can best deal with the challenges facing it as a result of the global pandemic. In addition, Alastair Lukies CBE, Founder/CEO of Pollinate and member of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Business Council, shares his views on where the industry is headed post-COVID-19 in his role as P20 Global Ambassador.

Through a series of interviews with these industry leaders, the report explores the challenges faced by the international payments sector throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, including the rapid transition to remote working and maintaining operational activity at a distance; the need for almost instant digitization to account for changing consumer payment preferences; and ensuring balance between innovation and financial inclusion.

The report concludes with 20 actions that payments companies can take today to ensure they are operating in the most effective, innovative and responsible way during the COVID-19 crisis and, indeed, in future crises. These actions encompass the P20 pillars of regulation, cybersecurity and financial inclusion, as well as wider topics of education, preparation, and relationships.

Some of the tactical steps published in the report are:

●  Don’t wait for regulators to contact you in times of crisis. Instead, reach out proactively with your ideas and concerns.

●  Implement a policy where line managers must check in with employees on how they are coping with external circumstances on a minimum fortnightly basis.

●  Launch an internal program focused on cross-training personnel. This will ensure that in the event of a crisis that impacts your workforce, your employees are ready to assume multiple roles if needed.

●  Create a black swan contingency plan that takes nothing for granted. Make a list of worst-case scenarios and establish the processes for addressing them – right down to call lists and expedited decision-making processes.

Duncan Sandys, CEO, P20, comments: “In order to respond effectively to the COVID-19 crisis, the payments industry has been forced to fly the airplane while building it. This ability to innovate in the midst of a global public health crisis, that has thrown up unprecedented economic and practical hurdles, must be celebrated. Challenges still remain, however.

“Each of the industry leaders featured in this report are looking beyond quick solutions to these immediate problems and identifying opportunities to make the payments sector more resilient, agile, user friendly and inclusive. As the voice of the global payments industry, it is our responsibility to showcase how the payments industry can best support itself and the wider economy as we move forward.”

The Payments in a Post-Covid-19 World report is available for download here. It will be discussed in depth during a panel at P20’s upcoming virtual Global Payments Conference on September 29-30, details of which are to be announced soon.