Author

Alex Taylor

Published

11 May 2026

Estimated Read time

4Mins

Alex Taylor, UK Managing Director at Mangopay, on why the future of payments will not be defined by how quickly money moves, it will be defined by how intelligently it flows

Stablecoins are the payments industry’s latest obsession. But if you listen closely, most of the conversation sounds strangely familiar: faster settlement, cross-border transfers and quicker access to funds.

Speed is consistently positioned as the key benefit, but it’s no longer a differentiator because speed, on its own, isn’t transformative. Payments have been getting faster for years. Real-time rails are expanding globally, card networks continue to optimise settlement cycles, and even legacy infrastructure is evolving to reduce friction. Competing on speed alone is no longer enough to change how platforms operate.

What stablecoins introduce is something far more significant: programmability.

Beyond Movement to Logic

Traditional payments move money from A to B and execute instructions. But programmable money does something different; it embeds logic into the transaction itself.

This means payments can be conditional, automated, and responsive. Funds can be released based on events, split across multiple parties according to predefined rules, or held in escrow until specific criteria are met. The payment is no longer a final step in a process – it becomes part of the process itself.

For platforms and marketplaces, this is where the real opportunity lies.

Most platform-based payment flows aren’t simple transactions. They involve multiple stakeholders, dependencies, and conditions that sit outside the actual payment. Today, managing that complexity requires layers of reconciliation, manual intervention, and often fragmented infrastructure.

Programmability changes that. Revenue can be split instantly at the point of transaction, escrow can be automated without bespoke workflows, and payouts can be triggered dynamically based on factors like delivery, milestones, or performance.

It’s fair to say that stablecoins bring control into multi-party payments and rethink how money moves through a platform.

The Missing Layer: Governance

There is, however, a tendency to treat programmability as inherently beneficial. But without control, programmable money may introduce new risks just as quickly as it creates new possibilities.

Stablecoins operate on transparent, public blockchains. Once a wallet address is linked to an identity, transaction histories become visible. That raises immediate questions around privacy, compliance, and data protection.

At the same time, automation increases the stakes. If a rule is poorly defined or exploited, the impact spreads across the entire funds distribution flow. This is why programmability needs a governance layer built around it. Identity verification, compliance controls, and user-level permissions are what make programmable money usable in a regulated environment.

Why Wallets Matter More Than Tokens

The real bridge between fiat and stablecoins is actually the wallet, not the token. Programmable wallets provide an environment where both fiat and crypto can coexist under the same set of rules. A platform can manage revenue splits, fund holding, and payouts across different currencies and rails within a single system. It can integrate stablecoins where they add value, without reworking its entire payments stack or becoming a crypto-native business.

A Targeted Role for Stablecoins

The role of stablecoins in payments will be significant, but not universal. They are particularly well-suited to use cases that require transparency and efficient multi-currency handling. Cross-border treasury management, platform-based fund distribution, and real-time settlement between multiple parties are clear examples.

At the same time, traditional rails will continue to serve many use cases effectively. The future is not about replacing existing rails but adding stablecoins to the payment mix where it makes sense.

Platforms will need to decide which rails to use when and manage these decisions seamlessly behind the scenes.

Privacy Will Influence Adoption

Public blockchain infrastructure is transparent by design. While this enables traceability, it also creates tension with growing expectations around data protection and regulatory compliance.

Stablecoins do not offer anonymity in the way cash does. Once identity is linked to a wallet, activity can be traced. For mainstream adoption, this model will need to evolve within a framework that balances transparency with privacy.

So again, we return to the role of infrastructure. Without the right controls in place, programmability becomes difficult to scale in regulated markets.

Stablecoins: From Speed to Intelligence

So the value of stablecoins is reflected in how they allow money to move based on a certain logic.

For platforms, it unlocks a different way of operating. Payments become embedded into workflows, automated at scale, and aligned with how value is actually created and distributed.

Stablecoin adoption is not a main concern. The focus should be on integrating them into a governed, programmable infrastructure that makes them usable in the real world. Because ultimately, the future of payments will not be defined by how quickly money moves, it will be defined by how intelligently it flows.

Learn more at mangopay.com

  • Blockchain & Crypto
  • Digital Payments
  • Neobanking

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

19 March 2026

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Radi El Haj, CEO of global payment technology provider RS2, on the shift toward programmable, data-driven financial infrastructure designed for a real-time global economy.

The financial industry is entering a new phase of infrastructure modernisation. While cryptocurrencies and blockchain continue to dominate headlines, a more pragmatic evolution is reshaping banking from within: tokenised deposits embedded directly into core payment systems.

Tokenised deposits represent a practical bridge between legacy banking infrastructure and next-generation real-time capabilities. Unlike crypto-native assets, they remain fully regulated bank liabilities. But with the added advantage of programmability, automation and real-time settlement logic built directly into the banking stack.

The recently launched Cari Network by five US regional banks signals this shift. It demonstrates how banks are beginning to rethink bank-to-bank payments and settlement at the infrastructure layer.

Moving away from batch-based clearing toward programmable, real-time funds allows institutions to enhance efficiency, reduce settlement risk and modernise core systems without stepping outside regulatory guardrails.

For banks re-entering acquiring, upgrading issuing, or consolidating fragmented payment systems, tokenised deposits represent not a parallel innovation, but an embedded evolution of core processing.

What Tokenised Deposits Really Change

At their foundation, tokenised deposits are digitally represented, insured banking liabilities. The critical distinction is that they remain part of the regulated banking system. This preserves trust, governance and compliance – the pillars that underpin institutional finance.

The transformational value lies in programmability at the infrastructure level. When business logic is embedded into the payment instrument itself, banks can automate reconciliation, conditional settlement, liquidity allocation and multi-party disbursements in real time. Instead of adding layers of complexity on top of legacy systems, tokenisation integrates intelligence directly into the core ledger and processing environment.

For banks operating across issuing, acquiring and cross-border settlement, this reduces friction between systems and enables a more unified, real-time operating model.

AI as the Operational Intelligence Layer

Tokenisation alone is not sufficient. To operate at scale, programmable deposits require an intelligent control layer. Artificial intelligence and machine learning provide that layer.

AI can forecast liquidity requirements across issuing and acquiring portfolios, optimise routing decisions in real-time, detect anomalous behaviour and automate compliance monitoring. As transaction volumes increase and settlement windows compress, predictive intelligence becomes critical to maintaining resilience and control.

In multi-bank or multi-ledger environments, AI also plays a key interoperability role. It reconciles cross-network flows, identifies bottlenecks and dynamically allocates capital across settlement channels. This is where infrastructure maturity matters most.

Banks that embed AI-driven operational intelligence directly into their payment processing architecture will be best positioned to deliver speed without sacrificing stability.

Infrastructure is the Real Challenge

Tokenised deposits are not a feature — they are an architectural shift. Scaling them requires cloud-native, modular processing platforms capable of integrating with existing payment rails, regulatory frameworks and cross-border networks. Without modern infrastructure, tokenised deposits risk remaining contained pilots.

For banks modernising acquiring or issuing capabilities, this becomes a broader transformation programme: upgrading the core ledger, harmonising payment rails, embedding real-time analytics and ensuring seamless interoperability across domestic and international networks.

This is where strategic infrastructure partners become critical. Institutions need platforms that combine:

  • Cloud-native core processing
  • Real-time settlement capabilities
  • Embedded AI-driven monitoring and liquidity management
  • Open APIs for cross-network interoperability
  • Regulatory-grade resilience and auditability

Only then can tokenisation move from concept to scalable reality.

Embedding Innovation Into the Banking Ecosystem

Payments innovation succeeds when it strengthens the banking ecosystem rather than bypassing it. Tokenised deposits offer a path to modernisation that reinforces trust, compliance and regulatory clarity. When combined with AI-enabled operational intelligence, they create a responsive infrastructure capable of supporting real-time commerce, embedded finance and cross-border settlement at scale.

Institutions that approach this as an integrated infrastructure strategy — rather than a point solution — will see the greatest impact:

  • Reduced settlement risk through programmable fund controls
  • Improved liquidity optimisation across issuing and acquiring flows
  • Real-time fraud detection powered by AI
  • More efficient cross-border routing and capital allocation

This is not about replacing banking infrastructure. It is about rebuilding it intelligently.

The Next Phase of Real-Time Banking

The launch of initiatives like the Cari Network signals the beginning of a broader industry evolution. As tokenised deposits mature, collaboration between banks, FinTechs and technology providers will determine how effectively they scale.

The strategic question for banks is not whether tokenisation delivers value — it is whether their infrastructure is prepared to support it.

Those that invest in modern, modular processing platforms capable of integrating tokenisation and AI at the core will establish long-term competitive advantage. They will move beyond incremental upgrades toward a unified, intelligent payments architecture.

Tokenised deposits represent more than a technological enhancement. They reflect a shift toward programmable, data-driven financial infrastructure designed for a real-time global economy.

For banks and technology providers operating at the intersection of issuing, acquiring and settlement modernisation, this marks the beginning of a new era — one defined not simply by faster payments, but by smarter, more resilient infrastructure.

About RS2

RS2 is a leading global provider of payment technology solutions and processing services, offering a unified approach to managing payments across all channels for banks, integrated software vendors, payment facilitators, independent sales organizations, payment service providers, and businesses worldwide. RS2’s platform stands out as a robust cloud-native solution designed for both issuing and acquiring operations. With its advanced orchestration layer seamlessly integrating all aspects of business operations, clients gain access to comprehensive analytics, reporting tools, and reconciliation features. This empowers businesses to effortlessly expand their global footprint through a single integration, while also gaining valuable insights into payment processes and customer behavior, enhancing operational efficiency, increasing conversion rates, and driving profitability.

Learn more at RS2.com

  • Artificial Intelligence in FinTech
  • Blockchain & Crypto
  • Digital Payments
  • Embedded Finance

Author

Jonny Combe

Published

19 February 2026

Estimated Read time

4Mins

Jonny Combe, President and Chief Executive Officer, PayByPhone on how urban mobility is evolving from car-centric to multimodal and the opportunity the parking industry has to play a central role by integrating payment infrastructures that support a more connected, flexible mobility ecosystem

The journey has changed. Over the past few years, the mobility industry has undergone seismic shifts toward more digital experiences. Cash payments continue to disappear and in the US made up only about 14% of all payments in 2024. Over half of the US adult population make use of mobile wallets and many companies provide payment opportunities via apps for their services. While this has made some processes more efficient and streamlined, it has also resulted in very fragmented data streams.

Consider this scenario: a commuter drives an Electric Vehicle (EV) to a rural or suburban transit hub where they park and charge, then boards a train into the city. The final mile is completed on an e-scooter, shared bike or another mode of public transport to reach their destination. One journey, four separate payment interactions across four different apps.

This is the daily reality for millions of commuters, and it exposes a fundamental challenge that not only the parking industry, but also the mobility industry as a whole must confront. Continuing to build payment infrastructure for journeys that end at the curb, is no longer enough; we should be facilitating one system for these evolved modern journeys.

City Centres Reimagined

A substantial amount of land in city centers has traditionally been dedicated to parking, but there is a growing trend where we see city centers worldwide redesigning their urban space. On-street parking is giving way to pedestrian zones and cycle lanes. Traditional car parks are transforming into multimodal hubs that are integrating EV charging, micro-mobility stations, and last-mile logistics. Technologies like automatic number plate recognition are helping to eliminate friction at entry and exit points. However, backend complexity of the redesign of urban mobility has grown exponentially.

Local authorities now juggle relationships with cashless payment providers, meter operators, EV charging networks, micro-mobility vendors, and logistics partners. Each bring their own payment rails, reconciliation requirements, and data formats. For many municipalities, simply reconciling payments between a meter provider and a digital parking platform already strains finance teams. Adding multiple mobility partners brings a significant extra load to existing operational capacity and the operational burden is only part of the equation.

The Hidden Cost of Fragmentation

The more critical issue is strategic: fragmented payment systems can create fragmented data, and fragmented data can undermine intelligent policy.

When payment information sits in siloed systems across multiple vendors, authorities lack the consolidated view needed to answer essential questions:

  • How does parking behavior correlate with public transit usage?
  • What pricing strategies would optimize utilization across the entire mobility network?
  • Where should we invest in EV infrastructure based on actual demand patterns?
  • How do we measure progress toward carbon reduction targets?

Without integrated payment and usage data, cities are making significant capital infrastructure decisions with an incomplete picture.

The Payment Layer as Strategic Infrastructure

Forward-thinking cities are, however, beginning to recognize payment infrastructure not as back-office plumbing, but as strategic architecture for the mobility ecosystem.

The solution lies in centralized payment platforms that serve as a unifying layer – ‘super apps’ as they are called in other industries. The backend of these apps should be able to consolidate transactions across multiple mobility services, automate complex multi-party reconciliations, and create unified data lakes that enable AI-driven insights.

This approach can deliver immediate operational relief: finance teams spend less time manually reconciling disparate systems, and the strategic value compounds over time. With consolidated data, authorities can model the true economics of mobility transitions, identify underutilized assets, dynamically price services to manage demand, and measure environmental impact with precision.

Building for What Comes Next

The parking industry has always been about managing physical space, yet the future is about orchestrating mobility experiences. The question for industry leaders isn’t whether parking will integrate with broader mobility systems but whether parking operators will architect that integration intentionally.

Doing so requires a fundamental rethink of the role parking payment providers play in the payment value chain, while investing and building the technology and the payment infrastructure that makes seamless, sustainable urban mobility possible.

The infrastructure we build today will determine whether cities can deliver on their mobility and sustainability commitments tomorrow. For parking industry leaders, this is both a challenge and an opportunity: to evolve from transaction processors into the essential connective layer of urban mobility. Those with the vision, and the technological ability to rise to that challenge, have a real opportunity to lead the next generation of multimodal mobility payments.

About PayByPhone                                                     

PayByPhone is a global leader in mobile parking payments. We simplify journeys for millions of UK drivers with smart, intuitive technology and user-focused features. In addition to fast, secure parking payments, drivers can also locate nearby fuel stations and EV chargers – and pay for EV charging – all in the PayByPhone app. We work with over 1,300 cities and operators across the UK, North America, France, Germany, and Switzerland. More than 110 million drivers worldwide have downloaded the PayByPhone app to simplify their parking and vehicle payments to date. To discover how our products and services can elevate your driving experience.

Learn more at paybyphone.co.uk

  • Digital Payments
  • Digital Strategy

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

21 January 2026

Estimated Read time

2Mins

New research from myPOS, the European payments provider for small and medium-sized businesses, reveals that Britain’s shift toward tap-to-pay is leaving…

New research from myPOS, the European payments provider for small and medium-sized businesses, reveals that Britain’s shift toward tap-to-pay is leaving traditional PIN codes behind. As contactless becomes the country’s top payment preference, almost a third of young adults now admit they can’t remember the four digits once central to everyday spending.  

myPOS data reveals 29% of Gen Z struggle to remember, or have completely forgotten, their PIN. Highlighting how digital-first habits are shaping consumer behaviour. However, it isn’t just younger groups that are feeling the effects. One in five Boomers (20%) say they face the same issue as reliance on physical cards significantly declines. 

Contactless Payments

This shift has been driven largely by the dominance of contactless card and mobile payments. Over two-thirds of Brits (69%) say tapping, via card, mobile phone, or smartwatch, is now their primary method of payment. In contrast, just 16% rely mainly on chip and PIN, and only 14% primarily use cash. A further 10 % of Brits now live entirely wallet-free, using only their mobile or smartwatch for day-to-day spending. 

Convenience-led behaviours are accelerating the decline of PIN usage across the UK. Nearly half of British consumers (47%) say they would happily go completely contactless if it meant shorter queues in shops and venues. Flexibility and convenience (42%) and speed (34%) remain the largest drivers behind the rise of tap-to-pay.  

“As the UK embraces contactless and mobile payments, it’s clear that the traditional PIN is becoming less central to everyday transactions. Businesses and payment providers should ensure security and convenience go hand-in-hand, while recognising that consumer habits are evolving rapidly.”

Michael Ault, Country Manager at myPOS UK

  • Digital Payments
  • Fintech & Insurtech
  • Neobanking

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

18 December 2025

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Marcin Glogowski, SVP Managing Director for Europe and UK CEO at Marqeta, on empowering businesses in the UK

FinTechs have long supported consumers, with the modern iteration of consumer innovations beginning in the UK in the early 2000s with the launch of the Faster Payments network in 2005. The first peer-to-peer lending platform started in the same year. And in 2007, the UK became one of the first markets to introduce contactless cards. Small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) lending and payment innovation has paled in comparison.

SMBs are the backbone of the UK economy, generating an impressive £2.8 trillion in revenue every year. Yet despite their critical role, they remain underserved when it comes to financial support. Only £62.1 billion in business loans were issued in the past year (45 times less than SMBs contribute to annual revenue) highlighting just how difficult it can be for SMBs to access the funding they need to grow. This funding gap limits not only individual businesses but also the wider economy that depends on their success.

