Buidling next-generation payments infrastructure in "Future-of-Payments-Land"

I did it! Yes, I jumped on a plane to move to Singapore with my husband, our two children and the cat in tow. Why? Because I want to be embedded in the future of payments and support RedCompass Labs in creating a Future of Payments Centre of Excellence.

At first, my husband may have been slightly resistant to leaving his job and moving to a constantly hot, humid country when he can barely tolerate warm weather. However, he was convinced by my enthusiasm for 1) establishing a more inclusive payment ecosystem, 2) delivering RedCompass Labs’ mission statement of opening the doors of finance to all and supporting those who enter, and 3) defining the optimal strategy and then implementing next-generation payments infrastructure.

To be fair, when the leadership team was brainstorming where the centre should be founded, there was some uncertainty about its formal location – I say formal, as if Mike and I haven’t been looking at payments innovation since we started working at RedCompass Labs 😉. We considered London, New York or Singapore, but Mike and I strongly pushed for the latter.

There is no better window to the future than a place where the regulator is constantly pushing for more innovation. And it has strong fintech credentials too. Singapore is also home to crypto.com and has also not formally banned some types of cryptocurrencies (like in the UK, for example) – well, advertising cryptocurrency has been forbidden since January and a limited number of licences have been provided, but still.

What’s more, Singapore saw the genesis of Partior, is pushing for more interoperability between domestic payments rails (see here, here and here, and there is more but we’ll have to stop here otherwise this article will never end), and is situated in a region where retail and multi-wholesale Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) pushed the boundaries way before any other global jurisdiction (see here or here for more info). In fact, both Europe and the US are still just beginning their journeys towards retail CBDCs. Saying that, these regions are committed, as respectively announced by Joe Biden in this executive order and Christine Lagarde during her interview at the BIS Innovation summit.

Well then, imagine my surprise when my husband came out from a 7/11 convenience store, sweaty and angry. He couldn’t buy a SIM card because they only accept cash. Yes, cash?! “I was expecting to be able to pay with CBDC after your description of payments in Asia”, he exclaimed. Despite half of his face being covered by a mask, I could feel his fury that we had instead travelled to the past. I didn’t think it was a good time to let him know that despite being at the forefront of CBDC research with Project Ubin, Singapore was still also exploring the idea of a retail CDBC…

I must confess that, for a nano-second, I wondered if we didn’t get lost on our way to the future of payments. The SIM-card incident wasn’t the only hiccup. While trying to open a bank account, I had to ask my employer for proof of address in the form of a paper document signed by the HR department. In comparison, opening my Monzo bank account seemed like a walk in the park. In under fifteen minutes, while on the way to the zoo, I was left with a usable bank account that could make digital payments.

But the cherry on the cake? This morning I almost spilt my cappuccino all over my laptop when I saw that the infrastructure I have been advocating for in the RedCompass Labs Future of Payments workshop was about to be implemented…by Barclays. A British bank! I thought, “Oh no, what have we done? We should have stayed in London!”

But then, I received an email about my UK tax return and the excitement subsided when trying to remember my government ID. What a backwards experience when pitted against Singpass, a fast and convenient way to prove your ID and consent to sharing your data. And, thanks to SGFindex, this includes payments data. Actually, with Singpass and SGFindex, I experienced a completely smooth, open finance ecosystem for the first time. A strong digital ID system makes this possible, another area that I see as the backbone of a true digital payments ecosystem. Unfortunately, Europe is also lagging here.

In conclusion, I have no regrets so far. And I am looking forward to living in the future of payments. If you are in Asia and want to meet for coffee to talk about payments, please feel free to reach out. And if you are in Europe and want to catch up, I’ll be coming back on a regular basis to make sure I am not missing out! In fact, I’ll be speaking at both Women in Payments and EBAday and would love to see you.

And, just in case, if the situation changes again and living in the future of payments means exiting this dimension, I am also looking to buy a flat in the Metaverse. So soon you can reach me there too. 😉