Dive Brief:

• Worldpay executives held an informational meeting for policymakers and staffers this month on Capitol Hill to update them on the state of the payments industry, showing how it has changed over the past decade and to provide a future forecast. In particular, the presentation highlighted the growing use of non-card digital payments in a $58 trillion market by 2030.
• The Worldpay presentation in Washington by Worldpay’s global head of government affairs, Anatole Baboukhian, showed a surge in the use of digital wallets last year and predicted that the electronic form of payment will outstrip the use of credit cards by 2030. Still, cards, including debit and prepaid, will remain “the gold standard” and a meaningful way to pay, according to the April 8 presentation.
• “Safe and frictionless” digital payments, including digital wallets, account-to-account payments, cryptocurrencies and buy now, pay later options, bolster economic growth and are increasingly “crucial,” for retailers, the presentation posted on LinkedIn said. “Policymakers should create an optimal environment for digital payment providers to support this growth,” the post recommended.

Dive Insight:

Worldpay provides software and other services to retailers and other merchants of all sizes worldwide, enabling those business clients to process payments. The presentation for Congress members and their staff members was based on Cincinnati-based Worldpay’s annual global payments report issued last month.

The report suggested the combined $44.6 trillion e-commerce and point-of-sale market last year will grow into a $58.1 trillion global payment sphere by 2030.

The presentation argued that digital payments allow for a more inclusive economy, giving a larger number of people in diverse socio-economic groups and geographically varied areas more access to financial services. “Policymakers should ensure these technologies are accessible to all segments of the population, promoting affordable and convenient payment options,” the presentation said.

Worldpay also gave a push to congressional legislative efforts aimed at spurring more use of digital assets, such as stablecoins, and pushed for regulatory clarity for their use. “Policymakers should promote a regulatory framework that can enable responsible payment innovations such as digital assets and AI and boost e-commerce transactions,” the presentation said.

President Donald Trump’s administration issued executive orders this year that backed the use of digital assets in commerce and required the federal government to move toward electronic payments.

Despite a focus on digital payments, Baboukhian noted that cash use isn’t going away.

“While cash usage has fallen dramatically, it has reached a relative floor in certain markets and may remain important for potentially vulnerable demographics,” the presentation said. He urged lawmakers to ensure that cash remains available for use “to promote financial inclusion and avoid premature pushes for a cashless society.”

Worldpay is majority owned by the private equity firm GTCR after financial technology company Fidelity National Information Services sold a stake in the business last year.