While FinTechs have poured innovation into consumer products, revolutionising everything from budgeting apps to buy now, pay later (BNPL), SMBs have largely been left behind. This is despite the fact that SMB lending represents one of the fastest growing opportunities for financial organisations. 

A report earlier this year by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) highlights that we are on the cusp of a revolution not dissimilar to the one seen decades ago in mortgages, with technological advancements playing a key role. The demand for more efficient payments, smarter cashflow tools and flexible funding solutions is accelerating. Yet many businesses still find themselves navigating outdated systems and slow, manual processes.

The issue is not that SMBs do not see the value in modern financial tools. In fact, they are ready to invest. According to our recent Marqeta 2025 State of Payments report 90% of UK SMBs surveyed said they would pay higher upfront costs for tools that deliver long-term savings and efficiency. What SMBs really want is simplicity, speed and control. They are not emotionally invested in payments themselves – they are invested in running their businesses as efficiently as possible.

A striking finding from the Marqeta report reveals that nearly half (42%) of UK SMB owners still use personal cards to fund business expenses, citing higher credit limits and better rewards as the motivator behind this practice. This reveals an opening for payment solutions to meet businesses with credit solutions that are tailored and personalised to their specific requirements. Smart, data-driven underwriting models that look beyond traditional credit scores and reward businesses.

The SMB Payments Frontier

FinTechs have made great strides in improving financial experiences for individuals, but in doing so, may have missed the mark when it comes to understanding the unique needs of business owners. For SMBs, payments are not just a transaction. 

As Marqeta’s findings highlight, UK SMBs increasingly view payment tools as strategic assets rather than mere utilities. From social commerce trends to rewards programs and digital asset management, businesses are seeking solutions that actively contribute to the growth and efficiency of their organisations. Payment providers that offer real-time, flexible tools that reward customers for their engagement are best positioned to capture this rising demand and untapped potential.

Payments are the lifeblood of their operations, tied to cashflow, customer experience and long-term growth, with 52% of UK SMBs surveyed, as part of the State of Payment report, viewing payments as a tactical lever helping them streamline expenses, boost operational efficiencies, and free up cash flow. When payments work seamlessly, business owners can focus their energy where it matters most, serving their customers and growing their businesses.

Beyond payments alone, SMBs are looking for platforms that provide actionable insights and preventative measures that pre-empt major issues. Solutions that anticipate cashflow gaps, suggest repayment plans and automatically identify funding opportunities. The shift from reactive to proactive financial management offers SMBs a market advantage and, critically, represents a new dawn for how fintechs can support their growth.

Connecting the Dots

That is why bridging the gap between payments and funding represents such a powerful opportunity. Embedded Finance is already starting to move the needle, allowing SMBs to access credit directly through their payment platforms. This integration can transform payments from a passive process into an active growth driver. Imagine a world where a business processing card payments automatically receives insights into cashflow, credit opportunities or flexible repayment options tailored to its transaction history.

By combining real-time payment data with intelligent lending models, FinTechs can deliver funding at the point of need, not through laborious processes that may take weeks or months later. This kind of agility can make the difference between a business thriving or merely surviving. It also fosters financial resilience and trust, helping SMBs weather economic fluctuations with greater confidence in their suppliers and improved control.

Too often, the financial world can feel overly complex and fragmented for small businesses.  Many rely on multiple providers for banking, payments, invoicing and credit, creating a patchwork of tools that rarely communicate effectively. Fintechs now have the opportunity to simplify this landscape by creating connected ecosystems that serve SMBs holistically. The future lies in frictionless experiences that combine payments, insights and lending under one roof.

Riding the Payments Wave

For FinTechs, the message is clear. The next wave of financial innovation will be about empowering the businesses that keep the UK economy moving. With the right approach, payment platforms can deliver more than convenience. They can provide SMBs with the confidence, agility and financial durability they need to thrive in an uncertain world.

As SMB payments take flight, the question is not whether the opportunity exists, but whether fintechs are ready to power the future and support businesses as they navigate the new payments frontier.

Learn more at marqeta.com

  • Digital Payments
  • Embedded Finance

Author

Robert Kraal

Published

6 November 2025

Estimated Read time

6Mins

Robert Kraal, Co-founder of Silverflow – a cloud-native payments platform designed to reduce cost and complexity while enabling innovation – examines the future for merchants and digital payments

There are dozens of examples of companies, and even whole industries, that have failed because they simply weren’t aligned to what people wanted. Nobody in 1985 was desperate for Coke to taste different. In 2001 no one needed a self-balancing electric scooter. And nobody in 2021 needed to have their ownership of JPEG images recorded on the blockchain. The history of business contains many instances of ideas that seemed to emerge fully formed from the minds of their creators rather than as responses to genuine needs.

The payments industry might not make as many headlines. However, it is just as full of companies that don’t seem to address any real need on the part of merchants. Too many providers build technology in search of a market, rather than starting with a clear understanding of the challenges merchants face.

As payments evolve, that misalignment becomes more visible. Merchants today operate in an environment defined by thin margins, rising costs, and fast-changing customer expectations. Payment Service Providers (PSPs), PayFacs, acquirers, and processors that fail to adapt risk losing touch with what truly matters. Enabling merchants to grow their business efficiently, securely, and globally.

So, what do merchants really want from their payments technology – and how can the industry close the gap between expectation and delivery?

Beyond ‘Just Getting Paid‘

At first glance, payments can appear to be a simple utility. Money goes in, money goes out. Merchants want to get paid quickly and cheaply – and nothing more. But that view misses the larger strategic role payments play in business operations.

Cost certainly matters. With corporate bankruptcies at a fourteen-year high and economic uncertainty still weighing heavily, cashflow is critical. Even a small reduction in processing fees can make a difference over time. But “low cost” doesn’t automatically equal ‘good value’.

Think of it like buying cheap shoes: they may save money upfront, but if they wear out quickly, the total cost of ownership is higher. The same principle applies to payments infrastructure. The right technology can reduce friction, improve customer experience, and unlock new revenue streams. Far outweighing a slightly higher transaction fee.

For many merchants, payments are not just a back-office function but a strategic lever. The ability to expand into new markets, optimise acceptance rates, or adapt quickly to new consumer payment preferences can directly influence growth.

What Merchants Say Frustrates Them Most

Across industries, merchants face a familiar set of pain points when dealing with payments providers. These often include:

Lack of transparency and control over fees

Slow onboarding and inflexible contracts

Poor technical support and inconsistent service levels

Limited access to useful payment data and analytics

Outdated systems that make innovation difficult

In short, merchants feel constrained by legacy processes and opaque systems that fail to match the agility of their wider digital operations.

What Merchants Want Now

To move beyond seeing payments as a commodity, providers must understand the specific outcomes merchants are trying to achieve. In practice, that means focusing on five key areas:

Higher Acceptance Rates and Fewer False Declines

Every false decline represents lost revenue and potential long-term damage to customer loyalty. According to Aite-Novarica, merchants lose billions each year to legitimate transactions mistakenly flagged as fraudulent.

Often, these issues arise from outdated or overly rigid risk rules, or from poor visibility into the transaction lifecycle. Merchants need access to data and tools that help identify patterns, adjust rules dynamically, and balance security with customer experience. Smarter fraud management – not just stricter – is key to protecting revenue.

Faster Access to New Payment Methods

The payments landscape is diversifying rapidly. Account-to-account (A2A) transfers, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), mobile wallets, and super-apps are reshaping how consumers pay.

For merchants, staying relevant means supporting the methods their customers actually use – without long integration times or complex vendor dependencies. Providers that can onboard new payment types quickly and seamlessly give merchants a crucial competitive advantage.

Simplified Cross-Border Payments

Global expansion is a natural ambition for digital-first businesses, but cross-border payments remain a major operational headache. Local regulations, currency management, and consumer habits vary dramatically between markets.

Merchants want simplified access to local payment methods, along with dynamic currency conversion and compliance tools that minimize friction when operating internationally. A provider that can simplify this complexity – through unified access to multiple schemes and currencies – creates tangible value beyond simple processing.

Intelligent Payment Orchestration

Many large merchants now work with multiple acquirers and payment processors to optimise cost, performance, and redundancy. But without an orchestration layer to intelligently route transactions, they risk inefficiency and downtime.

Modern payment orchestration platforms can automatically send each transaction through the most cost-effective or reliable channel in real time. That capability depends on robust infrastructure – not a tangle of APIs and patches. Merchants increasingly expect their providers to offer orchestration as a native feature, not an afterthought.

Modern, Cloud-Native Infrastructure

This is where the real bottleneck lies. Many PSPs and acquirers still operate on systems designed decades ago – architectures built for a different era of commerce. They’ve been maintained with patches, middleware, and manual workarounds that make innovation slow and integration difficult.

Merchants now expect cloud-native systems that are modular, scalable, and API-driven. Platforms that deliver real-time data visibility, analytics, and adaptability – allowing merchants to build and evolve without being constrained by legacy code.

Providers that cling to old systems risk not just technical debt, but strategic irrelevance. Payments infrastructure should be an enabler of innovation, not an obstacle.

Rethinking the Infrastructure Layer

The issue isn’t that modern payment solutions don’t exist – they do. The problem is that too many are bolted onto outdated foundations. Layering new features onto old systems is like fitting a Formula 1 engine into a 1970s chassis: technically possible, but structurally unsound.

The future of payments lies in rethinking the infrastructure layer entirely. That means building platforms that are natively cloud-based, flexible by design, and ready to integrate with tomorrow’s technologies.

Modern infrastructure enables:

  • Faster onboarding and deployment
  • Greater transparency into transaction data and fees
  • Easier compliance with evolving regulations
  • Continuous innovation without system downtime

This shift isn’t just technical – it’s strategic. It’s about giving merchants the confidence that their payment systems can scale with them, wherever their business goes next.

A New Standard for Payments

The payments industry has reached an inflection point. Merchants no longer see payments as a commodity or cost centre – they see them as a growth driver. Providers that continue to build products in isolation from merchant needs will fall behind.

Success will come to those who build with a merchant-first mindset: reducing barriers, improving performance, and enabling future growth.

The question for every PSP, PayFac, and acquirer is no longer “What features can we add?” but “Are we ready to deliver what merchants actually need?”

About Silverflow

Silverflow is a new kind of payment processing platform designed for today’s payment needs and fit for the future. A cloud-native solution with a single API to the card networks. One platform with one connection. Reducing cost and complexity, easy to use, data-rich, Silverflow frees you to innovate. Find out more at silverflow.com

Co-founder Robert Kraal is one of the few people in the world with over 20 years of experience in online payments.

After completing his degree in Geophysics, he started his career at Bibit, the first global Payment Service Provider (PSP) which was acquired by RBS/Worldpay. At RBS/Worldpay he went on to lead account management, before moving on to Google Netherlands. He joined Adyen in 2010 in the role of COO, where he was responsible for building and running the global acquiring and processing service.

As the Business Development lead at Silverflow, Robert is responsible for maintaining relationships with the card schemes, acquirers, PSPs and regulators.  

  • Digital Payments
  • Neobanking

Author

Elina Rayberg

Published

21 October 2025

Estimated Read time

3Mins

Elina Rayberg, Principal at Valar Ventures, on the changing face of payments across the FinTech ecosystem

Wise’s exploration of a UK banking license is more than a single company milestone; it’s reflective of a significant, wider industry trend. Fintechs are no longer content to operate on the periphery of payments; they are stepping out of the shadows to compete directly with traditional banks. The implications for the payments ecosystem are profound.

Expanding Beyond the Payments Value Chain

For many years now, fintechs have added various components to the payments value chain. From BNPL, cross-border transfers, embedded payments and beyond, building financial infrastructure that allows businesses to integrate simpler, varied payment options for consumers has been a lucrative and innovative industry, one that’s attracted swathes of investment.

Until very recently, these fintech players haven’t felt a need to expand into more consumer-facing, traditional banking settings, and particularly not the need to tackle the various compliance and capital requirements needed to become a bank. This is changing.

Wise’s Strategic Move

Wise is a payments giant. It already operates at a global scale, with over 10 million customers and billions in transfers each quarter. By seeking a banking license, Wise is demonstrating an ambition to move beyond payment infrastructure and offer regulated financial products such as savings and credit. This would open new revenue streams while strengthening its position as a consumer brand, not just a payments rail.

A Broader Competitive Landscape

Wise is part of a wider movement. Revolut has been pursuing banking licenses in both the UK and US. Block (formerly Square) holds a banking charter, whilst both Stripe and Apple have partnerships with Goldman Sachs to offer banking products and services. Together, these moves illustrate a convergence: fintechs expanding into regulated banking, while incumbent banks adopt fintech-driven product strategies to protect market share.

The Full-Stack Future

The movement of both fintechs into the banking space and banks integrating fintech product strategies is reshaping the payments ecosystem in real time. Broad advances in technology since the inception of banking and financial services mean that it is entirely possible for one platform to operate as a full-stack digital bank proposition.

Traditional banks, challengers, and neobanks are all racing to execute on this opportunity, though with varying degrees of success, often constrained by regulation and the complexity of scaling financial infrastructure.

Regulatory Implications

As fintechs edge deeper into banking, regulators face the challenge of adapting rules to a landscape where the line between payment providers and banks blurs. This presents both opportunity and risk. Companies that can scale responsibly within regulatory frameworks may unlock significant advantage; those that outpace their compliance capabilities risk severe consequences.

Looking Ahead

Fintechs have historically been content to capture slices of the payments market. Today, signals suggest they are preparing to compete head-on with traditional banks. Non-bank firms that successfully leverage technology, regulatory approval, and customer reach stand to evolve into diversified, full-stack financial institutions, reshaping the future of payments in the process.

  • Digital Payments
  • Neobanking

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

7 October 2025

Estimated Read time

3Mins

AccessPay, the leading bank integration provider, has completed the roll out of its SWIFT connectivity solution for Finseta, an international payments…

AccessPay, the leading bank integration provider, has completed the roll out of its SWIFT connectivity solution for Finseta, an international payments and alternative banking provider. This will ensure a reliable, secure way to process cross-border payments.

To support its global expansion strategy and service-led business, Finseta wanted to launch a new agency banking solution. And improve payment processing automation. It implemented AccessPay’s SWIFT connectivity solution, building a seamless integration between digital currency exchange platform FXPal and Barclays Bank. This enables transparent pricing, automated reporting and analytics, and full back-office-to-bank connectivity.

The four-way project, including Barclays and SWIFT, was implemented in just six months. An impressive achievement for a first-time SWIFT user. Finseta benefits from cost savings, improved competitive advantage and a scalable architecture.

AccessPay’s tailored, integrated solution, includes:

  • End-to-end workflow automation: A seamless integration between FXPal and Barclays Bank using AccessPay’s SWIFT connectivity through Alliance Lite2 for Business Application service. Payment files are now automatically validated, processed and monitored in real time.
  • Real-time visibility and reconciliation: Provides Finseta’s customers full transparency into payment status. Along with the ability to instantly reconcile transactions against bank statements.
  • Seamless customer experience: With AccessPay’s SWIFT capabilities, Finseta created a smooth, efficient experience for its clients. Reducing manual errors and delays.

SWIFT Connectivity

Finseta’s experience shows the value of working with a third-party specialist in SWIFT connectivity. AccessPay’s knowledge ensures smoother implementation and faster issue resolution. Additionally, leveraging a trusted partner helps future-proof Finseta’s payment infrastructure. Making it easier to scale globally and maintain service reliability.

“Of the many SWIFT projects I’ve been involved in over the past dozen years, this has probably been one of the smoothest and fastest. With the service delivered in just six months. I attribute this to the strong four-way relationship. As well as the teams’ motivation and responsiveness, and a well-defined project strategy.”

Tom Livock, Head of Enterprise Sales, AccessPay

“AccessPay did the heavy lifting involved in implementing SWIFT connectivity. The quick route to go-live has meant that we can start realising the benefits sooner than if we built the solution in-house. I’d rather double down on what sets Finseta apart from our competitors, than trying to be an expert in SWIFT.”

Declan Jones, Chief Product Officer, Finseta.

Finseta will use AccessPay’s SWIFT connectivity solution globally for all its customers (high-net-worth individuals, large institutions and corporates).

About AccessPay

AccessPay is a leading provider of bank integration solutions, pioneering finance transformation for the Office of the CFO. AccessPay helps finance and treasury teams modernise their operations through secure, cloud-based bank connectivity. Our platform connects back-office systems to banks, enabling the automated flow and transformation of payment, bank statement and other financial data. 

Thousands of businesses around the world partner with AccessPay to automate supplier and client payments. Alongside Direct Debit collections, and bank statement retrieval – improving efficiency, reducing fraud risk, and gaining real-time cash visibility. 

