Jake Gocke With Deloitte & Touche LLP

Intro: [00:00:10] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio, brought to you by on pay. Built in Atlanta on pay is the top rated payroll and HR software anywhere. Get one month free at unpaid. Now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:38] Lee Kantor here another episode of Atlanta Business Radio. And this is going to be a good one. Today on the show, we have Jake Gocke with Deloitte. He is the partner National Audit and Assurance Payment Leader. Welcome, Jake.

Jake Gocke: [00:00:52] Thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:53] Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. First, tell us a little bit about your position. How are you serving folks?

Jake Gocke: [00:01:00] Yeah. Happy to. As you said, I’m a partner with Deloitte and I work specifically with clients in the payment processing space. Served clients in the industry for about ten years based in Atlanta. And it’s just. It’s really been an exciting time. So happy to talk to you today.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:15] So before we get too far into things, can you tell the listener, maybe educate them a little bit about what exactly is consumer payments industry? What does that entail? Is it is it banking? Is that what it is or is it that’s just now a subset of what it is today?

Jake Gocke: [00:01:31] Yeah, it’s a great question and I get it quite a bit. And really, payment processing is an industry designed to ensure that people like me and you can use credit and debit cards to pay for transactions. And so a lot of people might go to the grocery store at the checkout swipe, tap or insert their credit card pay for the transaction is approved within 2 seconds and walk out and not really think about how that all happened. And what people don’t realize is behind the scenes there are a lot of different parties involved to ensure that you and I can do exactly that, which is walk in, use a credit debit card transaction, and walk out seamlessly. And so this industry is really expanded quite a bit, a lot of parties involved. And it’s really just an exciting, exciting industry to be in, just given how dynamic and innovative it’s become.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:23] And to that to that end, Deloitte has put together a report that kind of touches on this, and it kind of explains maybe the financial relationships that are involved in all these transactions. And maybe you can talk about that a little bit about how, you know, maybe just give us kind of the State of the Union.

Jake Gocke: [00:02:44] Sure. Happy to. So, yeah, our report does a nice job of just laying out the payment processing ecosystem and really highlighting what’s changed and what’s expected to change over the next five, ten years. But really what we’re seeing in the industry is it’s dynamic, it’s innovative, it’s competitive, and a lot of companies in the space are figuring out ways to drive innovation, disrupt the the old norms of how payment transactions work and deliver more value added services to consumers and to merchants.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:22] Now, you mentioned how complex that this ecosystem is. And for the people who don’t understand, like when you make a payment, whether it’s a credit card payment or debit or, you know, now you can swipe your hand over a machine and that makes a payment. Any of those things. Not only is the merchant obviously touching the money and the bank touches the money, but there’s a multitude of players in between that help kind of move that transaction along. And because of that, I would imagine that’s good for the consumer, the speed of which that happens. But it’s also opens up some possibilities for bad actors to insert themselves and maybe, you know, get access to that same information. Can you talk about how security is is involved in this?

Jake Gocke: [00:04:13] Yeah, and it’s a great point because really what the industry is trying to balance is speed of payments without losing security. And so consumers, merchants, obviously value quick, fast, simple payments. But we also value as consumers and merchants, security and controls to ensure that transactions remain safe. Ultimately, if a transaction is safe, he or she may be less likely to use a credit debit card or make a digital payment. And so the industry, of course, has always been and will continue to be focused on security around transactions, understanding the environment, the ecosystem and potential exposure areas, and really using innovation and sort of historical practices to ensure that transactions remain safe. So certainly there’s a balance here between speed and secure transactions, and the industry continues to be focused on ensuring they are achieving both of those things.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:12] Now, how does kind of Atlanta fit into this fintech ecosystem? Are we a hub of it or are we a big player? Like, where do you see us in kind of the entire, at least the United States ecosystem when it comes to fintech?

Jake Gocke: [00:05:27] I mean, Atlanta is is the hub for payment processing. And a lot of people, even those who reside in Atlanta, don’t realize that six of the ten largest payment processing firms are headquartered in Georgia. 70% of all global financial transactions pass through. Companies headquartered in Atlanta. And Atlanta really has become just the scene as it relates to payment processing. So it’s an exciting place to be and exciting time to be in the payments industry. And as far as the future outlook for Atlanta, it continues to be very bright in the payment processing space.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:01] Now, what kind of trends are you seeing? You said that it’s obviously it changes rapidly and for you to even be able to forecast ten years. Good, good on you on that, because I mean, if you went back ten years, could you have predicted today, ten years ago? I would imagine that would be outside the scope of most people’s predictions. But what are some of the things you see moving forward when it comes to payment processing? Like how much faster can it be? Like, like I said earlier, you can now buy things just by swiping your hand on on a device. And now that’s you can purchase items that way. How else is it going to change?

Jake Gocke: [00:06:37] Yeah, well, I think where we’re going to see changes is really the way a consumer experiences payment transactions. So what you’re seeing more is the development of mobile apps, for example, where payment transactions can occur, but there’s more consumer engagement, more insights for both consumers and merchant in terms of spending behavior, patterns of spending, behavior and the like, and really just more innovation around a payment transaction so that it’s more it feels more of a value added service to both the merchant and the consumer. But you’re absolutely right. You know, ten years ago, I don’t think anyone could have really predicted where we are today. And that’s why what I think is so exciting about this space is in ten years, where will we be then and what innovations are really going to take off as we now in that point in time?

Lee Kantor: [00:07:22] Now, you talk a lot about, obviously consumers and merchants. What about when it comes to peer to peer kind of sharing of funds? Are you seeing that also an area of interest for these fintech firms?

