The ATPC has been discussing payment processing with leaders of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta for months, and there is significant interest in building the relationship in 2015. The initial conversations culminated on Tuesday December 9, 2014 when ATPC Secretary Robert Green and Marie Gooding, First Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at the Federal Reserve Bank (FRB) of Atlanta, convened a town hall meeting. The session at the Bank’s building in Midtown Atlanta included a discussion about the future of America’s payments industry. Representatives from ATPC member companies, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s Retail Payments Risk Forum, staff and friends of the ATPC were in attendance.

A presentation by Marie Gooding included topics affecting the payments industry now, as well as a look into the near future, both on policy and innovation fronts. She also offered some findings through her travel and research at other national banking systems around the world, most notably the U.K. Following the presentation, a discussion took place around the room including talk about faster payments, alternate currencies such as Bitcoin, and other topics.

Mary Kepler, Director, Retail Payments Risk Forum at the FRB of Atlanta, proposed a Payments Advisory Council comprised of bank staff and ATPC members. They recognize that Atlanta is the FinTech epicenter of America, and hope the collaboration with top payment providers will support development of new products, laws and regulations, policies, and standards that affect and shape retail payments.