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Manchester, UK, AccessPay is trusted by global enterprises to automate finance and treasury operations and build a future-ready Office of the CFO. 

About Finseta

Finseta is a foreign exchange and payments company offering multi-currency accounts and payment solutions to businesses and individuals. Headquartered in the City of London, Finseta combines a proprietary technology platform with a high level of personalised service. It supports clients with payments in over 165 countries in 150 currencies. With a track record of over 15 years, Finseta has the expertise, experience and expanding global partner network to be able to execute complex cross-border payments. It is fully regulated, through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, by the Financial Conduct Authority as an Electronic Money Institution. By the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada as a Money Services Business. And by the Dubai Financial Services Authority under a Category 3D licence.

  • Digital Payments

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

15 September 2025

Estimated Read time

2Mins

Integration of open banking technology and digital banking experience platform delivers seamless, standards-compliant customer experiences

Ozone API, the global leader in open banking and open finance technology, and Plumery, a digital banking experience platform, today announced a strategic partnership for true customer-centric banking. The collaboration combines Ozone API’s specialist open banking platform with Plumery’s Digital Success Fabric, to empower financial institutions to deliver seamless, compliant, and innovative digital banking experiences.

The partnership combines Ozone API’s standards-based open API technology, built to support all global open banking standards and regulations, with Plumery’s modern, cloud-native digital banking experience platform. This integration empowers banks and financial institutions to rapidly deploy customer-centric mobile and web applications. These can seamlessly incorporate open banking capabilities without compromising on compliance or security.

Ozone API & Plumery – A Digital Partnership

“At Ozone API, we do one thing better than anyone else – provide standards-based open API technology to banks and financial institutions. Our partnership with Plumery represents the perfect orchestration of market-leading technologies. By combining our specialist open banking technology with Plumery’s innovative digital banking platform, we’re enabling financial institutions to deliver truly differentiated customer experiences with an accelerated time to market.”

Huw Davies, Co-founder and CEO of Ozone API

“Our partnership with Ozone API represents a significant milestone in our mission to empower financial institutions with truly customer-centric digital banking experiences. The integration enables banks to not just meet regulatory requirements, but to transform open banking from a compliance necessity into a competitive advantage. Through future-proof architecture our clients can now deliver innovative, personalised services that leverage open banking data while maintaining the flexibility and speed-to-market that our platform is known for.”

Ben Goldin, CEO, Plumery

The joint solution addresses the growing demand from financial institutions for integrated digital banking platforms that can harness open banking capabilities. These can enhance customer engagement and create new revenue streams. Banks can now utilise Plumery’s flexible, developer-friendly platform to craft tailored digital experiences. Meanwhile, seamlessly integrating Ozone API’s robust open banking functionality.

About Ozone API

Ozone API empowers banks, fintechs, and financial institutions worldwide to thrive in the world of open banking. Founded by the team behind the UK’s open banking standards, our platform delivers secure, compliant, and high-performance APIs that unlock the potential of open finance. We help clients across multiple continents comply with evolving standards, create commercial value from their data, and deliver innovation at speed. Learn more: https://ozoneapi.com

About Plumery

Founded in 2016 as a private consultancy collaborating with leading global banking companies, Plumery became a registered brand in 2017 and evolved into an independent product company in 2022. Backed by renowned venture capital firms, Plumery now offers a modern, cloud-native digital banking experience platform. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Plumery operates with a diverse team that embodies a unique combination of seasoned expertise and vibrant innovation. Operating across Amsterdam, Lisbon, and Vilnius, Plumery’s mission is to empower financial institutions worldwide, regardless of size, to craft distinctive, contemporary, and customer-centric mobile and web experiences. Learn more: https://plumery.com/

  • Digital Payments
  • Neobanking

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

10 September 2025

Estimated Read time

2Mins

Data from Mangopay’s global fraud detection solution Nethone shows UK online platforms among most frequently attacked countries, driving a 48% year-on-year rise in fraud checks

New data from Nethone, Mangopay’s global fraud detection solution, reveals online fraud pressure rising to record levels and breaking out of traditional holiday cycles. 

From January 2024 to July 2025, monthly inquiries (events assessed for fraud risk such as transactions, logins and sign-ups) grew from around 240 million to over 525 million. More than doubling in 18 months. Peaks landed outside classic shopping windows, notably Sep-Oct 2024 (480m) and set a new all-time high in July 2025 of 525m. 

The year-on-year picture tells the same story: between January and July 2025, Nethone processed an average of 470 million inquiries per month, compared to 300 million in the same period in 2024 – an increase of 48% year-on-year. 

Nethone’s full risk profiling analyses (“profilings”), which combine device fingerprinting, behavioural biometrics and account history checks, also rose from an average of 110 million per month (January-July 2024) to 170 million (January-July 2025), a 37% year-on-year increase, with an all-time high of 245 million in June 2025. 

Geographically, the UK emerges as one of the most targeted hubs for online fraud, alongside France, Germany and Spain. Sector patterns underscore the year-round threat. E-commerce accounts for the majority of fraud events detected across the year. This is consistently driving volumes well above 400 million monthly checks in 2025. Travel and mobility platforms bring in seasonal spikes during summer holidays, while FinTech platforms show sharp surges in specific months, reflecting event-driven criminal activity. Gaming platforms follow a similar pattern around promotional campaigns. 

Mark Burton, VP Engineering, Fraud Platform, Nethone

“Fraud is no longer a seasonal threat. Our data shows that criminal activity has become a year-round pressure on UK and European platforms. Fraudsters now exploit promotional cycles and refund windows just as much as traditional shopping peaks. They are becoming more persistent and opportunistic, driving higher costs for businesses and risks for consumers. Online marketplaces, travel providers, and FinTech platforms need to be prepared for a constant baseline of risk, not just one-off surges.”  

About Mangopay 

Founded in 2013, Mangopay powers a wallet-based payment infrastructure specifically designed for organizations with complex, multi-party fund flows. Our programmable wallet solution optimizes fund management, allowing platforms to regain control over payments, secure transactions, and automate payouts.  

By leveraging Mangopay’s end-to-end white-label infrastructure, clients generate additional revenue and enhance operational efficiency while remaining compliant and protected with 360° AI-driven fraud prevention. 

With over 250 million end users and more than €130 billion in processed transactions, Mangopay continues to lead in the fintech industry, providing flexible wallets designed to move money your way. 

About Nethone, a Mangopay solution 

Nethone, a Mangopay solution, is an AI-powered fraud detection system that offers the most in-depth user analysis and precise risk analysis for merchants and fintech companies.  The proprietary profiler analyzes thousands of data points for a 360° view of every user, detects fraudulent behavior with 130 signals combined with AI-based models, and keeps companies safe from account takeover, payment fraud, bots, and organized attacks.  

  • Cybersecurity in FinTech
  • Digital Payments

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

4 September 2025

Estimated Read time

5Mins

The Financial Transformation Summit (FTS), presented by MoneyNext, took place June 18-19 2025 at London’s ExCeL Centre, Royal Victoria Dock. With over 2,000 attendees, 300+ speakers, and 400 roundtables, it stood out as one of the most immersive and interactive events in the financial services calendar.

FinTech Strategy hit the conference floor at the heart of the action delivering insights from experts across Banking, Insurance, Wealth, and Lending at Financial Transformation Summit (FTS).

Financial Transformation Summit attendees from banking, insurance, wealth, lending, fintech, consultancy, and regulatory sectors convened for two days packed with keynotes, panel talks, immersive demos, and networking among 60+ exhibitors and startups.

Co-located streams – Banking, Insurance, Wealth, and Lending part of themed zones – meant that ticket-holders could explore adjacent sectors fluidly across a guiding theme: culture, collaboration, and customer centricity driving tech adoption and transformation.

Programme Highlights

Keynotes & Panels

1. Data Silos & Cross‑Institutional Collaboration

A panel featuring senior leaders from EVLO, Aon, Schroders, and Brit Insurance tackled how institutions – despite collectively spending over $33 billion annually on data – still struggle to collaborate due to privacy concerns and regulation. Innovative solutions included federated learning, anonymised client IDs and consent-backed APIs.

2. Digital Insurance via Wallets

Anna Bojic (Miss Moneypenny Technologies) unveiled a fresh take on insurance – embedding policy and claim data into Apple/Google Wallets. The idea: dynamic customer interaction directly from smartphone wallets, enhancing real‑time engagement and retention.

3. ESG Economics & Market Reality

Marc Kahn (Investec) challenged ESG orthodoxy, urging firms to emphasise human and planetary wellbeing – beyond purely financial returns – to capture stakeholder trust and sustainable growth.

4. People & Psychological Safety

Kirsty Watson (Aberdeen Group) and Vikki Allgood (Fidelity International) underlined that technological investments are futile without organisational design and psychological safety. Allgood cited a McKinsey study revealing only 26% of leaders build teams with a sense of safety – a critical step toward innovation.

5. Human‑Centred AI

Monica Kalia (Planda AI) championed AI that models individual financial contexts – recognising diversity within demographic cohorts and personalizing services accordingly.

Roundtable Experiences at FTS

At the event’s heart were the TableTalk roundtables – 400+ small-group sessions, each led by a subject-matter expert. These were limited to six participants each, enabling deep, peer-led discussions on themes like:

  • AI in risk and compliance
  • Open banking integration
  • ESG data standards
  • Cyber resilience
  • Change management and culture adaptation

Attendees consistently praised their interactive nature – far removed from the stage‑focused “listening” format often critiqued at other conferences.

Demonstrations & Exhibitor Showcase

Over 60 exhibitors presented tech-driven innovations: Generative AI, open‑banking APIs, ESG reporting tools, embedded finance solutions, and more. A few standouts were:

  • CRIF highlighted AI-powered credit scoring with ESG overlays – promising dynamic risk assessments backed by sustainability data
  • Emerging FinTechs demoing AI compliance engines, digital wallet insurance packaging, and data-sharing platforms
  • Hyland demonstrated the intuitive end-user experience of its Hyland Content Innovation Cloud™ and showed how easy it is to configure, tailor and deploy solutions that can empower key stakeholders across any business

The demo zone allowed engaging, hands-on exploration and real-time Q&As; it complemented the content with practical insights.

Standout Themes & Strategic Insights

1. Tech is Not Enough Without Culture

Recurrent messaging emphasised that culture, trust, governance, and psychological safety are foundational – not secondary – to digital initiatives. Technology alone won’t deliver transformation without a people-first mindset.

2. Cross‑Sector Data Collaboration

Despite heavy investment, institutions still operate in silos. Shared, secure infrastructure and regulatory-aligned frameworks are being prototyped, but broad adoption remains a work in progress.

3. AI-as-a-Personalisation Backbone

AI is shifting from automation to empathy. Organisations showcased tools to hyper-personalise offers yet maintain privacy and inclusion – moving beyond outdated demographic frameworks into genuine behavioural understanding.

4. Embedded Finance & Digital Wallets

Insurance via wallet applications and embedded finance models point to seamless customer journeys – less app hopping, more value delivered at the point of need.

5. Rebalancing ESG & Profit Metrics

Speakers emphasised integrating ESG factors into performance metrics – not just for compliance, but as an operative advantage anchored in long-term stability and stakeholder trust.

Who Should Attend FTS Next Year?

Ideal for:

  • Transformation and change leaders
  • CTOs, CIOs, and Heads of Innovation
  • Data and AI strategists
  • Operational and HR leaders focused on culture
  • FinTech innovators and solution providers

If you’re crafting digital transformation strategies, an attuned leader in financial services, or a consultant embedding tech in legacy environments, this summit provides rich, actionable content.

Expect next year’s event to build on this foundation:

  • More AI-specific tracks, possibly Generative AI streams
  • ESG deep-dives with case studies on implementation
  • Expanded regulator involvement around data governance and cross-border compliance

FTS: Final Verdict

Overall, the FTS 2025 delivered on its brand promise:

  • Interactive and inclusive: 400 roundtables empowered voices across levels.
  • Cross‑sector learning: Banking, Insurance, Wealth, and Lending streams offered both breadth and depth.
  • Insightful keynotes: Big ideas on AI, ESG, data-sharing, and culture were well-explored.
  • Real-world relevance: Exhibitor demos connected theory with practice.
  • Networking with purpose: Opportunities to engage, learn, and collaborate were abundant.

The Financial Transformation Summit struck a compelling balance between big-picture vision and granular, execution-level insight. It emphasised that while technology enables; culture, customer centricity and collaboration drive real progress. The format – with its roundtables, demos, and keynotes – offered a dynamic platform for knowledge exchange.

If you attended, chances are you left with practical next steps. If you didn’t, you missed one of the most interactive, future-focused events shaping financial services transformation today.

  • Artificial Intelligence in FinTech
  • Digital Payments
  • Embedded Finance
  • Events
  • Host Perspectives
  • InsurTech

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

21 August 2025

Estimated Read time

3Mins

The Card & Payments Awards will be taking place on Thursday 5th February 2026 at the famous JW Marriott Grosvenor House Hotel in Mayfair, London. Entries are open now and close in October… Book your table for the Awards now!

The Card & Payments Awards remains the longest-standing and leading networking event of the year for the UK and Irish card and payments industry. With over 1100 guests attending on the night, from over 300 different companies, and with a compelling list of blue-chip sponsors. Enter here and book your tables now.

Recognising Excellence and Innovation in Payments

The Card & Payments Awards has been instrumental in recognising excellence and innovation across the industry from a diverse range of corporations for the past two decades. Each year many eligible organisations compete for one of the prestigious awards which are judged by an independent panel of industry experts. The Awards concludes with its infamous Industry Achievement Award each year. 

The Card & Payments Awards are open across the different categories to credit, debit, prepaid and charge card issuers, co-brands, merchant acquirers, payment processors, retailers and other payments companies worldwide who are offering programmes or initiatives within the UK and Irish market. There are a range of categories covering key disciplines and offering organisations the opportunity to showcase all of their achievements. 

Why Enter

For over 20 years, The Card & Payments Awards have been recognising excellence across the industry.

Widely regarded as the Oscars of the card and payments world, this is your opportunity to stand out and celebrate your achievements.

An entry gives you the chance to:

  • Gain recognition from respected industry leaders
  • Build brand credibility and consumer trust
  • Increase visibility through press and media coverage
  • Extensive networking opportunities with senior industry leaders
  • Demonstrate your commitment to excellence
  • Assessment by an independent panel of experienced industry judges

Entries are judged on the strength of the submission and how well it meets the category criteria. Categories include: Best Industry Innovation, Best Payment Facility, Best App User Experience (CX Initiative), Best Product Design and the Financial Inclusion Award. Last year’s winners include moneyhub for Open Banking, Dojo for Innovating Customer Service with AI, and Nationwide for Product Design.

Enter here and book your tables now to celebrate the industry’s biggest achievements, whilst meeting the key players from across the sector.

Author

Matt Whetton

Published

19 August 2025

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Matt Whetton, Chief Technology Officer, Acquired.com on the future of payments with cVRPs, AI and vertical integration

There are three powerful forces shaping the future of payments and how businesses pay and get paid today. Commercial variable recurring payments (cVRPs), AI, and vertical integration. These forces are transforming the way that businesses can interact with their customers. They are still in the early stages of their development. As these technologies evolve, they hold great potential to redefine payments, benefiting both businesses and consumers alike.

cVRPs – recurring commerce done smarter

When open banking is discussed, many people are familiar with options like “pay by bank” at checkout. While this is mostly used for one-time purchases, recurring payments like bills and subscriptions still rely heavily on direct debits. Businesses serving British consumers, who collectively spend almost £30 billion a year on subscription services, face challenges with slow settlements. There are also high fees (especially for failed transactions), and limited customer control.

cVRPs, the latest evolution of open banking, promise to ease many of the challenges. For example, cVRPs enable businesses to securely collect payments from customers’ bank accounts within agreed limits. These include the amount, frequency, or duration, without requiring customers to re-authenticate each time, reducing friction yet increasing optimisation.

In addition to providing the same benefits as ‘pay by bank’ at checkout, such as the convenience of not having to enter your card details and security of not sharing these details with the retailer, cVRPs can unlock new business models for businesses dependent on recurring revenue. The open banking infrastructure which powers cVRPs allows businesses to gather data insights from these transactions. This enables the introduction of offers like dynamic pricing for subscriptions, or variable insurance premiums based on usage. Not only does this help operational efficiency, but it ultimately enhances the customer experience, encouraging them to keep coming back.

Critically, cVRPs are more likely to successfully complete compared to traditional direct debits, as businesses leverage advanced capabilities like smarter retry logic and dynamic payment routing. These are typically implemented by providers offering VRP services. With open banking making real-time account balance checks possible, businesses can determine the best time to retry a failed payment, such as after payday. Dynamic routing enables merchants to route transactions based on pre-defined business rules, such as transaction value, geographic region, or acquirer performance. This flexibility ensures that payments are directed to the most suitable acquirer or provider. Therefore ncreasing the likelihood of successful transactions and optimising cost efficiency. Together, these capabilities help reduce failed payments, keep customers subscribed, and increase revenue over time.

