As the Executive Director of the American Transaction Processors Coalition I would like to offer some praise for the overall payments industry at large including processors, network brands, banks and others during this time of unprecedented crisis. The international payments industry, centered primarily in the United States, continues to ensure that commerce continues in our country and across the world in the face of great and ever-increasing challenges. Our companies are working around the clock to keep economies in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa operational.

America’s payments “processing” industry – largely concentrated in Atlanta’s “Transaction Alley” – is responsible for enabling business and consumer transactions across all sectors of the economy here and abroad. The industry, which employs well over 100,000 people nationally, creates the credit and debit cards, prepaid cards, gift cards and payments terminals and processes the transactions that enable America’s economy to move, especially in times of crisis like the Novel Coronavirus and COVID-19 outbreak.

The payments processing industry is a key piece of America’s “critical infrastructure” and we remain committed to ensuring the economy continues to function even as government restrictions limit the number of workers allowed in offices, factories, data centers and other facilities around the country. America’s payments processing industry is committed to ensuring that payrolls are distributed into bank accounts, groceries can be purchased and critical medical supplies can be ordered and shipped to first responders and medical professionals on the frontlines of this crisis. We will get through this together, and the payments processing industry is doing its part, working 24-hours a day 7 days a week, to ensure that purchases and economic activities continue seamlessly, now and when the worst is over.

I want to once again applaud the unsung heroes working in our member companies and our industry here in the United States and across the world keeping the global economy up and running. Our industry indeed represents the bloodstream of the global economy. I commend the incredible leadership and partnership the industry is providing to our government in the United States and to governments across the globe during the pandemic.

Please feel free to email me, at the American Transaction Processors Coalition, if you have questions about the steps our industry is taking to ensure economic continuity. And visit our website regularly for the latest industry updates.