Client story
Five key trends shaping the future of payments and global money movement
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The future of Australia’s payment infrastructure
Australia’s payments landscape is moving faster than the technical and legislative systems designed to govern it.
For public-sector leaders, the mandatory shift from legacy rails to real-time environments creates a unique challenge: the opportunity for seamless service delivery versus the heightened risk of instant scams and regulatory lag.
As the nation’s "Lead Merchant," the public sector’s choice of infrastructure sets the tone for the entire industry. Thoughtworks, in partnership with TG Public Affairs, is convening a closed-door roundtable to explore:
- Infrastructure sovereignty: Ensuring national rails support government pay-in (tax/fines) and pay-out (welfare/grants) with 5-9s resilience.
- Leader or laggard? A comparative look at Australia’s standing against global benchmarks like Singapore and India.
- Citizen-centric experience: Designing a "National Stack" where identity, payments, and integrity services work as a unified public utility.
- The regulatory perimeter: Closing the gap on "BNPL-style" disruptors before they outpace citizen protection.
Date: Monday, 4 May 2026
Time: 12:00pm – 2:30pm AEST
Location: Salon Privé, O Bar and Dining
Level 47, Australia Square, 264 George Street, Sydney
Format: Closed-Door Roundtable (Chatham House Rule)
This invitation-only session is strictly limited to senior executive leaders to ensure a meaningful, peer-level exchange.
At Thoughtworks, we see the transition to real-time payments as more than a technical migration; it is a fundamental shift in how the state maintains trust with its citizens.
Having worked with global regulators and Australian agencies to deliver platforms like the NPP, we recognize that the current pace of disruption requires a response that transcends individual agency silos. We are convening this session to move beyond the theory and facilitate a pragmatic, peer-to-peer exchange on designing an Australian "National Stack" that is secure, fair, and fit for the future.
Moderation: Alexander Dalgleish | Principal, TG Public Affairs
As a specialist in Australian inter-agency policy and regulatory frameworks, Alexander will moderate the discussion. The session will be held under the Chatham House Rule to facilitate a high-trust, candid exchange between policy, prudential, and delivery peers.
Expert perspectives
To ground the conversation in global trends and sovereign cloud architecture, we will be joined by subject matter experts from Microsoft and Stripe, alongside Alla Gancz, Global Payments Lead at Thoughtworks.
Alexander Dalgleish (Moderator)
Principal, TG Public AffairsAlexander has over a decade of experience at the highest levels of Federal Government, including serving as Chief of Staff to the Minister for Defence and Deputy Chief of Staff to the Minister for Home Affairs. A former solicitor at MinterEllison, he specializes in navigating the complex policy, budgetary, and decision-making architecture of the Australian public sector.
Ella Gancz (Speaker)
Global payments leaders, ThoughtworksAs a global payments leader at Thoughtworks, Alla helps organizations navigate the shift to real-time payments and modern transaction platforms. With more than 25 years of experience, including leading the UK Payments Consulting practice at EY, she works at the intersection of regulation, innovation and large-scale delivery. She has contributed to the UK’s Future of Payments Review and the launch of the National Payments Vision, and brings experience helping regulators, payment utilities and governments modernize real-time payments infrastructure, including NPP.
Thoughtworks is a leading global technology consultancy that integrates strategy, design and software engineering to enable enterprises and technology disruptors across the globe to thrive as modern digital businesses.
Founded in 1993, we’ve grown from a small team in Chicago to a leading technology consultancy of more than 11,000 Thoughtworkers across 51 offices in 18 countries. Our cross-functional teams of strategists, developers, data engineers and designers bring more than 30 years of global experience to every partnership.
TG Public Affairs is a major public affairs consultancy with offices in Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.
We ensure our clients' priorities are well understood within Australia’s parliaments and bureaucracies. Established in 1998, the firm has built a strong reputation by providing sound strategic and policy advice, designing effective advocacy programs and by utilising its extensive political and senior bureaucratic networks.