However, its nascence means there are still potential threats ahead. Regulators need to learn lessons from the growth of ‘pay by bank’. There are 27 million monthly payments now taking place after a slow start, as well as already piloted sweeping VRPs to ensure a solid business model for open banking. With collaboration from banks, FinTechs, business, and government, the ecosystem can take full advantage of these innovative capabilities to reduce friction.

AI/ML’s transformative impact

The advances in AI and machine learning (AI/ML) are written about every day. So, it’s perhaps no surprise that they are having a profound impact on how businesses process payments, detect fraud, and improve customer service. AI’s ability to process large volumes of transaction data efficiently helps businesses identify patterns, trends, and anomalies that would otherwise be difficult to detect.

Not only does this capability benefit fraud prevention, but it can also help businesses gain meaningful insights from the data. Allowing them to expand their service offerings. For example, businesses can apply AI/ML to automate tasks enabled by open banking, such as income verification, affordability checks, and financial health scoring. This helps speed up onboarding and approval processes. Meanwhile, giving consumers access to more sophisticated services. These include spend forecasting, budgeting nudges, and alerts for unusual activity, thereby helping them manage their money more effectively.

Looking ahead, AI/ML will be central to unlocking the full potential of open banking. By improving operational efficiency and enabling richer customer experiences, AI will help businesses transition from reactive to proactive financial services. Currently, the best use cases for AI are assistive, not autonomous. AI is at its most powerful when it augments human decision-making, particularly in nuanced or regulated environments. We’re still early in the maturity curve. As the technology becomes more affordable and the technology within it more explainable, it’s hard to imagine the full potential impact of AI in the payments industry.

Tailored Solutions

The combination of open banking and AI has led to a more tailored and specialised approach to payments technology, particularly for businesses in specific industries. While these powerful tools offer great potential, it is crucial that they are applied in the right way, at the right time, and for the right business.

To move beyond generic payment solutions, the industry is seeing increasing vertical integration. Instead of simply processing transactions, payment providers must now deliver more comprehensive solutions that address the needs of specific sectors. In industries where payment needs are more complex, vertical integration ensures that payment solutions are tightly aligned with business operations. For example, businesses in the construction sector often require project-based billing and payment systems that reflect the way projects are managed. Elsewhere, hospitality providers need solutions that integrate payment systems with real-time inventory tracking and booking management.

It’s fair to say firms will always be looking for any place to optimise to gain an edge. The trend towards vertical integration, combined with cVRPs, and AI are redefining the future of payments. There is a move away from a technical area of the business, to become a core operational function. Businesses adapting to leverage these technologies are well placed to create stronger connections with their customers and drive long-term growth.

  • Digital Payments

Author

Kenan Maciel

Published

7 July 2025

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Kenan Maciel, Director of Strategy at Lab49, on the future for cross-border payments in the global push for instant settlement

Cross-Border payments are the unseen infrastructure powering global commerce. A multinational corporation settling international invoices, a small business sourcing products overseas, or a family transferring remittances across continents… The global economy has relied on the seamless movement of money across borders for decades. Now, with the total value of cross-border payments estimated to increase from almost $150 trillion in 2017 to over $250 trillion in 2027, it’s clear just how fundamental they are to the future of the global economy.

However, despite their scale and importance, cross-border payments remain plagued by inefficiencies and high costs. High transaction fees, slow settlement times and a persistent lack of transparency have consistently challenged businesses and consumers. The Financial Stability Board, responsible for the G20 Roadmap for Enhancing cross-border payments, has acknowledged that “significant progress will be needed to meet the targets” this year. This statement highlights the reality of the industry as it stands. While the need for better infrastructure is widely recognised, the pace of change is unsteady.

A Landscape of Legacy

For decades, cross-border payments have relied on an established set of mechanisms: banks, credit card networks and money transfer operators. Traditionally, the biggest facilitators of cross-border payments have been the platforms established by major banks and governments like SWIFT, SEPA and CHIPS. These systems have served their purpose but are increasingly ill-suited to the demands of modern commerce. More recently, traditional card networks such as Visa, Mastercard and American Express have expanded their role in this space, capturing an ever-growing share of the cross-border market by offering relatively faster and more integrated solutions than conventional bank transfers.

In recent years, the emergence of new technologies has begun to reshape the landscape, helping to expand the growth of cross-border payments. DLTs, stablecoins and CBDCs offer the promise of faster, more secure, transparent and cost-effective payments compared to traditional methods. While the overall volume of cross-border payments handled on blockchain is still a fraction of the global market, its growth trajectory is significant. BVNK, for example, estimates that stablecoin payments alone could represent a $60 trillion opportunity in the next five years.

The Problems Persist

Still, challenges persist. The cross-border payment model is weighed down by high fees from traditional facilitators often driven by currency conversion charges, intermediary bank costs and compliance related expenses form different regulatory jurisdictions. Often, a single payment is subject to multiple checks and validation, each requiring different sets of data, which not only slows down processing times but also increases operational complexity. FX risks and associated high funding costs further complicate the picture. Banks are often required to pre-fund transactions in destination currencies to enable timely settlement, resulting in high funding costs and the need to hold capital that could be more productively deployed elsewhere.

A lack of transparency further compounds these issues. For many businesses, understanding the total cost of a transaction, and tracking its progress, remains frustratingly difficult. Information about fees, exchange rates and settlement times is often fragmented and inconsistent, further increasing uncertainty and risk.

What’s Changing?

Nevertheless, meaningful change is underway. One area seeing rapid development is FX hedging. Companies are increasingly making use of forward contracts and options to manage currency risk, while fintechs are leveraging smart contracts and decentralised finance platforms to automate FX conversion, improving both cost efficiency and predictability. The introduction of ISO 20022 and the looming November deadline, means that a global standard for financial messaging is inching closer. By standardising electronic data interchange between financial institutions, it promises to reduce friction and facilitate faster, more accurate payments.

Another encouraging development is the expansion of central banks’ instant payment infrastructures. For example, Fed Now in the US, Faster Payments in the UK, and SEPA Instant in the EU operate around the clock, offering real-time, 24/7 settlement. These developments mark a significant departure from traditional systems like standard SEPA which typically settle over two business days and only during working hours. While the cost of using these instant infrastructures is often higher, the benefits in terms of speed, transparency and availability offer a compelling improvement. Their growing presence is helping to set new expectations for what’s possible in domestic and cross-border payments.

With DLTs and stablecoins also gaining traction as credible alternatives to traditional methods, the industry is also moving closer to near instant global settlement and the ability to operate 24/7. A significant improvement over the lengthy settlement times and limited operating hours of legacy systems. Although, mainstream adoption still faces hurdles, with one of the primary challenges being convenience and usability. For many uses, managing digital wallets and understanding decentralised systems remains unintuitive, limiting adoption outside of extremely digital literate circles.

Who’s Leading the Charge?

Importantly, it is no longer just FinTechs and startups leading the charge. Traditional financial institutions are actively investing in digital asset infrastructure. Visa’s tokenised asset platform and the Bank of America’s plans for a proprietary stablecoin are prime examples of how legacy players are adapting. Institutions like these are often helping to define the future of cross-border payments.

The industry stands at a turning point, on the cusp of achieving the required speed, cost, transparency and access for the global economic future. With ongoing technological innovation and evolving regulatory frameworks, the path is becoming clearer. However, the nature of global finance means that no single approach will dominate. Different payment models require different tools, and the most effective solutions will be those tailored to specific needs and truly fit for the modern financial ecosystem.

  • Digital Payments

Author

Sejal Mehta & Wendy Di Blasio

Published

30 June 2025

Estimated Read time

4Mins

Sejal Mehta and Wendy Di Blasio from Odgers Berndtson’s Global FinTech and Financial Services Practices, discuss new leadership demands in a rapidly evolving cross-border payments space

The global landscape for cross-border payments is at an inflection point. It is driven by rapid technological advances, evolving regulatory frameworks, and shifting consumer expectations. With Asia emerging as a hub of growth, particularly in countries like China, India, and Singapore, the industry is projected to soar to $23.8 trillion by 2032. This represents over one-third of global transactions.

Yet, this significant growth introduces complexity. Challenges in interoperability, regulatory divergence, and varying regional consumer behaviours make effective leadership indispensable. In such an environment, strong executive leadership not only manages but proactively shapes these transformations.

A New Leadership Mandate in Cross-Border Payments

Today, successful leadership in cross-border payments requires much more than operational effectiveness or market penetration. Modern executives must adeptly manage uncertainty, anticipate disruption, and drive transformation at scale.

Visionary leadership is paramount. Executives need to foresee industry trends, understanding key initiatives such as Project Nexus. This aims to integrate real-time payment systems across Asia, enhancing transaction speed and seamlessness.

Strategic agility is equally critical. Given volatile geopolitical dynamics and fluctuating financial flows, leaders must skilfully balance immediate demands with long-term goals. The capacity to make informed, data-driven decisions amid complexity is now a hallmark of effective leadership.

Cultural competence also defines leadership excellence. Executives must nurture inclusive, agile teams that can navigate diverse cultural contexts and regional expectations. Emotional intelligence, cultural sensitivity, and the ability to effectively lead multicultural, distributed teams are no longer optional. These are essential leadership competencies.

Navigating Regulatory Complexity with Strategic Foresight

Managing regulatory fragmentation across jurisdictions is a significant challenge for leadership in the cross-border payments space. Countries continue to implement and update localised rules around data protection, anti-money laundering (AML), and financial compliance. Executives are under increasing pressure to ensure both global consistency and local compliance.

This environment calls for a nuanced understanding of international law, regional policy developments, and collaborative regulatory frameworks. Successful leaders are those who build strong regulatory partnerships, anticipate changes in legal landscapes, and embed compliance into the strategic DNA of their organisations.

For instance, responding to initiatives like ISO 20022, which standardises financial messaging formats, requires more than technical adaptation. It demands coordinated leadership across compliance, operations, and technology functions. By staying ahead of these shifts, executives not only minimise risk but can unlock new efficiencies and competitive advantages.

Several emerging trends are reshaping leadership in cross-border payments, significantly influencing how companies approach talent development and executive roles.

Intergenerational leadership has become a priority as Millennials and Gen Z increasingly dominate the workforce. These groups value purpose, flexibility, and impactful work, disrupting traditional loyalty structures. Today’s leaders must actively foster collaboration and unity across diverse age groups, aligning teams around shared ambitions like innovation, sustainability, and inclusivity.

The fluidity between traditional financial institutions (TradFi) and FinTech organisations is increasing noticeably. Executives moving between these spheres bring invaluable cross-sector expertise, methodologies, and perspectives. This intersection demands leaders who can seamlessly bridge legacy systems with innovative technologies, balancing stability with innovation.

Consequently, organisations are more frequently leveraging tools like psychometric assessments to identify crucial leadership attributes such as adaptability, resilience, and learning agility. These assessments are increasingly applied not only to senior executives but also to non-executive board members, helping firms strategically future-proof their leadership capabilities.

Cultivating Leadership Through Development and Succession Planning

Effective leadership development strategies have become critical as companies scale operations and navigate ongoing technological and geopolitical changes. Organisations cannot solely rely on external hires. They must cultivate internal talent pools prepared to address future challenges.

Forward-thinking companies are investing in targeted leadership programmes, mentorship opportunities, and rotational assignments designed to expose emerging leaders to diverse operational complexities. These practices strengthen organisational resilience, encourage internal innovation, and foster adaptability among leadership ranks.

Strategic succession planning further enhances organisational robustness. Rather than responding reactively to sudden leadership gaps, high-performing companies proactively identify, and nurture promising talent. This approach requires upskilling the leaders by providing them with a strategic understanding of newer technologies, data models and associated risks.

Leadership as the Cornerstone of Competitive Advantage

In the rapidly evolving cross-border payments landscape, leadership quality will ultimately distinguish market leaders from followers. As regulatory pressures intensify and technological advancements continue to reshape the industry, effective leadership is pivotal to turning complexity into growth opportunities.

By committing to leadership development, strategic executive recruitment, and aligning talent management with overarching business objectives, organisations position themselves for resilience and sustained success. The right leaders will not only navigate challenges but leverage them into lasting competitive advantages, transforming vision into tangible market value.

  • Digital Payments

Author

María Ávila Silván

Published

23 June 2025

Estimated Read time

4Mins

María Ávila Silván, CRO at PagoNxt Payments, on the future of B2B payments and why digital-first providers are best positioned to lead

Despite long-standing claims that ‘cash is dead’, it continues to solve three distinct business problems for payments – immediacy, certainty, and accessibility.

Now, however, with the European Parliament’s decision to cap cash transactions at €10,000 by 2027, businesses who rely on these attributes are facing a turning point. Where cash is no longer a viable foundation for business operations, and digital is no longer optional. While positioned as an anti-money laundering measure, this regulation’s most profound impact will be catalysing the final stage of payment digitisation across European commerce. For banks and payment providers, this represents a compliance challenge. And a strategic opportunity to extend digital payment ecosystems.

The benefits of this acceleration towards digital payments are substantial. Over the past two decades, we’ve seen digital transactions offer enhanced traceability, providing both compliance benefits and improved financial visibility. In addition, they reduce the security risks and insurance costs associated with holding and transporting physical currency. Automated reconciliation capabilities eliminate countless hours of manual processing, while the granular data available from digital transactions generates treasury insights once thought impossible in the cash era. The operational efficiency gains alone can transform finance functions into the strategic enablers of enterprises.

That said, the shift isn’t straightforward. Those serving cash-intensive sectors must develop solutions that deliver the same immediacy businesses expect. This requires reimagining payment workflows entirely.

Human-Centric Design

The €10,000 cash limitation creates distinct challenges for businesses. Consider construction companies paying contractors on completion, or wholesale distributors accepting immediate payment upon delivery. Both will face disruption to established operational rhythms. Neither are inconveniences, but touch core business relationships where immediate exchange has built trust and operational predictability.

The digital alternatives now mandated by the EU must address human factors alongside technical capabilities. The reluctance to entirely abandon cash often stems from well-grounded concerns about digital payment accessibility, complexity, and reliability. Systems requiring multiple authentication steps, specialised hardware, or stable internet connectivity create friction points that cash simply doesn’t have. Any viable alternative to cash must address these barriers through education, simplified experiences, and demonstrable security. This is on all of us to address, and doing so must be viewed as a transformation journey rather than a compliance exercise. This means engaging clients early and understanding their specific operational concerns. We need to develop tailored pathways that address both the technical and cultural dimensions of payments change.

Matching the Core Strengths of Cash

As stated earlier, the greatest virtue of cash has always been its immediacy. You hand over notes, you receive goods or services. This represents a real-time transaction with instant settlement certainty.

Digital payment systems have historically struggled to match this attribute, introducing settlement delays and reconciliation challenges that create operational friction. That is, until now. The SEPA Instant initiative addresses this gap directly, enabling settlement within seconds rather than days. Yet despite these benefits, adoption remains inconsistent, with fewer than 5% of European banks currently maintaining the robust infrastructure needed to fully support these capabilities. The cash cap now creates a powerful incentive to hasten the speed, particularly for institutions serving affected sectors.

Real-time payment infrastructure delivers the immediacy businesses need. When combined with enhanced data capabilities, it creates a far superior experience to cash across multiple dimensions. A contractor receiving instant payment via their smartphone gains the same immediacy as cash while obtaining automatic documentation, tax records, and payment history. A wholesaler accepting immediate settlement receives not only funds but also structured invoice data that automates reconciliation and inventory updates. The possibilities are limitless.

Building these capabilities requires substantial investment and specialisation. Institutions must manage increasing compliance demands while simultaneously accelerating their technical capabilities. This is a challenging combination even for well-resourced organisations.

Scalable Solutions for a Complex Payments Transition

The complexity of replacing cash transactions varies significantly across different business contexts and sectors. A unified, scalable approach becomes essential for financial institutions serving diverse client bases. Payment-as-a-Service (PaaS) models excel in this environment by providing configurable solutions that can adapt to sector-specific requirements while maintaining consistent compliance frameworks.

Modern PaaS platforms deliver orchestration capabilities that manage the entire transaction lifecycle from initiation through compliance screening to settlement and reconciliation. This approach meets evolving AML requirements while delivering the real-time payment capabilities businesses require. Such a combination addresses both sides of the cash replacement equation – meeting regulatory demands while maintaining operational efficiency for end users

The EU’s €10,000 cash transaction limitation marks a defining moment in European payment evolution. It creates both challenges and opportunities – forcing reconsideration of established approaches while enabling enhanced capabilities. Financial institutions have a unique opportunity to deliver solutions that preserve cash’s operational benefits while introducing new dimensions of intelligence, integration, and experience. In turn, there is a golden opportunity to create payment ecosystems that are more transparent, efficient, and valuable for all European businesses.

