Money20/20 USA: The Clearing House on Driving Innovation

Money20/20 USA 2023 saw the leading lights of financial services come together in Las Vegas to connect and create the future of money.

FinTech Magazine caught up with David Watson, CEO at The Clearing House, to discuss the importance of prioritising security in real-time payments systems. 

Power to the payee

Asked about the impact of real-time payments on the industry, Watson said: "Banks have been holding and protecting money going back to the days of the Wild West. You put your money with a bank and expect it to be protected.

"In a digital age that doesn't change and, when it comes to providing clearing and settlement for that, security and resiliency is the most important thing."

He added: "When it comes to fraud, in a land of real-time payments the goalposts have changed. Instant payments are actually a fantastic mechanism to put the power back into the hands of the payee.

"The US is one of few countries in the world where, if I know your routing number and account [number], I can pull money from your account. What instant payment does is close that loophole and puts the credit push power back into the hands of the payee, and [gives] banks the ability to authenticate their customers, meaning you get a vast reduction in some of those week points around fraud."

Collaborative innovation

Watson also highlighted his belief that banks and corporate entities must work together to drive the industry forward. 

"Our role is to drive what I say is collaborative innovation," he explained. 

"Banks compete constantly but, at the end of the day, to move the industry forward, we need to do that together.

"We're actually a very effective mechanism of helping explore more innovative ways to expand payments, real-time payments being an example. We're very well positioned to help the industry on that journey because of who we are and not having that commercial objective behind us."

To hear more from David Watson, simply follow the video link at the top of this story. 

Want to see more from Money20/20 USA 2023? Stay tuned to our website for more content, which will be rolled out in the coming days. 

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