This could really be a volatile year for the payments industry.
Between the push for a faster payments system and migration to EMV-chip card acceptance, the industry can accept many changes — and more of those changes could come from women, according to Dawn Murray, who has been the general manager of merchant services at FIS Global Retail Payments for the last three and a half years.
“2016 will be a year of great disruption in the payments industry and this creates a perfect environment for women to lean in and lead the industry through this safely,” said Murray, who has 17 years total experience in the payments industry.
There have never been so many foundational changes at once in this industry, Murray said. It’s imperative that everyone in it stay on their toes and be “prepared to change direction at any moment.”
Although the U.S. migration to EMV security is certainly a challenge, she said, her bigger fear is the transition to faster payments.
Same-day funding to merchants introduces new terrain for fraud. It will be more difficult to detect scammers, and when issues do arise, there will be a shorter window for financial institutions and merchants to intervene.
“The fraudsters have stolen unheard of amounts of data in the past 24 months and we are providing them with a perfect environment to use that data to steal millions of dollars,” Murray said.
Further, the kinds of fraud schemes that will become part of “the new normal” remain to be seen, she added.
“When there is disruption to ‘normal’ processes or threats to your business, there is opportunity to create something new and possibly better than what was there before," she said. “Women in the payments industry need to jump into this disruption and find ways to lead their coworkers through the confusion.”
Murray is a mother of three, creating a home life that benefits from her ability to organize chaos. For women in general, their experience in raising and managing families is likely a significant factor in why there are so many “walking into chaos and quickly evaluating what needs to be done to create a stable and calm process,” she said. “The knowledge and techniques of moving from chaos to calm can be recycled to assist with [women’s] growth in the workplace.”
However, Murray’s success is also driven by personal factors. She cited her children as the thing she’s most proud of outside of work, but even in her career, she’s motivated by helping and mentoring her peers and colleagues.
“The fuel that keeps me going each day is knowing that I’m providing an environment that empowers my staff and coworkers to continue to grow in both their personal lives and careers.”
This article is part of PaymentsSource's 25 Most Influential Women in Payments feature. Follow these links to see a