  • Digital Payments

Author

Nick Saywell

Published

11 June 2025

Estimated Read time

4Mins

Nick Saywell, Senior Manager at PSE Consulting, on the rise of account-to-account payment

With Apple and Android both unlocked, can account-to-account payment finally rival cards at the checkout?

For years, account-to-account (A2A) payment providers have dreamed of bringing their low-cost, real-time model to the in-store experience. But one key problem kept getting in the way: the experience wasn’t seamless enough to challenge the tap-and-go ease of cards. That may be about to change.

In mid-2024, the European Commission struck a landmark deal with Apple, forcing it to open access to the iPhone’s NFC chip to third-party payment providers. With both Android and iOS now unlocked, a door has opened that could finally give A2A wallets a shot at real parity with cards — and give merchants and consumers a meaningful alternative to the traditional payment rails.

The race is on. But can A2A deliver?

A2A Payments, Rebooted

A2A in-store payments have technically been possible for some time. But the experience has often fallen short, marred by clunky QR codes, awkward authentication flows, and too many screens. Consumers, spoiled by contactless cards and mobile wallets, weren’t interested in waiting even a few extra seconds.

Now, with tap-to-pay functionality available on all major devices, A2A apps can finally offer what was missing: frictionless in-store payments that rival the card experience. And with that, the real advantages of A2A — faster settlement, lower fees, and direct-to-bank transfers — are no longer hidden behind usability issues.

The question is no longer “can they?” It’s “how far can they go?”

The Contactless Advantage

In-store, speed is everything. In markets like the UK, where 93% of card payments are contactless, expectations are sky-high. For A2A wallets to compete, tap-to-pay is the bare minimum – and until now, it simply wasn’t available on iOS.

That changed in December 2024, when Vipps MobilePay launched the first-ever A2A tap-to-pay solution on iPhone, enabling “Tap with Vipps” at stores across Norway. With expansion plans underway for Denmark, Finland, and Sweden, the Nordic region is quickly becoming a proving ground for A2A in-store dominance.

Other markets are following – and fast. Sweden’s Swish has moved from Bluetooth to NFC for Android tap-to-pay. Bizum, used by over half of Spain’s population, is rolling out “Bizum Pay”, enabling A2A and card-linked tap payments later in 2025. In Poland, where Blik already dominates eCommerce, the company is planning iOS tap-to-pay integration this year.  

Crucially, these aren’t just tests or pilots — they’re market-ready rollouts. And they show that the A2A space is no longer content to sit in the shadow of cards.

The Big Economies Lag Behind

However, not everyone is moving at the same speed.

Despite the momentum in Scandinavia, Spain, and Poland, Europe’s biggest economies have been slower to act. The UK has yet to see a major A2A wallet gain traction in-store. In Germany and France, legacy infrastructure and conservative adoption curves are proving hard to shake.

Even Wero, the pan-European A2A wallet backed by the European Payments Initiative, won’t have an in-store solution ready until 2026. That delay risks leaving Europe’s largest markets outpaced by smaller, more agile neighbours — at a time when merchants and consumers alike are increasingly open to change.

For now, it’s the early movers who are defining the space — and setting expectations.

The Cross-Border Payment Battle

While domestic progress is promising, cross-border A2A remains the next big challenge. Regional alliances are forming — including:

  • EuroPA: A partnership between Spain’s Bizum, Italy’s Bancomat Pay, and Portugal’s MB Way, which completed its first cross-border transaction in late 2024.
  • EMPSA: An alliance including Bancomat Pay, Switzerland’s Twint, and Austria’s Bluecode, focused on cross-border interoperability.

But the road ahead is bumpy. Without a unified European solution, A2A risks becoming fragmented — more complicated for consumers, and harder to scale. Some argue that Wero offers the long-term answer. But in the short term, it’s up to these alliances to prove cross-border A2A is more than a theory.

The pressure is on to prove that A2A can work as well across borders as it does at home — without sacrificing simplicity or reliability.

The Moment of Truth for A2A Wallets

This isn’t just a technical breakthrough — it’s a power shift. For the first time, A2A wallets are competing with cards on the one thing that mattered most: convenience. With NFC access now universal, and major players moving fast, the old excuses no longer apply.

Whether A2A becomes the new default or remains a challenger brand depends on what happens next. Can providers scale fast enough? Can they deliver the reliability, UX, and trust that card payments have built over decades?

One thing’s clear – 2025 will be a crucial year in the battle to redefine Europe’s payment scene, and a new offensive to win in-store transactions is just starting.

About PSE Consulting

PSE Consulting is a leading global provider of payment advisory services to players across the payments landscape. PSE’s expertise has enabled it to deliver actionable market insights and operational optimisation to senior payments leaders for over 30 years. Find out more here.

  • Digital Payments

Author

Melinda Roylett

Published

14 May 2025

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Melinda Roylett, Managing Director of Merchant Services at Lloyds Banking Group, on how the UK’s small and medium sized businesses can navigate the payments maze

Cashflow is the lifeblood of any business, yet it remains one of the most unpredictable aspects for SMBs. According to the Federation of Small Businesses, half of UK businesses have experienced cashflow problems. Many cite late payments as a major issue. Thankfully, banking and payment providers are stepping up with innovative and integrated services that make every transaction count.

At the recent ‘Payments Disrupted’ event, co-hosted by Lloyds and Visa at the Shard in London, they revealed exclusive business sector trends and consumer spending data. It highlighted areas of opportunity for SMBs – provided they have the tech and expert support to guide them.

The most recent Lloyds Business Barometer shows that business confidence has rebounded to the highest level since August 2024. Nevertheless, firms still cited rising costs and economic uncertainty as major obstacles to growth and investment. These challenges are not new. However, many SMBs could be overlooking an effective way to deal with them through unified payment solutions.

With the right strategies and tools, businesses can navigate complexities and unpredictability with confidence. Furthermore, they can unlock data-driven insights, cost savings, and the increased operational resilience and adaptability to cope with whatever the future throws at them.

Cashflow challenges

Sectors like retail and hospitality, where many businesses are operating on razor-thin margins, are particularly affected. Supply chain disruptions, the need to invest in growth, and seasonal fluctuations, like summer holidays, or peak sales events like Black Friday, can strain available funds.

For instance, businesses may experience cash-rich periods during peak seasons but struggle to meet operational expenses during quieter times. And with inflation still relatively high, the rising costs of materials, transportation, and labour further exacerbate cashflow challenges.

Cashflow problems inevitably have a way of seeping into other areas of the business. When cashflow is constrained, it prevents investment in the tools and tech businesses need to function properly. And they could miss out on new services that could streamline operations and lower costs.

Payment method and integration complexities

In a world of e-commerce, customer loyalty is not just about offering the best products or services. It’s about delivering a seamless and personalised experience at every touchpoint. According to UK Finance, 85% of UK consumers now use contactless payments – mobile wallet transactions are expected to account for 39% of all POS transactions by 2025. However, only 60% of small businesses have fully integrated digital payment solutions, leaving many at risk of falling behind.

Businesses can feel bewildered when confronted with the array of payment services that have emerged. Today’s customers expect seamless, secure, and diverse payment options, whether they’re shopping online or in-store. From contactless payments and mobile wallets to QR codes and pay-by-bank solutions, businesses must keep pace with these trends to remain competitive.

A smooth checkout experience, for instance, can be a significant competitive advantage. According to Visa, 59% of consumers consider a good checkout experience as important as having the best products. And 57% say a poor payment experience is enough to make them switch to a competitor.

However, integrating the payment methods that customers want can be complex, especially for SMBs with limited resources and expertise. Lloyds’ own research found that 49% of businesses say they find the choice of payment gateways in today’s market overwhelming. Considering the many data security and compliance obligations they’re facing, it’s no wonder that SMBs are asking for more help from their payment providers.

SMBs can navigate payment complexities with the right partner

To overcome these complexities, SMBs can partner with payment providers like Lloyds Merchant Services that offer integrated payment solutions, spanning point-of-sale (POS) and omnichannel acceptance. Such solutions not only simplify the payment process but also provide valuable insights into customer behaviour, enabling businesses to tailor their offerings and enhance the customer experience.

There are other benefits of working with integrated payment solutions. Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) are increasingly powering a lot of the business decisions that SMBs make. For example, to foster loyalty, businesses must go beyond basic payment processing and offer value-added services such as loyalty programmes, personalised discounts, and data-driven insights.

By analysing spending behaviours, businesses can identify trends and tailor their offerings to meet customer needs. For instance, a restaurant might use payment data to identify its most loyal customers and offer them discounts to encourage repeat visits. So, being connected to these ISVs is increasingly important to ensure consistent payment performance.

Lloyds Merchant Services has fostered partnerships with leading ISVs and tech vendors to offer the most comprehensive service range in the market. From our partnerships with PayPoint and extending our services to its 60,000-strong merchant network, to our POS device and infrastructure relationships with Fiserv, FreedomPay and Epos Now, we cover almost every business need, with scalability built-in. With Epos Now’s advanced POS, offering a powerful end-to-end solution, SMBs have access to payment acceptance technology that is robust yet flexible and can adapt changing customer needs.

That includes our flexible Merchant Cash Advance offering which provides quick access to capital based on future card sales. Differing to traditional loans, MCA allows businesses to pay the advance as a percentage of their card transactions, ensuring that payments are in sync with their cashflow. This flexibility is particularly beneficial for businesses with seasonal revenue streams, as it removes the stress of fixed monthly payments during low-income periods.

Prepare for the future now

The future of payments is increasingly digital, and businesses that provide customers with the best payment experiences will thrive. Businesses must invest in scalable payment solutions that can adapt to evolving technologies and consumer preferences. By adopting integrated payment solutions, SMBs can navigate the complexities of cash flows, rising operational costs, and evolving customer expectations. Moreover, by leveraging value-added services and staying ahead of technological trends, businesses can foster customer loyalty and drive sustainable growth.

Partnering with a knowledgeable payments provider that offers service and support that meet different business needs, dedicated relationship management, and industry insights can be a game-changer. It can give SMBs the agility and access to innovation they need to be profitable now and into the future. With expert support at every step, businesses can not only survive today but also seize the opportunities of tomorrow.

  • Digital Payments
  • Embedded Finance

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

24 April 2025

Estimated Read time

2Mins

HBX Group eWallet incorporates advanced features such as integrated financing, access to invoices and complete traceability of transactions

HBX Group, a leading independent B2B travel technology marketplace has launched the HBX Group eWallet. This innovative B2B payments platform is specifically designed for the travel industry. The product has been developed in collaboration with FinPay, an e-money institution regulated by the Bank of Spain. It will be initially available in Spain in April 2025, with plans to expand to OECD countries starting in June.

B2B eWallet

A B2B eWallet is a digital solution that allows companies to securely store and manage payments quickly, and efficiently. Operating similarly to a digital wallet for consumers, it is designed to facilitate instant, cross-border transactions between companies. HBX Group eWallet, developed specifically for the travel industry, goes a step further. It incorporates advanced features such as integrated financing, invoice access, and full transaction traceability. Its aim is to digitise and automate B2B payments, reduce transaction costs, and improve the operational scalability of the travel ecosystem.

“HBX Group eWallet represents a decisive step toward modernising B2B payments in the travel ecosystem,” says Daniel Nordholm, chief product and new business officer at HBX Group. “We want to set a new standard for efficiency and security in the sector. The partnership with FinPay allows us to achieve this with a solution tailored to the industry’s needs.”

“This collaboration with HBX Group leverages the full potential of financial technology applied to real-world business contexts,” says Juan Antonio Soriano, CEO of FinPay. “FinPay represents a breakthrough in the digitalisation of B2B payments and financing. And we are proud to be the technology partner making it possible.”

Registration on the platform implies acceptance of the terms and conditions of FinPay, the entity responsible for the payment and financing services integrated into the solution.

About HBX Group

HBX Group is a leading global independent B2B travel technology marketplace. It owns and operates Hotelbeds, Bedsonline, and Roiback. It offers a network of interconnected travel technology products and services to partners. These include online marketplaces, tour operators, travel advisors, airlines, loyalty programmes, destinations and travel suppliers.

The vision is to simplify the complex and fragmented travel industry through a combination of cloud-based technology solutions. This includes curated data and a broad portfolio of products designed to maximise revenue. HBX Group is present in 170 countries and employs more than 3,600 people worldwide. It is committed to making travel a force for good, creating a positive social and environmental impact.

  • Digital Payments

Author

Anish Kapoor

Published

4 April 2025

Estimated Read time

5Mins

AccessPay CEO Anish Kapoor examines the positive impact of DORA on the digital payments industry

The EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) is a positive step for the payments industry and will help boost the resilience of an ecosystem that has changed radically over the last twenty years. Even so, the implications of this landmark regulation for payment service providers (PSPs) are complex and far-reaching. It will require investment in processes and infrastructure, which must also factor in the ongoing shift to real-time payments.

The technology backstory

Two decades ago, payment technology predominantly referred to back-end systems used by banks and PSPs to process electronic transactions. Online banking was still in its infancy, the smartphone hadn’t yet been launched, and traditional payment methods such as cash and cheques were much more prevalent.  

Today, it is a very different story. The number of electronic payments made via cards and digital wallets, credit transfers and direct debits has exploded. Technology is front and centre in payment service delivery, as individuals and businesses use online portals and mobile apps to manage accounts and initiate payments. While the rise of real-time payments, such as the EU’s SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst), means an increasing proportion of bank transfers are settled instantly rather than over several working days, which also means that anti-fraud measures and other compliance checks have to take place in real-time given the heightened fraud risk.

So, if there is a technological failure at any point in this new world of payments, it can have immediate and considerable ramifications for individuals and businesses. The now-infamous CrowdStrike outage in July 2024 affected several sectors, including banking, with some PSPs unable to process payments. More recently, an hours-long glitch at Bank of Ireland in December 2024 caused delays in processing payroll transactions for some employers, while a two-day outage at Barclays in February 2025  left customers unable to make bank transfers and use their debit cards. To catch up, Barclays had to process payments over the weekend and extend call centre operating hours.  

DORA’s goals

DORA aims to make the EU’s financial institutions (FIs) more resilient to information and communication technology (ICT) risks. It will minimise the potential for IT outages and require FIs to be back online as quickly as possible when they do occur. From a practical perspective, it will oblige them to create and implement ICT risk management frameworks. And meet new requirements for resilience testing, outage reporting, and information sharing.

Of course, the advent of DORA adds to the compliance burden for FIs, who will partly be spurred to comply to avoid fines for non-compliance and the associated negative press. Still, its rollout should be seen as positive for the industry. It should help to improve resilience across the ecosystem and boost customer confidence in the sector.

Improving infrastructure resilience with DORA

One angle that is less widely discussed when it comes to DORA is its implications for a PSP’s infrastructure. Whether developed in-house or outsourced, payment systems will need to have the capacity to accommodate peak loads following any outage. This will require PSPs to scale by multiples of their standard throughput.

For example, if a PSP’s average processing volume is 1,000 transactions per hour and its systems are down for three hours, it will need to have the capacity to process those 3,000 outstanding transactions once service resumes. And without impacting new transactions coming through the system. Additionally, if they are real-time payments, the delayed transactions must be settled as soon as possible. In this hypothetical example, such an outage would mean the system needs to handle 4,000 transactions in one hour, four times its usual capacity.

This requirement to recover quickly from IT outages will necessitate additional investment in infrastructure and automation. Especially given the move towards real-time settlement. In particular, it will likely drive interest in cloud-native technology, which can scale more readily on demand.

Third-party vendor relationships

DORA will also significantly impact how PSPs manage third-party IT vendor relationships. This development has been driven by the growing complexity of the financial ecosystem in the wake of digitisation and the rise of open banking. Research from McKinsey Digital highlights how the growth in the number of apps and vendors has increased the complexity and pressure on IT leaders.  

Under DORA, FIs are expected to monitor third-party providers, update supplier contracts to cover IT resilience, and establish an oversight framework for critical third-party providers. Consequently, conducting due diligence on third-party providers, particularly new vendors, and their approach to resilience is essential. Generally, we are likely to witness a flight to quality, with the providers that invest in controls and resilience set to fare best in the long term.

Adjusting to DORA

The arrival of DORA is a positive development for the payments industry. The sector has changed significantly in recent decades and relies heavily on technology for service delivery. Likewise, its customers depend on the PSPs to deliver their services so that they can conduct their business uninterrupted. However, the changes required by DORA are extensive and will require PSPs to invest in their infrastructure, processes and third-party relationships. As they adjust to the requirements of DORA, PSPs should ensure that infrastructure is resilient and flexible enough to handle surges in transaction flows. And factor in the shift to real-time settlement, which will only add to the demands made of payment systems.

