The Importance of Partnerships and Collaboration in Payments Published 2 months ago Tsuyoshi Notani, Managing Director, JCB International (Europe) Ltd. The UK-JPN Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), which was signed on 23 October last year, marks one of 2020’s many cutting-edge alliances. Although the pandemic created more room for collaborative mindsets to move to centre stage, the evolution of ‘association’ has unified regions and businesses for generations. Organisational partnerships are not a new phenomenon, but much like the UK-JPN EPA, payments companies should recognise that they can strengthen their offering with merged know-how if they want to stay ahead. The UK-JPN EPA pledges to promote the mutual exchange of finance, data and digital services between Europe and the Asia-Pacific, through Japan, from a payment industry perspective. We can expect further joint efforts in cross-border mobile commerce and advanced financial technology. The union is estimated to boost holistic trade by more than £15 billion, and interestingly, financial services, at present, are the biggest export from the UK to Japan, accounting for 28% of all UK exports. Japan will also support the UK in joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) to cement trade ties between the UK and countries and regions including Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. This free trade zone is estimated to account for approximately 13% of world GDP.