Every time a credit card, debit card or gift card gets swiped, it triggers a set of transactions that, more likely than not, will get processed by a company on the Georgia 400 corridor.
Estimates from 2014 say that nearly $5 trillion dollars’ worth of transactions were processed in what is called “Transaction Alley.” This important sector of financial services companies processes roughly 70 percent of payments for the entire country. It also accounts for a 60 percent share of the global payment processing marketplace.
Georgia is home to more than 80 financial technology, or “FinTech,” companies that specialize in payment processing. Georgia has received more than $208 million in investments and 1,570 jobs created in the payments sub-sector of the FinTech industry since 2013.
In Transaction Alley, payment processors like Fiserv, First Data, FIS Global, Priority Payment Systems and WorldPay employ thousands of Georgians. Payment processing generates nearly $34 billion in annual economic contributions, which ranks third in revenue generated by payment processing FinTech companies — behind only New York and California. Collectively, Transaction Alley represents the largest non-trading FinTech platform in the country.
Because of the large amounts of money and associated financial data, this payment processing corridor is also one of the highest priority financial targets in the country when it comes to our cybersecurity. The growth of these payment processors has aligned with expansive growth in cyber security companies in the state. Georgia now has 115 information security companies, which accounts for more than 25 percent of the world’s IT security sector.
Despite these impressive numbers, the need for a talented cybersecurity workforce will continue to increase dramatically year over year. Georgia has carved out a vital role both in the payment processing and cybersecurity markets. All of this growth creates a demand for office space, data servers and, most importantly a talented, tech-savvy pipeline of individuals who can continue to improve these services and secure the petabytes of data that flow through their networks. Through the Department of Economic Development, the technical college system, the university system and industry leaders, Georgia’s training and development pipeline has been analyzed and restructured to adapt to this aggressive growth sector in our state’s economy.
The ability to process and protect the majority of the world’s financial transactions is critical to the continuity of the flow of money around the world. The holiday season is a great example of how money flows in our economy. Any disruption to the movement of money could create panic or insecurity in the market — at the corporate and individual scale. As we move through the gift-giving season, it is the payment processors of Transaction Alley that keep your money going where you want, and when you want.
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