  • Cybersecurity in FinTech
  • Digital Payments

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

26 March 2025

Estimated Read time

2Mins

Itaú Unibanco reinforces its foreign exchange solutions, enabling instant payment in foreign currency directly through the app

Itaú Unibanco has partnered with Wise Platform to enable customers to send and make digital payments in foreign currency instantly and directly through the Itaú app. The goal is to deliver an even more complete solution for its customers, who already have currency reserves through the app and an international account.

Itaú expanding reach in Brazil

Itaú is strengthening its presence in the Brazilian foreign exchange market, where it achieved leadership in the primary ranking published by the Central Bank of Brazil. In partnership with Wise Platform, the solution it is launching will transform the experience of individual customers with international foreign exchange needs. Offering immediate digital payments and remittances, with tracking of transactions.

The new solution will allow customers to make international digital payments or send money in the same way and with the same simplicity as Pix. This can be done at any time of the day, every day of the week, overcoming business hours restrictions. In addition, the entire process can be monitored in real time, with transparency and visibility over each stage of the transaction. 

“Over the past few years, we have evolved our foreign exchange solutions for tourists, offering currency exchange reservations directly through the app and withdrawal at our branches or 24-hour ATMs. We launched the international account and expanded the benefits of points on our credit cards, and now we have evolved in international remittances. People need to send money abroad, whether to make a payment or to send money to a child who is on an exchange program, for example. To meet this need, we believe that sending money abroad should be as easy and fluid as Pix and directly in the Itaú app.”

Gabriel Rombenso, Superintendent of Products and Corporate Sales at Itaú Unibanco

Instant Digital Payments with Wise Platform

Initially, it will be possible to send and pay instantly in Euros and Pound Sterling for transactions under the same holder. The aim is to offer 12 additional currencies for digital payments, including US dollars, Canadian dollars, Australian dollars, Japanese yen, and New Zealand dollars, by the end of 2025.

“The partnership with Itaú, is a true testament to how banks can deliver better cross-border payments experiences to their customers at scale by leveraging the capabilities of Wise Platform. Itaú shares our strong vision of improving cross-border money movement. We are excited to work with them to make cross-border payments – fast, transparent, affordable and convenient – a core element of their service.”

Steve Naudé, Global Managing Director of Wise Platform

With this initiative, Itaú Unibanco advances its innovation strategy and reaffirms its commitment to placing the customer at the centre of the journey, It is offering solutions that combine cutting-edge technology with the solidity and trust of a leading institution in the Brazilian financial market.

  • Digital Payments

Author

Guy Marion

Published

20 March 2025

Estimated Read time

4Mins

Guy Marion, CMO at Chargebee, on how businesses can get ahead of the ‘click-to-cancel’ movement through customer-centricity

The promise of predictable revenue now comes with heightened customer expectations. As regulators worldwide push for ‘click-to-cancel’ requirements for subscriptions, businesses face a critical choice. Do they wait for regulations to force changes, or transform cancellation friction into an opportunity for deeper customer trust? For revenue leaders, the question isn’t just about compliance – it’s about turning a potential disruption into a competitive advantage.

In the US, the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) new rule will require businesses to simplify cancellations and obtain consent for monthly renewals and the conversion of free trials to paid memberships. Similar measures are already in place in France, where self-serve cancellation buttons became mandatory in 2023. The UK’s 2024 Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act echoes this trend and serves as a prelude to anticipated further regulations.

As regulations evolve in 2025, subscription businesses that proactively embrace customer-friendly cancellation policies will have a competitive advantage in the market.

Customers value control with ‘click-to-cancel’

Research by Chargebee reveals that ‘click-to-cancel’ options are by far the preferred offboarding method for customers. Standing in stark contrast with complicated cancellation processes that can alienate customers and jeopardise return business. Customers are pushing back against the unclear terms of ‘negative option’ subscription models. These automatically renew memberships unless explicitly cancelled. Transitioning to transparent subscription models pre-empts regulatory penalties and serves to differentiate businesses as customer-centric.

Businesses need to adapt their strategies around cancellations by embedding the process into the product experience and prioritising it as an opportunity for dialogue with the customer. Feeling forced to maintain an unwanted subscription is not the ticket to brand loyalty or advocacy. When the cancel intent is clear it’s best to let customers leave.


Leaving is learning

Providing an easy exit doesn’t have to conclude the customer journey, but can instead provide an opportunity for future engagement. Subscription businesses should view every cancellation as a diagnostic tool for what went wrong. If a customer leaves, it’s usually because their perceived value of your product fell short of the cost. Maybe they’re right, and the product could be improved. In which case, you have valuable data to enhance your offering. Alternatively, perhaps they just weren’t presented with a clear enough value proposition, which if identified, gives you the chance to enlighten them.

If the customer sees value but has budget constraints, offering discretionary reductions empowers them to choose to continue their membership. Therefore, identifying why customers want to leave can provide the intelligence needed to drive long-term loyalty. Even turning once-hesitant customers into brand advocates.

For instance, a subscription fitness app might discover that seasonal habits influence customer retention, enabling it to adjust the timing of specific content to better align with trends. Proactive communication is key, as it helps reveal the ‘why’ behind churn. Offering exit surveys, personalised retention offers, or pausing memberships instead of outright cancellations maintains a dialogue with the customer, and may even persuade them to stay.


Making friends with machine learning

AI-powered analytics are transforming how businesses understand and prevent subscription cancellations. By analysing customer behaviour patterns, companies can now identify early warning signs of churn and address issues before customers reach for the cancel button. This proactive approach doesn’t just comply with click-to-cancel regulations – it helps businesses build stronger customer relationships through data-driven insights and timely interventions.

Leveraging the predictive power of AI-enabled platforms will be key to supporting customer retention. Businesses can identify patterns of usage across individuals and demographics, spotting trends and addressing them accordingly. This can be targeted interventions, such as discounts, or reiterating the value proposition in tutorials and new product features.

Evolve your payment system to reduce churn

When it comes to fighting cancellations with a good customer experience, billing and payment processes need special attention. Many customers cite billing frustrations, such as unexpected charges and convoluted payment methods, as reasons for ending their memberships. Investing in advanced subscription management tools that prioritise flexibility, transparency, and personalisation is helpful to mitigate cancellation intent before it crystallises.

Actionable insights businesses should implement: 

  • Adaptable pricing strategies: Customisable plans that cater to different customer needs and budgets help increase value perception.
  • Automated revenue recovery: Automatically recovering failed payments – such as those inadvertently caused by expired payment methods – prevents revenue loss and removes potential friction with customers.
  • Grace period and reminder: Allowing a brief buffer for overdue payments, paired with well-timed reminders, helps retain customers who may otherwise churn.
  • Data-driven insights: Levelling up your analytics capabilities helps identify patterns of disengagement, enabling you to act before cancellation occurs.

Foundations for the Future

The adoption of ‘click-to-cancel’ rules reflect a broader trend toward customer empowerment. Businesses that resist this shift not only risk their brand image but also forgo the opportunity to deliver better customer experiences. Ultimately, it is only a matter of time before regulations tighten and going willingly is always preferable to being pushed. Staying a step ahead means organisations can plan and implement changes smoothly – and position themselves positively. Subscription businesses that heed the warnings now and build positive cancellation experiences will reap the rewards of strengthened customer retention, in 2025 and beyond.

  • Digital Payments

Author

Luke Kyohere

Published

14 February 2025

Estimated Read time

3Mins

Luke Kyohere, Group Chief Product and Innovation Officer at Onafriq, on payments innovations to look out for this year

The global payments landscape is undergoing a rapid transformation. New technologies coupled with the rising demand for seamless, secure, and efficient transactions has spurred on an exciting new era of innovation and growth. With 2025 fast approaching, here are important trends that will shape the future of payments:

1.The rise of real-time payments

Until recently, real-time payments have been used in Africa for cross-border mobile money payments, but less so for traditional payments. At OnAfriq, we are seeing companies like Mastercard investing in this area, as well as central banks in Africa putting focus on this.

2. Cashless payments will increase

In 2025, we will see the continued acceleration of cashless payments across Africa. B2B payments in particular will also increase. Digital payments began between individuals but are now becoming commonplace for larger corporate transactions.

3. Digital currency will hit mainstream

In the cryptocurrency space, we will see an increase in the use of stablecoins like United States Digital Currency (USDC) and Tether (USDT) which are linked to US dollars. These will come to replace traditional cryptocurrencies as their price point is more stable. This year, many countries will begin preparing for Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), government-backed digital currencies which use Blockchain. The increased uptake of digital currencies reflects the maturity of distributed ledger technology and improved API availability.

4. Increased government oversight

As adoption of digital currencies will increase, governments will also put more focus into monitoring these flows. In particular, this will centre on companies and banks rather than individuals. The goal of this will be to control and occasionally curb runaway foreign exchange (FX) rates.

5. Business leaders buy into AI technology

In 2025, we will see many business leaders buying into AI through respected providers relying on well-researched platforms and huge data sets. Most companies don’t have the budget to invest in their own research and development in AI. Therefore, many are now opting to ‘buy’ into the technology rather than ‘build’ it themselves. Moreover, many businesses are concerned about the risks associated with data ownership and accuracy so buying software is another way to avoid this risk.

6. Continued AI Adoption in Payments

In payments, the proliferation of AI will continue to improve user experience and increase security. To detect fraud, AI is used to track patterns and payment flows in real time. If unusual activity is detected, the technology can be used to flag or even block payments which may be fraudulent. When it comes to user experience, we will also see AI being used to improve the interface design of payment platforms. The technology will also increasingly be used for translation for international payments platforms.

7. Rise of Super Apps

To get more from their platforms, mobile network operators are building comprehensive service platforms. These integrate multiple payment experiences into a single app. This reflects the shift of many users moving from text-based services to mobile apps. Rather than offering a single service, super apps are packing many other services into a single app. For example, apps which may have previously been used primarily for lending, now have options for saving and paying bills.

8. Business strategy shift

Recent major technological changes will force business leaders to focus on much shorter prediction and reaction cycles. Because the rate of change has been unprecedented in the past year, this will force decision-makers to adapt quickly, be decisive and nimble. As the payments space evolves, businesses, banks, and governments must continually embrace innovation, collaboration, and prioritise customer needs. These efforts build a more inclusive, secure, and efficient payment system that supports local to global economic growth – enabling true financial inclusion across borders.

  • Digital Payments

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

31 January 2025

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Jan-Willem Weggemans, Vice President, Commercial Payments Lead at Publicis Sapient on the outlook for payments modernisation

The payments industry is transforming rapidly, driven by customer demand shifts, regulatory developments and technological advances. Payments players need a tailored innovation approach for each value opportunity, based on their strategic position and ambition and each driver of change.

Understanding the drivers of payments modernisation

Driven by technological advancements, shifting customer expectations and regulatory developments, banks and financial institutions must adapt their offerings. They must modernise their payments to remain competitive in this ever-evolving landscape as we start this new year.

Customers expect real-time, seamless and personalised payment experiences that are now standard expectations across financial services. Not only that, but users are demanding frictionless cross-border transactions, alongside advanced features like biometric authentication.

Massive advances in technological capabilities drive customer expectations. Cloud computing, data platforms, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) enable faster, scalable, resilient, and more secure payment solutions. These enable opportunities to innovate customer propositions and experiences. Moreover, supporting the modernisation of processes and technologies can lower costs and improve resilience.

Regulatory developments are a key factor. From new (instant) payments schemes to ISO standards to KYC/AML requirements, there is an ongoing need to change/modernise the payments operating model. And possibly innovate client solutions.

For these reasons, legacy banks can struggle with the pace of change and inefficiencies. Including enabling FinTech disruptors to gain a competitive advantage. So, how can banks examine these learnings and implement better change?

Progressive modernisation and the impact of GenAI

Banks and financial institutions can take a tailored approach to payment innovation and modernisation. In all of these approaches, modernising an incumbent player with significant legacy challenges is generally a process of progressive modernisation. Big bang approaches and the building of neo banks to move a legacy bank forward have generally not delivered success.

Progressive modernisation enables a bank to move in a controlled way from the legacy to the modern state. This requires running the legacy and modern services in parallel. Meanwhile, the integration is enabled by decoupling the hardwired systems top and bottom (integration and data). Only then can you spin up the modern enterprise and core services and progressively direct more clients/transactions/products over the new stack.

Progressive modernisation is becoming more attractive and suitable for many clients. Furtherore, GenAI can materially alter the cost and duration of these programs, offering lower risk and a significantly improved business case. With new and innovative solutions that utilise GenAI at their core, the whole journey can be greatly accelerated. Including Legacy system discovery, Target state design, Backlog creation, and Building and Testing.

Three key approaches when facing the need to modernise Payments

Payments players are facing an ongoing modernisation need, driven by changing client behaviours, technology innovation and regulatory activism. 

Broadly, we recognise three approaches to payment modernisation, including:

Fix the edge – either top of the stack or bottom, a small fix, without touching 90% of the existing tech. 

Incremental uplift – installing a modern solution (but not fully end-to-end). For example, a new core system for a set of products/customers.

Move to native build – setting steps on the progressive modernisation journey, after investing in decoupling the hardwired legacy systems.

To select the right approach, we consider two key factors: the event and the players. The event looks at the size of the opportunity (or materiality of the threat) and the size/complexity of the change. The player looks at the performance of the existing operating model, whether payments are core, and whether the ambition is to be a leader in payments or to be part of the majority of players.

How a player’s participation strategy drives modernisation choices. A client offers white label card processing services, and in their market, they need to offer the most modern solution and lead with modern technology, AI, and embedded compliance/risk solutions. A major incumbent bank decided to invest primarily in customer value propositions, driving value from the broader client relationship. The bank opted for a processing-as-a-service model when it needed to modernise the processing platform.

Looking at the two extreme options, we see that fixing the edge works well for players where payments are not core, when they do not need to be the first mover, or when their existing operating model is performing well. From an event perspective, it fits when the opportunity is small and/or the change is minor in effort and complexity.

At the other end of the spectrum, moving on the journey to native build is most suited for players where payments are core. Where they want to be the first mover in the market, and where the existing operating model is facing major challenges. From an event perspective, it is more suited when the event supports a significant value opportunity (or threat to the business) and requires a significant change.

Making payments progress real

Many new payment options, including A2A payments and instant payments, offer incremental benefit cases for many players. These are not large enough to kick off the incremental modernisation journey. Thus, most players will opt for a “fix the edge” or “incremental” modernisation approach and wait for another event for a full modernisation.

Regarding regulation. The new ISO20022 standard is due to come into full force in November 2025. However, less than a third of messages were exchanged using the new standard in late 2024. An often cited reason for delays in implementing regulatory changes is the edge approach replanning required to keep up with the evolving set of rules regarding the ISO standards. The evolving set of rules is inevitable, as the regulator is responding to market experiences and feedback from trying to implement the initial rules set. Thus, in regulatory change with this level of impact, a cloud-native approach would be better, enabling a more nimble/agile response to continuous changes.

What is the next move?

Faced with the inevitable need to invest in payments, we suggest taking a portfolio approach and looking 2-3 years ahead when evaluating individual modernisation events. And your strengths/weaknesses and strategy. Modernisation is not just a technical upgrade but a strategic enabler that can drive efficiency, resilience, and innovation. You can ensure that each modernisation effort contributes to a cohesive, future-ready payments ecosystem by aligning your investments with long-term business goals. This approach will help you avoid costly short-term fixes. And build a scalable, agile infrastructure that supports evolving customer expectations, regulatory requirements, and competitive pressures.

  • Digital Payments

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

27 January 2025

Estimated Read time

2Mins

ClearBank, the enabler of real-time clearing and embedded banking, recently announced its partnership with Airwallex. A leading global Digital Payments and…

ClearBank, the enabler of real-time clearing and embedded banking, recently announced its partnership with Airwallex. A leading global Digital Payments and financial platform for modern businesses. Through this collaboration, Airwallex will leverage ClearBank’s agency banking solution to enhance its UK offering with virtual business accounts, GBP collections, and Confirmation of Payee (CoP) functionality.

Partnering for Digital Payments with ClearBank

ClearBank has enabled the global FinTech to issue virtual accounts and IBANs under its own brand identity. This reinforces Airwallex’s robust financial platform, while also allowing the company to maintain seamless customer branding. Moreover, through the partnership, Airwallex will have access to UK payment schemes. These include Faster Payments, BACS, and CHAPS. Accelerating Airwallex’s strategic goal of helping businesses simplify their global Digital Payments and financial operations, unlock new opportunities, and grow without limits.

“Our priority is to provide businesses with fast, flexible and seamless financial services. ClearBank’s agency banking solution aligns perfectly with our vision, allowing us to enhance our product offering in the UK while maintaining our brand identity. The team’s deep understanding of our business needs and their speed of execution have been invaluable throughout the partnership development and integration process.”

