Atlanta’s financial technology preeminence largely resides in payment processing, but like the U.S. overall, companies here are working to catch up with the rest of the world when it comes to adopting new and seamless transaction technology.
They’ll have a chance Sept. 26 to observe the payment patterns in two of the world’s biggest markets — China and Brazil — at an upcoming forum at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
Hosted by the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce Southeast, the event will include a dive into trends uncovered by accounting firm Ernst & Young’s Global FinTech Adoption Index, while welcoming experts both from industry and academia.
EY’s Rodrigo Dantas e Silva will give an overview of the firm’s report, while local payments expert Wayne Johnson of Welsh, Arson Anderson and Stowe will provide insight from a U.S.-centric point of view.
According to EY, China leads the world in the use of fintech solutions that disrupt traditional banking, with 87 percent of consumers using services like mobile payments, money transfer, budgeting and financial planning apps, online borrowing, insurance products and more. Brazil’s ratio is 67 percent, just above the global average, while the U.S. trails at 46 percent.
They’ll be joined on a panel by InComm CFO Scott Meyerhoff and FIS Payments Senior Vice President Esther Pigg, both of whom will talk about their firms’ interests in the respective markets. Incomm is a leader in prepaid and retail gift cards, while FIS is a huge banking, data and payments provider that recently purchased WorldPay for $35 billion.
Marcelo Bernal, former co-CEO for Brazil-based Merchant E-Solutions in Atlanta, is set to provide opening remarks, along with officials from the Atlanta Fed’s Americas Center, as well as Brazilian Consul General Carlos de Abreu, who pledged during a Global Atlanta Consular Conversation to support more exchanges with Brazil on financial technology.
Chamber President Lucia Jennings will close the event.
