Women in Payments Awards
At the Women in Payments Symposium held in Sydney on 21 November 2017, Trish McGinness, our Manager Compliance, received the Distinguished Payments Professional Award in front of some 300 delegates.
We’re thrilled that Trish has been recognised with this prestigious lifetime achievement award, and took a moment to chat with her about the event, her career and how payments have changed along the way.
Why do you think it’s important to have awards for women in payments?
It's incredibly nice to be acknowledged, and an excellent way of encouraging women to step up in a way. I found it apt that Kristy Duncan, founder and CEO of Women in Payments, used a statistical graph in her opening address – to illustrate a connection between companies who adopt equal representation of women in executive positions and higher profitability.
To me, it shows that if you have a better balance, a better mix of gender in your team - you get a better outcome. This should be a great encouragement for all businesses because it hits the bottom line, and everyone understands that.
What appeals to you about working in payments?
I've been in the industry for around 17 years. The complexity of payments is what keeps me enthusiastic and motivated. I enjoy the balance of technical problems and aligning the diverse interests of an industry that provides critical infrastructure for all Australian businesses and consumers.
Australians take for granted the ubiquity and the security of our payment systems, but this is no accident, it takes a lot of work by all participants involved. I am constantly impressed by the depth of knowledge of security experts who contribute to our industry technical committees.
How have payments changed over the years?
Payments in the consumer environment are changing rapidly. Mobile technology is driving a huge cultural change in consumer and business behaviour - effecting how payments are made. The launch of the New Payments Platform (NPP) next year will also drive further change. The introduction of biometrics is starting to ramp up too in the payment space. As more payments move to the digital world, the challenge is to make online as secure as we can. Identity fraud is a problem, and the industry is starting to work together on how to address this.
The payments industry is always working on security enhancements, and that’s something that for obvious reasons doesn’t get much visibility. What is your view on compliance?
We don't view compliance as a tick-box exercise, but an opportunity to review the security of our payment systems. Sometimes non-compliance highlights that the rules are out-of-date rather than a security vulnerability. As the pace of change accelerates, compliance programs are only effective where the rules are current and enable the industry to innovate securely.
We congratulate Trish on her award as well as all the other category winners and finalists. For more information on the Women in Payments Symposium and associated Awards Program, click here.
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