Vivien Cheung, Head of Financial Partnerships – EMEA, Airwallex

The partnership is founded on the companies’ shared ambition to utilise innovative technology to bring streamlined financial services to more customers in new markets. Furthermore, it highlights a growing demand for innovative financial solutions that combine the flexibility of FinTech with the security of traditional banking. ClearBank’s cloud-based approach allows for efficient integration, enabling Airwallex to deliver the features and functionality businesses need to make Digital ayments faster and more cost-effective.

“We’re proud to partner with Airwallex as the business enters its next phase of growth. Our unique combination of innovation and security was essential in supporting the premium customer experience that Airwallex is looking to provide. We look forward to deepening our relationship with Airwallex as we explore further opportunities for collaboration.”

John Salter, Chief Customer Officer, ClearBank

About Airwallex 

Airwallex is a leading global financial platform for modern businesses, offering trusted solutions to manage everything from Digital Payments, treasury, and spend management to embedded finance. With our proprietary infrastructure, Airwallex takes the friction out of global payments and financial operations, empowering businesses of all sizes to unlock new opportunities and grow beyond borders. Proudly founded in Melbourne, Airwallex supports over 100,000 businesses globally and is trusted by brands such as Brex, Rippling, Navan, Qantas, SHEIN and many more. For more information, visit http://www.airwallex.com

About ClearBank 

ClearBank is a purpose-built, technology-enabled clearing bank. Through its banking licence and intelligent, robust technology solutions, ClearBank enables its partners to offer real-time payment and innovative banking services to their customers. For more information, visit www.clear.bank

  • Digital Payments

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

14 January 2025

Estimated Read time

3Mins

Yuno and PayPal team up to simplify Digital Payments for merchants with flexible options to broaden market reach and unlock new revenue streams

Yuno a leading payment orchestration platform, has announced a strategic collaboration with PayPal, a global leader in Digital Payments processing. This collaboration significantly enhances Yuno’s offering, giving merchants seamless access to PayPal’s vast active user network. This now surpasses 400 million worldwide.

Unlocking revenue streams with Digital Payments

Yuno-powered merchants can now effortlessly offer PayPal’s secure and flexible payment option, broadening their market reach and unlocking new revenue streams. Trusted by millions worldwide, PayPal allows users to make purchases, transfer funds, and pay bills in a fast, easy, and secure way, without the need to repeatedly enter card payment information, contributing to reducing digital footprint and providing the security users are looking for. 

Including this partnership, Yuno now supports over 300 global payment methods via its intuitive, user-friendly interface, making it easy for merchants to scale quickly by offering the most popular and locally-relevant payment methods in each market. Yuno’s platform also provides access to other innovative features. These include one-click checkout, advanced fraud protection, and optimised payment routing. This boosts transaction success rates and prevents lost sales in the wake of outages at a payment provider.

Catherine Kaupert, Global Head of Partnerships of Yuno, commented: “We’re thrilled to team up with PayPal, a well-known and trusted name in Digital Payments processing globally. This integration further strengthens Yuno’s capabilities, allowing our merchants to tap into PayPal’s extensive network and drive growth with ease. Together, we are simplifying payments, making them more secure, and enabling businesses to scale without friction.”

Paola Fuentes, Head of Partnerships for Hispanic Latam at PayPal, added: “Our affiliation with Yuno integrates our entire product portfolio. Including PayPal Checkout and credit and debit card payment processing to provide cutting-edge payment solutions for both customers and businesses. By joining forces, we are expanding the benefits of both companies’ offerings, giving consumers the option to select the payment method that suits them best and take advantage of instalments. According to recent data from AMVO, this is one of the main incentives for Mexican consumers to make purchases through the digital channel”.

Last year, Yuno secured $25 million in a Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz, Tiger Global, DST Global Partners, Kaszek Ventures, and Monashees, fuelling its expansion across Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

About Yuno

Yuno has emerged as a dominant force in global payment orchestration. Its core mission is to empower global commerce by enabling businesses of all sizes to accept and disburse Digital Payments anywhere in the world. Furthermore, fostering financial inclusion.

Yuno enables businesses to access over 300 payment methods worldwide. As well as innovative features including one-click checkout, smart routing, and robust anti-fraud tools via a single unified, easy-to-use interface. Yuno serves a global customer base that includes McDonald’s, inDrive, Rappi and other renowned brands across more than 80 countries.

About PayPal 

PayPal has been revolutionising commerce globally for more than 25 years. The company creates innovative experiences that make moving money, selling, and shopping simple, personalised, and secure. PayPal empowers consumers and businesses in approximately 200 markets to join and thrive in the global economy.

  • Digital Payments

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

8 January 2025

Estimated Read time

4Mins

Industry thought leaders from Marqeta, the global modern card issuing platform, offer a detailed outlook of the fintech industry for 2025, with predictions around personalisation, digitalisation and the evolving regulatory landscape

Payments will turn fully personal, with tailored credit, rewards, and BNPL at scale in 2025

In my opinion, a major global payment trend of 2024 has been hyper-personalisation. A new generation of customers is driving a shift toward personalisation at scale, expecting their FinTech services to be unique and tailored to individual needs. Modern consumers want a future where financial services integrate seamlessly into their digital lives and keep pace with their evolving needs. 

As a result, we are seeing trends, such as personalised credit offerings and rewards booming. In an industry with increasingly low consumer loyalty, brands and financial institutions must go beyond traditional interactions with FinTech. For example, the recent Marqeta State of Credit report found that of UK consumers who use more than one credit card, 43% confirmed that they would use a credit card more frequently if better rewards were offered. By moving to a dynamic, rather than set rewards structure, consumers can earn benefits tailored to their spending habits and preferences in real time. 

Increasingly with innovations like Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), consumers are guided to credit options specifically suited to them and their needs. In 2025, we will increasingly see personalised BNPL payment plan options being offered in real time. Often within existing payment apps and products we already use daily. We are also seeing B2B payments emerging as a strong trend. Ensuring gig workers, sellers and partners get paid efficiently while offering robust expense management and financing. I anticipate we’ll see more demand for innovative B2B payment solutions that enable seamless money management across 2025.    

Marcin Glogowski, SVP Managing Director for Europe and UK CEO

2025 will be a year of rapid innovation in financial services  

In today’s digital-first world, traditional payment infrastructure is no longer enough to keep up with the demands of consumers. The front door of a bank is now an app, digital wallet usage is increasing. New, flexible services have a growing prevalence on the market. In 2025 and beyond, customers will continue to drive a shift toward modern services which keep up with the rate of digital and mobile innovation.

The ramifications of changing consumer trends could lead to the traditional roles of banks, such as ATMs and as physical branches, disappearing. To ensure continued customer loyalty, all financial service providers will be forced to innovate and offer consumers the embedded, seamless and instantaneous services that they desire. 

Consequently, across 2025, we are likely to see new technology and solutions being offered to reduce unnecessary friction for consumers trying to pay and get paid. We are already seeing increased demand for Accelerated Wage Access (AWA). A Marqeta study shows that 74% of gig workers ages 18-34 would be interested in an employer who offered an option to get paid immediately. As businesses and workers grow tired of cash flow restrictions and having to wait for monthly pay slips in an otherwise instant, digital world. As new services evolve, competition in Fintech will be enhanced and the financial industry will be forced to grow and evolve. 

Nicholas Holt, Head of Solutions and Delivery, Europe

Proactive compliance strategies will lay the foundation for fintech in 2025

With banking and FinTech partnerships under increasing regulatory scrutiny, the stakes around compliance have never been higher. In this environment, Fintechs can no longer afford a reactive approach to compliance. Instead, they should adopt proactive compliance strategies that go beyond simply seeking to avoid fines and that are embedded into the everyday makeup of their culture and product strategies, helping to build trust, ensure stability, and foster sustainable growth. 

At Marqeta, we’re committed to embedding compliance into our company’s culture, helping to mitigate risks and create a foundation for long-term success for us and our customers. Proactive compliance strategies allow organisations to leverage advanced tools and position themselves to adapt to shifting regulatory demands while showcasing a genuine commitment to transparency. 

Alan Carlisle, Chief Compliance Officer

  • Cybersecurity in FinTech
  • InsurTech

Author

Simon James

Published

6 January 2025

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Simon James, CEO of PayComplete, on why 2024 was a pivotal moment for cash and what the future holds

After several years of doom and gloom and many proclaiming the death of cash, the last 12 months have well and truly put that idea to bed. Despite many expecting the COVID pandemic to be the last nail in the coffin, four years later, cash is still in widespread use. The future looks bright. Recent figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) underscore the story of 2024… Cash is no longer on the way out and is set to remain a critical part of the payment ecosystem and economy for the foreseeable future.

What happened with cash?

The resilience and ongoing importance of cash to payments, finance, and the economy is down to two factors. Firstly, it’s clear now that consumers care. Recent research from PayComplete’s ‘Why won’t cash just die?!’ report found 89% of consumers view the ability to pay in cash as important to customer satisfaction. More importantly, when it is removed as a payment option, only 26% of consumers comply. Meanwhile, an even larger group (36%) vote with their feet and walk away without making a purchase.

It’s not just customer experience that’s impacted by the absence of cash as a payment option. Brand perception also suffers. Research findings discovered nearly half (47%) of consumers believe organisations that don’t accept it are putting profits ahead of customer satisfaction. Moreover, when denied the opportunity to pay in cash, respondents felt a range of emotions, including inconvenience (54%), outright annoyance (52%) and, for those who walked out without making a purchase, anger (16%). Failure to offer this payment choice is a big risk for businesses. It can negatively impact customer satisfaction, brand reputation, and lead to outright anger from customers.

However, the value consumers place on cash goes beyond it being a way of completing a transaction. It is also seen as critical to supporting local communities. Interestingly, the research found 65% of consumers know card payments incur charges for businesses, resulting in nearly a quarter (22%) actively choosing to pay in cash instead. In fact, over half (57%) of consumers want to help businesses save money by paying in cash, which jumps to 71% for small businesses, tipping, and personal services. Paying with cash, therefore, is not simply a way of transacting with a company. For many shoppers, it’s a sign of support.

Regulators and lawmakers protect cash

However, consumers continuing to care is only part of the story. Furthermore, an important factor has been the steps regulators and governments have taken to protect access to cash. In the UK, 2024 was the year that the FCA’s Access to Cash came into force. This made it a legal requirement for banks and building societies across the UK to provide a minimum level of access to cash. Across the pond, similar measures have been taken by Connecticut, Massachusetts, Colorado and Tennessee as US states move to enshrine access to cash into law. With lawmakers realising its importance, and creating regulations to protect access to it, the long-term future of cash is now secure.

What does it all mean?

2024 has been a watershed year for cash and its future. No longer are there debates and discussions about a cashless society. Instead, it is here to stay, and, with that certainty, it makes it far easier for businesses to plan for their own future. Businesses waiting to see what would happen with cash before deciding if it was part of their future now have a conclusive answer and can plan accordingly. Moreover, those who have already taken steps to move towards a cashless future will need to reverse course or risk facing consumer wrath.

The rise of CashTech

The good news for businesses is that cash management and handling technology hasn’t stood still these past few years. There is a combination of smart hardware and software to finally unify management, processing, and handling. CashTech is a new set of solutions that make it quicker, easier, and more efficient than ever before for businesses to handle cash. Combining hardware and software, CashTech solutions enable enterprises to digitise their handling. Making it easy to assess business-critical areas like cash flow management and better support accounting and business management processes. By automating handling, businesses can also avoid the unnecessary costs of discrepancies and inefficiencies from manual processes.

In the coming years, when we look back on 2024, we will see it as the year the future for cash was confirmed. Talk of a cashless future and the death of hard currency was wide of the mark. While cash may not usurp debit and credit card payments, neither will they bring about its end. With the future now clear, it’s time for businesses to adopt CashTech in 2025 and turn inefficient processes into a game-changing competitive advantage.

About PayComplete

PayComplete is the global leader in cash management solutions, combining bleeding edge hardware solutions with game changing software, unifying cash management with other key payments and operational systems. Dedicated to innovating self-service experiences and operations for both consumers and employees, The PayComplete IoT platform is made up of an adaptable set of SaaS and machine software, intelligent devices, and professional, technical and merchant services. PayComplete Connect unifies the management of transactions, users, devices, and data across the enterprise, bringing digital precision to cash transactions and systems. PayComplete serves a broad range of industries, including retail, transportation, financial services, vending, cash centers, mints and more.Industry leaders, work with PayComplete to make their cash transaction-based businesses more innovative, agile, and efficient.

  • Digital Payments

Author

Nick Merritt

Published

18 December 2024

Estimated Read time

4Mins

Nick Merritt, Executive Director at Designit, on six developments shaping the future of banking in 2025

Retail banks are entering 2025 with a heady mix of ambition and trepidation. A bewildering blend of technological wizardry and ever-shifting customer expectations has forced banks into a relentless cycle of adaptation. To stay ahead, six key areas are emerging as the lodestars guiding their strategies for the coming year.

Digital Transformation and Automation – Predicting Your Needs Before You Have Them

Imagine a world where banks predict your needs before you’ve even realised them. From AI-driven chatbots that never sleep to robo-advisors whispering bespoke investment tips into your ear, automation is rewriting the rulebook on customer interaction. But the magic isn’t confined to the shiny front-end; back-office systems are also getting a makeover. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is busy in the engine room, banishing inefficiencies and sidestepping human error with quiet efficiency.

And then there’s the matter of personalisation—a concept that banks are finally treating as more than a marketing buzzword. Armed with advanced data analytics, banks are no longer just responding to customer needs—they’re predicting them. Pre-approved loans or a savings plan tailored to your Friday night wine habit? No problem.

Cybersecurity: Evolving as Fast as the Threats

With this digital power comes a greater need for vigilance. Cybercriminals are evolving just as quickly, turning cybersecurity into a battlefield. AI-driven fraud detection tools now scan for anomalies with hawk-like precision, while biometric authentication methods—fingerprints, faces, even voices—transform our bodies into passwords.

Cyber resilience has become essential, ensuring banks bounce back swiftly from attacks. Trust, in banking as in life, remains hard-won and easily lost.

Sustainability: ESG as a Competitive Advantage

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria have transitioned from being a footnote to taking centre stage. Customers are no longer content with bland promises of responsibility—they’re demanding action. Enter green loans with their tempting interest rates, ESG investment funds that let you save the planet while saving for retirement, and carbon-neutral pledges that make you feel virtuous about your overdraft.

It’s not just a moral imperative; it’s good business sense. In a world increasingly attuned to sustainability, ESG is a differentiator. Banks that can convincingly wear the green badge of honour are more likely to attract eco-savvy customers and forward-thinking investors alike.

Embedded Finance & Partnership Models

Embedded Finance might sound like jargon, but it’s quietly reshaping how we interact with money. Why go to a bank when the bank can come to you—disguised as a “Buy Now, Pay Later” button on your favourite shopping app or as a seamless payment option in your rideshare app? Banks are waking up to the fact that ecosystems, not high-street branches, are where the action is.

Partnerships with fintech firms are unlocking new avenues for growth. Whether it’s integrating loans into car dealership platforms or powering payments for subscription services, embedded finance is giving banks a chance to slip into customers’ lives in ways they barely notice—but deeply appreciate.

Cryptocurrencies: Cautiously Testing the Waters

And then there’s the crypto conundrum. Once the domain of tech evangelists and speculative investors, cryptocurrencies are elbowing their way into the mainstream. Bitcoin ETFs have made it easier for traditional investors to dip a toe into the crypto waters, while Ethereum and Ripple (XRP) are offering solutions that align with real-world banking needs.

Ripple’s laser focus on cross-border payments could revolutionise international money transfers, slashing costs and speeding up transactions. Ethereum’s smart contracts, meanwhile, promise to simplify complex processes like loan approvals. And Bitcoin, the poster child of the crypto world, is slowly gaining traction as a viable payment method.

Yet, it’s not all smooth sailing. Volatility, scalability issues, and a regulatory environment that can best be described as “uncertain” are significant hurdles. Still, with pro-crypto voices gaining ground, 2025 might just be the year retail banks cautiously dip their toes into the digital currency pool.

Personalisation: The Age of “Me”

Customers expect their banks to understand more than just account numbers; they want personalised interactions that anticipate their ambitions. Advanced analytics are turning this into reality, moving banking from transactional to relational.

Imagine a bank that adjusts your credit card rewards for your travel habits or nudges you toward your dream car before you even start shopping. Personalisation isn’t just a service upgrade—it’s a survival strategy.

Looking Ahead to 2025 and Beyond…

The opportunities for retail banks in 2025 are as immense as they are complex. Digital transformation is reinventing customer experiences, ESG is aligning institutions with the values of an increasingly conscientious public. Meanwhile, Embedded Finance is quietly rewriting the rules of engagement. Cryptocurrencies, for all their challenges, are becoming harder to ignore, while data-driven personalisation is making banking feel more like a partnership than a transaction.

