The Payments Association Names Daniel Jonas Global Ambassador to Lead Payments Infrastructure Initiative

The Payments Association appointed Daniel Jonas as its new Global Ambassador, giving him responsibility for leading a new working group focused on the future of global payments infrastructure.

The initiative aims to bring together payments designers, operators, technology providers, and regulators to address fragmentation across the industry. Its central goal is to help create payment systems that are safer, more resilient, and able to work across borders and platforms.

Jonas brings more than 25 years of experience in payments infrastructure and innovation. His career has included senior innovation roles at organizations such as Atkins and Pay. UK, where he developed expertise in interoperability, trust systems, and digital infrastructure.

A New Focus on Global Payments Infrastructure

The newly created Global Payments Infrastructure Working Group will examine how payment systems can operate as part of a connected global network rather than as separate national or institutional systems.

Today’s payments landscape includes a wide range of networks, standards, and operating models. Banks, payment providers, fintech companies, and digital platforms often develop solutions to address similar challenges, but these systems do not always connect efficiently.

That fragmentation can increase costs, create delays, and make cross-border payments more difficult for businesses and consumers.

The Payments Association said the working group will provide a neutral, practitioner-led forum where industry participants can share experience, identify gaps, and explore ways to reuse proven approaches.

The aim is not simply to develop another payment platform. Instead, the group will consider the underlying infrastructure required for different forms of money and value to move safely from one system to another.

Preparing for the “Multi-Moneyverse”

One of the working group’s key themes will be the coexistence of different forms of money.

These include:

• Fiat currency

• Commercial bank money

• Stablecoins

• Tokenized deposits

• Other digital forms of value

As these instruments become more widely used, they will need to operate alongside existing payment rails. They may also need to interact with one another across different jurisdictions and technology environments.

The Payments Association refers to this developing landscape as the “multi-moneyverse.”

The term reflects a financial system in which traditional money and emerging digital forms of value exist together. However, coexistence alone will not be enough. The systems must also be able to exchange information, verify transactions, and manage risk in a consistent way.

This creates challenges that cannot be solved by one country, bank, or technology provider acting independently.

Daniel Jonas Calls for Greater Cooperation

Jonas said his new role would focus on building stronger connections between the UK and international partners.

He argued that the payments industry often contains different businesses and specialist groups working toward similar goals without enough cooperation. In his view, greater collaboration could help the sector avoid duplicated work and make better use of existing infrastructure.

The working group will therefore look beyond individual payment products. It will examine how the wider ecosystem can operate more effectively, including the links between banks, payment networks, fintechs, regulators, and technology providers.

Jonas also stressed that no single organization can solve global infrastructure challenges in isolation. A more systematic approach will be needed to identify missing capabilities and improve interoperability.

His comments reflect a growing industry concern: payment innovation is advancing quickly, but the infrastructure connecting different systems is not always developing at the same pace.

Infrastructure Is More Than Technology

The group’s work will cover more than APIs, payment rails, and technical standards.

According to the Payments Association, the review will consider the legal, regulatory, technical, operational, and commercial dependencies that influence whether a payment solution can work safely at scale.

This is an important distinction. A payment system may be technically capable of connecting two parties, but that connection can still fail if the participants follow different rules or have incompatible responsibilities.

For example, cross-border payments may involve several institutions, currencies, and regulatory frameworks. Questions around settlement, liability, data sharing, fraud controls, and consumer protection can be just as important as the underlying technology.

The working group will examine these dependencies as part of one connected system.

That approach could help identify where common infrastructure would provide wider benefits, rather than encouraging every provider to build separate solutions.

Reducing Duplication, Friction, and Cost

Tony Craddock, founder of The Payments Association, said Jonas’s experience and international network made him well suited to lead the initiative.

Craddock also warned against repeating past mistakes, including unnecessary duplication, excessive friction, and unaffordable costs.

These problems remain familiar across the payments industry. Businesses often need to connect to multiple systems, meet different technical requirements, and navigate separate processes in each market.

For large institutions, these challenges can create significant operational expenses. For smaller fintechs, they can become a barrier to entering new markets.

Greater standardization and interoperability could reduce that burden. It may allow providers to connect to existing infrastructure more easily while helping customers benefit from faster and more reliable payment services.

However, achieving this will require cooperation between organizations that may also compete with one another. That is likely to be one of the working group’s most difficult tasks.

First Report Expected in Early 2027

The Global Payments Infrastructure Working Group is expected to publish its first report in early 2027.

The report will outline:

• A common framework for global payments infrastructure

• Proven models from different markets

• Existing infrastructure gaps

• Practical recommendations for future action

The group will also contribute to Payments Week in London in April 2027.

These milestones give the initiative a clear timetable. They also create an opportunity for the working group to move from broad discussion to practical recommendations.

The success of the project, however, will depend on whether those recommendations can be adopted by real market participants. A framework will have limited value if it does not address commercial incentives, regulatory differences, and the operational realities of payment providers.

Why Interoperability Matters Now

The need for interoperable infrastructure is becoming more urgent as financial services become increasingly digital and global.

Consumers expect faster payments and smoother international transactions. Businesses want to move money across markets without managing multiple disconnected systems. At the same time, stablecoins and tokenized deposits are creating new questions about how value should move between traditional and digital financial networks.

Without effective interoperability, these developments could create more fragmentation rather than less.

A connected approach could help payment providers use existing capabilities instead of rebuilding similar systems. It could also support more consistent risk controls and improve the reliability of payments across different channels.

For regulators, cooperation may offer a way to address shared risks while avoiding completely separate approaches in every jurisdiction.

For fintechs, better infrastructure could lower the cost and complexity of launching cross-border services.

A Long-Term Infrastructure Challenge

The Payments Association’s initiative does not offer an immediate solution to every problem in global payments. Interoperability involves technical standards, regulation, governance, commercial interests, and the willingness of market participants to cooperate.

Still, the creation of the working group signals that the industry is placing greater attention on the foundations beneath new payment experiences.

Digital wallets, instant payments, stablecoins, and tokenized deposits may receive most of the public attention. Yet their long-term success will depend on whether the systems behind them can communicate and operate safely.

By appointing Daniel Jonas and establishing the Global Payments Infrastructure Working Group, the Payments Association is seeking to move that discussion toward practical collaboration.

Conclusion

The Payments Association’s appointment of Daniel Jonas as Global Ambassador marks a new effort to address the fragmentation of global payments infrastructure.

The working group will explore how traditional money and emerging digital forms of value can coexist, connect, and move securely across borders. Its planned 2027 report will be an important test of whether industry collaboration can translate into practical standards and recommendations.

The central message is straightforward: the future of payments will not depend only on faster products. It will also depend on stronger connections between the systems that make those products possible.

The Payments Association Taps Daniel Jonas to Lead New Global Payments Infrastructure Working Group

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