Jake Gocke: [00:07:38] Absolutely. I mean, digital payments is a great example of that, where if I play golf with a friend on the weekend and he happens to pay the fee for that round, I could pay him back my share of it through a number of different apps. I think entities in a space realize that there is a strong appetite for a peer to peer payments and have developed the technology to ensure that can happen and will continue happening going forward. But that’s certainly an area of high growth where I think a lot of us in the industry have the opportunity to continue to innovate and drive consumer engagement.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:13] Now, are you seeing with this switch obviously to a more cashless world, how is that impacting kind of the people who are unbanked? Where does how do they fit into this?

Jake Gocke: [00:08:26] Yeah. I mean, the unbanked and the underbanked certainly have access to card payments through different avenues. I think cash remains very prevalent form of currency in different subsectors. But to think that the unbanked or underbanked don’t have access I think is probably a misconception. It’s just different mechanisms through which these consumers are able to access payment transactions.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:53] And when it comes to kind of the the growth of the businesses that are serving fintech here in Atlanta, are you seeing more companies getting into that, more startups entering that space? Do you see some types of consolidation maybe Where are we at right now when it comes to the fintech industry, maybe from an employment standpoint from in Atlanta?

Jake Gocke: [00:09:19] Yeah, great question. I mean, Atlanta really has, has it all? We’ve got emerging growth companies and start ups. We’ve got private companies that are continuing to thrive and we’ve got very large public companies. So we sort of across the different size or lifecycle of of a of a business, we sort of got all different points, which is fantastic. And I think a big reason for that is we’ve got great colleges in the Georgia area, a lot of talent, a lot of interest in payment processing, just given the history here in Atlanta and really an appetite for innovation. So what we’re seeing is the continued development of fintech startups that are looking to innovate the space. And we’re seeing the continued success and consolidation and growth of existing incumbent companies in the data processing space.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:06] Now, are you seeing the universities and maybe even high schools helping out when it comes to talent and changing curriculum, maybe opening up curriculum that serves this niche to help create more qualified people coming out of university with the type of education and training they need in order to be successful in fintech.

Jake Gocke: [00:10:29] Absolutely. What we’re seeing is across the board, colleges are offering fintech curriculum, payment processing curriculum because there’s a recognition that it is an emerging space, it’s continuing to grow and get traction, and there’s really a great future there. So absolutely, you know, at colleges across the state, we’re seeing curriculum designed specifically around fintech and payments, which is only going to further the cause of growth in the payment space here in Atlanta.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:56] So what do you think the ecosystem needs more of?

Jake Gocke: [00:11:01] Innovation, always, always innovation. And certainly the future outlook is always going to be uncertain. We don’t we don’t know what we don’t know and we don’t know what the next five or ten years will hold. But what we do know is companies need to continue to be agile to deal with the uncertainty and innovate, to continue to drive positive consumer and merchant experiences.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:24] Now from from a Deloitte kind of standpoint, what does Deloitte need more of? Are you looking to hire right now? Are you looking for more talent? You’re looking to partner with more fintech organizations. What do you need more of?

Jake Gocke: [00:11:38] All the above. We’re always looking for, for great talent to grow our practice. We love partnering with other companies in this space, and we’re really just looking for all the different ways we can grow our practice and support the fintech industry here in Atlanta.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:51] So what is the pain that that fintech organization is having where Deloitte is a good partner?

Jake Gocke: [00:11:58] Could you repeat that question?

Lee Kantor: [00:11:59] What is the pain that fintech organization is having where Deloitte is a good partner and can help them solve whatever that issue is?

Jake Gocke: [00:12:07] Yeah, I wouldn’t I wouldn’t really say there are necessarily pains so much as opportunities for companies to continue to grow and find success. And really we can do that across the board. But really what we look to do is, is leverage the expertise we have in the space to help and assist companies continue to develop their products, their services, and grow their own companies.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:30] Can you share an example? Don’t name the name, but an example of maybe a problem or an opportunity that a company had. And Deloitte was able to inject themselves and help them get to a new level.

Jake Gocke: [00:12:41] Sure. I mean, companies all the time are looking to get into the payment space. They might need a roadmap or a playbook in terms of how they can do that. Deloitte has offerings where we can help companies understand the payments ecosystem, how they can develop offerings and really help them build those out.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:58] Now, if somebody wants to get their hands on that 2023 Banking and Capital Markets Outlook report, is that on the website? Where can they find that?

Jake Gocke: [00:13:07] Yeah, it’s online. So if you go to the website and search for the report you just mentioned, it should be easy to find. Click on and read through it.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:15] And then the person that would benefit the most from reading through that report is who.

Jake Gocke: [00:13:23] That’s a great question. I think I would say businesses that are involved in the space or looking to get in the space would find a lot of value in reading a report.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:34] And while, Jake, thank you so much for sharing your story today one more time, the website for Deloitte. If somebody wants to connect with you or somebody on your team or get a hold of this report.

Jake Gocke: [00:13:45] Pardon me.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:45] The website. For Deloitte.

Jake Gocke: [00:13:49] The Deloitte AECOM.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:51] All right. That’s Deloitte’s AECOM to get your hands on that report, find Jake or somebody on his team and learn more about the offerings over there. Well, thank you so much, Jake, for sharing your story. You do an important work and we appreciate you.

Jake Gocke: [00:14:07] Thanks, Ali. Appreciate it.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:08] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on the Atlanta Business Radio.

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