For banks willing to embrace these shifts, the rewards are clear: deeper customer loyalty, stronger revenue streams, and a reputation for innovation. Standing still is no longer an option.

  • Digital Payments
  • Neobanking

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

17 December 2024

Estimated Read time

4Mins

Ripple, a leading provider of digital asset infrastructure for financial institutions, has announced Ripple USD (RLUSD) will be available on…

Ripple, a leading provider of digital asset infrastructure for financial institutions, has announced Ripple USD (RLUSD) will be available on global exchanges. RLUSD is an enterprise-grade, USD-denominated stablecoin. Created with trust, utility, and compliance at its core, it is backed by Ripple’s years of experience working with crypto and the existing financial system.

RLUSD will be initially available on Uphold, Bitso, MoonPay, Archax, and CoinMENA. Additional listings will be made on platforms such as Bullish, Bitstamp, Mercado Bitcoin, Independent Reserve, Zero Hash and others in the coming weeks. Each RLUSD token is fully backed by U.S. dollar deposits, government bonds, and cash equivalents. Designed to ensure its stability, reliability, and liquidity. To maintain the highest standards of transparency, Ripple will publish monthly, third-party attestations of RLUSD’s reserve assets, conducted by an independent auditing firm.

“Early on, Ripple made a deliberate choice to launch our stablecoin under the NYDFS limited purpose trust company charter. Widely regarded as the premier regulatory standard worldwide,” said Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple’s CEO. “As the U.S. moves toward clearer regulations, we expect to see greater adoption of stablecoins like RLUSD. They can offer real utility and are backed by years of trust and expertise in the industry.”

A Growing Ecosystem Supporting Global Adoption

Key RLUSD partners include leading global exchanges, market makers, and payment providers. They are set to drive adoption and usage across the Americas, Asia-Pacific, UK, and Middle East regions. RLUSD is ideal for financial use cases and allows institutions to:

  • Facilitate instant settlement of cross-border payments.
  • Access liquidity for remittance and treasury operations.
  • Seamlessly integrate with decentralised finance (DeFi) protocols.
  • Reliably bridge between traditional fiat currencies and the crypto ecosystem. Ensuring a seamless and efficient transition when entering (on-ramping) or exiting (off-ramping) the crypto space.
  • Provide collateralisation for trading tokenised real-world assets such as commodities, securities, and treasuries onchain.

Early next year, Ripple Payments will use RLUSD to facilitate global payments on behalf of its enterprise customers. Ripple Payments has served $70 billion in payments volume and counting. Furthermore, it has near-global coverage with 90+ payout markets. Moreover, this represents over 90% coverage of the daily FX market. RLUSD is available on both the XRP Ledger and Ethereum blockchains, offering flexibility and scalability for a broad range of financial use cases.

RLUSD: Raising the standard for Stablecoins

Raghuram Rajan, former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, and Kenneth Montgomery, former First Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, will join the RLUSD advisory board. They will provide strategic guidance on regulatory, financial, and operational aspects to support RLUSD’s stability and growth.

Rajan and Montgomery join the ranks of the existing advisory board including former Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Chair Sheila Bair, Vice Chairman of Partners Capital and former CENTRE Consortium CEO David Puth, and Ripple co-founder and Executive Chairman Chris Larsen.

“Stablecoins could become the backbone of private payments by offering a secure, scalable, and efficient alternative to traditional systems. With its focus on compliance and reliability, RLUSD aims to establish new standards for trust and to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of payments. Joining the Advisory Board provides me an opportunity to counsel RLUSD as it embarks on its journey in the rapidly evolving financial landscape,” said Raghuram Rajan, former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India.

“I am excited to join Ripple’s advisory board at such a pivotal moment for digital finance,” said Kenneth Montgomery, former First VP and COO at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. “Stablecoins are rapidly emerging as a cornerstone of the payments landscape. They are delivering the speed, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness that traditional systems often struggle to achieve. I look forward to collaborating with the Ripple team to support the global growth and adoption of RLUSD. Unlocking new opportunities for financial inclusion and modernising the future of payments.”

Ripple: modernising the future of payments

RLUSD sets the standard for stablecoins, combining innovative functionality with the regulatory rigor and credibility of an NYDFS-issued New York limited purpose trust company. Furthermore, this highlights Ripple’s leadership in fostering trust and transparency in digital assets.

Ripple’s President Monica Long commented on X: “The release of RLUSD marks a new chapter – both for the XRP Ledger, as well as Ripple, for use in our $70B payments flows. Combining our 10+ years in the business; the rigour and compliance required with stablecoin issuance by a NYDFS chartered company; and an experienced Advisory Board – RLUSD is launching from day one with credibility, utility and a whole host of partners ready to support it!”

  • Digital Payments

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

27 November 2024

Estimated Read time

3Mins

Yuno enables organisations to transform online checkout experiences, allowing customers to pay securely without the need for passwords

Yuno, a leading global payment orchestrator, announces that Mastercard’s Click to Pay at checkout is now available to all Yuno clients.

Click to Pay helps improve customer experience by ensuring purchases can be made securely and quickly with just a few clicks. It significantly decreases the instances of cart abandonment that plague the e-commerce industry. According to Mastercard research, nearly two-thirds of shoppers still struggle through manually entering their card details. Around 25% of carts are abandoned because checkout is too complex or slow. The average online shopping cart abandonment rate worldwide reached 70.19% in 2023, according to Statista. This resulted in an estimated $260 billion recoverable loss in e-commerce sales annually in the US and EU alone. Plus, fraud rates are seven times higher online than in stores. Criminals exploit exposed card numbers, creating headaches for cardholders and huge losses for merchants and card issuers.

Click to Pay with Yuno and Mastercard

Yuno’s single-click Click to Pay integration, which is enabled in 40 markets across the world, goes beyond just reducing cart abandonment. It also translates to increased sales and conversions for merchants with digital payments. Yuno offfers a secure and familiar digital checkout option trusted by millions of cardholders worldwide. It empowers businesses to boost customer confidence and improve the shopping experience. Yuno’s ability to offer Mastercard Click to Pay access to merchants is especially crucial for businesses expanding into new markets, where brand recognition can be a challenge. With Yuno, merchants can offer a globally recognised payment solution that eliminates friction at checkout almost anywhere in the world.

Yuno

Juan Pablo Ortega, Co-Founder and CEO at Yuno, commented: “At Yuno, we are constantly seeking out the best solutions to streamline payment processes and enhance security, while delivering speed. Making Mastercard’s Click to Pay at checkout feature easy to integrate for all of our customers supports our commitment to removing barriers to global commerce. We’re making sure our customers can focus on running their businesses without any unnecessary headaches.’’

Mastercard

Diego Szteinhendler, Senior Vice-President, Fintechs, Merchants and Digital Platforms, Mastercard Latin America and the Caribbean, added: “Digital consumers expect an intuitive, frictionless and secure experience. To support this demand, we’ve built a robust digital infrastructure with a suite of acceptance and payment services, including Click to Pay. Through partnerships like the one with Yuno these are becoming available to millions of consumers across Latin America and beyond.”

Yuno’s clients, including Viva Aerobus, Bacu, and Habibs, have already begun taking advantage of Mastercard Click to Pay at Checkout via Yuno. It is helping them deliver a secure and convenient user experience for their customers across the globe.

About Yuno

Yuno has emerged as a dominant force in global payment orchestration, with a core mission to empower global commerce by enabling businesses of all sizes to accept and disburse payments anywhere in the world, fostering financial inclusion. It enables businesses to access over 300 payment methods worldwide as well as innovative features including one-click checkout, smart routing, and robust anti-fraud tools via a single unified, easy-to-use interface. Yuno serves a global customer base that includes McDonald’s, inDrive, Rappi and other renowned brands across more than 80 countries.

  • Digital Payments

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

21 November 2024

Estimated Read time

2Mins

Mastercard integrates its Multi-Token Network (MTN) for tokenized deposits and tokenized assets with Kinexys Digital Payments (formerly JPM Coin)

Mastercard’s blockhain Multi-Token Network (MTN) has connected to Kinexys Digital Payments as a payment settlement solution. This will enhance the availability of B2B cross-border payments to business applications on MTN.

Kinexys Digital Payments is a next-generation payment rail powering real-time value transfer. Also, it uses commercial bank money and is offered through Kinexys by J.P. Morgan, the firm’s Blockchain business unit.

Mastercard’s MTN Blockchain meets JP Morgan’s Kinexys

Mastercard’s MTN brings together a set of API-enabled, blockchain-based tools and standards for innovative business models under one platform.

Kinexys by JP Morgan and Mastercard are respectively providing solutions designed to improve the efficiency of commercial transactions. Furthermore, these solutions aim to improve the cross-border payment experiences common for such transactions. They will achieve this by providing greater transparency and faster settlement as well as reducing time zone friction.

By integrating Mastercard MTN’s connectivity with Kinexys Digital Payments, mutual customers of MTN and Kinexys will be able to settle B2B transactions through a single API integration.

Kinexys – JP Morgan’s Blockchain business unit

“At Kinexys, we believe our solutions can play a transformative role in the ecosystem for digital global commerce and digital assets, where the value proposition of commercial transaction venues is enhanced by the availability of commercial bank payment rails that can natively integrate with any digital marketplace or platform. We look forward to supporting our clients engaging with the MTN ecosystem and collaborating further with Mastercard in the digital space.”

Naveen Mallela, Co-Head of Kinexys by JP Morgan

MTN – Mastercard’s Multi-Token Network

“For years, both Mastercard and Kinexys by JP Morgan have been committed to innovating for the future of digital asset and commercial infrastructure. By bringing together the power and connectivity of Mastercard’s MTN with Kinexys Digital Payments, we are unlocking greater speed and settlement capabilities for the entire value chain. Moreover, we are excited about this integration and the new use cases it will bring to life, leveraging the strengths and innovations of both organisations.”

Raj Dhamodharan, executive vice president, Blockchain and Digital Assets at Mastercard

  • Blockchain & Crypto
  • Digital Payments

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

11 November 2024

Estimated Read time

3Mins

UBS Digital Cash aims to increase efficiency, transparency and to enable the programmability of money movements for corporate and institutional clients

Cross-border payments often lead to delayed settlements. As a result, this creates a fragmented view of liquidity positions for companies. The aim is to increase transparency and security with blockchain-based payments via UBS Digital Cash. Moreover, this should in turn facilitate timely payment processing. In addition, companies should be able to manage intraday-liquidity and adjust liquidity buffers on their accounts more easily in the future. This is thanks to greater visibility of their total cash positions.

USB Digital Cash with Blockchain

Andy Kollegger, Head UBS Institutional & Multinational Banking, says: ”UBS Digital Cash going forward aims to enable our clients to make cross-border payments in a much more efficient and transparent way. Furthermore, Blockchain-based payment solutions for cross-border payments are a strategic focus for UBS. With the successful UBS Digital Cash pilot, we have reached another important milestone.”

In the pilot, transactions with multinational clients and banks were successfully carried out. These included domestic transactions within Switzerland and cross-border payments in US dollars, Swiss francs, Euros and Chinese yuan. Additionally, the pilot also included the transfer of liquidity between various UBS companies. UBS plans to expand and develop its UBS Digital Cash offering in further steps.

The advantages of Blockchain-based payments solutions

Pilot participant Janko Hahn, Head Treasury Operations at Autoneum, says: “The UBS Digital Cash pilot showcased the key advantages of blockchain-based payment solutions. They make cross border transactions faster, on time and provide a seamless traceability, which is a huge benefit when operating in a global market.”

Xiaonan Zou, UBS Head Digital Assets, Group Treasury, adds: ”We see the interoperability between UBS Digital Cash and other digital cash initiatives as key for the financial industry. In addition to their role in correspondent banking, they also have the potential to streamline and simplify the settlement of tokenised assets in the capital market.”

How does UBS Digital Cash work?

For the payment process, UBS Digital Cash uses a private blockchain network to which only the permissioned clients have access. The settlement is performed via smart contracts, which, for example, automatically execute payments as soon as predefined conditions are met. Client transfers at UBS are recorded and processed in a digital system for recording transactions. They are independent of currency, practically in real time and around the clock. UBS Digital Cash complements UBS’s involvement in a wide range of market initiatives. These include the Swiss National Bank-led project Helvetia for real wholesale Swiss franc Central Bank Digital Currency (wCBDC), as well as the Agorá project, led by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) together with seven central banks, to unlock central bank money and tokenised deposits from commercial banks in the cross-border payment context.

About UBS

UBS is a leading global asset manager and the leading universal bank in Switzerland. In addition, the company offers diversified wealth management solutions and focused investment banking functions. With the acquisition of Credit Suisse, UBS has assets under management of $5.7 trillion as of the fourth quarter of 2023. UBS supports its clients in achieving their financial goals through personalised advice, solutions and products. Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, the company operates in more than 50 markets around the globe. UBS Group AG shares are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange.

  • Blockchain & Crypto

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

5 November 2024

Estimated Read time

3Mins

New collaboration between Plumery and Payment Components
will enable financial institutions to adopt instant payments without overhauling existing core banking infrastructure

Plumery, a digital banking experience platform for customer-centric banking, has announced a new partnership with Payment Components, a leader in payments and open banking solutions. By decoupling digital experience and payments processes from legacy systems, institutions can now innovate more flexibly and efficiently. They can streamline operations while maintaining their existing core banking frameworks.

Progress for Payments

By leveraging Plumery’s innovative approach and Payment Components’ expertise, this partnership allows clients to accelerate time-to-market and future-proof operations against regulatory shifts such as the Instant Payments Regulation (IPR). Financial institutions can offload the burden of implementing new digital channels and instruments, such as real-time payments, without altering their core systems.

The IPR aims to make instant payments fully accessible to consumers and businesses across the EU. Currently only a minority of service providers support instant payments. While such regulatory changes usually impact core banking infrastructure, the Plumery and Payment Components partnership ensures these systems remain unaffected.

“This partnership is crucial for institutions needing to rapidly modernise without overhauling their entire infrastructure. Together, we offer a powerful, flexible solution that enables our clients to embrace innovation while staying ahead of regulatory changes like the IPR. Adding Payments Components to our partner ecosystem solidifies our commitment to creating cutting edge solutions that embrace digitisation.”

Ben Goldin, Founder and CEO of Plumery 

This global partnership offers a streamlined path to modernisation, enabling financial institutions to stay compliant, competitive and responsive to ongoing market shifts with solutions ready to support firms as they navigate the evolving financial landscape.

“Our collaboration with Plumery will empower financial institutions to seamlessly adopt modern payment technologies, addressing the complexities of regulatory changes, all while minimising disruptions to existing systems. We wanted to work with Plumery because both our company’s share a similar approach, work ethic and most importantly because of the compatibility of our products.”

Sotirios Nossis, Founder and CEO of Payment Components

Plumery

Headquartered in the Netherlands, Plumery’s mission is to empower financial institutions worldwide, regardless of size, to craft distinctive, contemporary, and customer-centric mobile and web experiences.

Plumery operates with a diverse team that embodies a unique combination of seasoned expertise and vibrant innovation. This blend has been cultivated through years of experience at start-ups, scale-ups, and established financial institutions, and most notably at globally leading financial technology companies, where they were instrumental in creating disruptive digital banking solutions and platforms that now serve 300+ banks globally.   

Plumery’s Digital Success Fabric platform provides banks with the foundation for success beyond fast-time-to-market by expediting the development of their digital front ends while significantly cutting costs compared to in-house initiatives or solutions with high total cost of ownership (TCO). 

Payment Components

At Payment Components, we’re reshaping the fintech landscape on a global scale. Today, our solutions are essential for more than 65 banks and financial institutions across 25 countries. We provide componentized solutions in a range of domains, including AI banking, open banking, account-to-account payments, and financial messaging technology. We achieve this through continuous innovation, building software components that help financial institutions become digital champions and deliver richer payment services to their clients. Our name reflects our belief: complicated processes in the financial industry will be replaced by AI-assisted dedicated components. We stand for simplicity, speed, and constant innovation

  • Digital Payments
  • Neobanking

Author

Gunnar Már Gunnarsson

Published

9 October 2024

Estimated Read time

4Mins

Gunnar Már Gunnarsson, Co-founder & CTO of PAYSTRAX on the potential for tokenisation to improve digital payments

The forward to the Bank of England’s most recent report on innovation in payments begins with the words:

“The concept at the heart of money is trust – a trust which is hard won but easily lost.”

In today’s financial climate, where digital transactions have become the norm, trust and security are more crucial than ever. However, 84% of consumers don’t completely trust online payments, and many drop out before they complete a purchase online due to safety concerns and a lack of payment options.

Tokenisation presents a way forward, offering an increased level of trust and efficiency that could tackle the concerns of consumers. And offer business increased security in the payments process. By replacing sensitive payment card information with unique identifiers (tokens), this technology provides a safe way to handle payment data from seller to consumer.

As the future of payments continues to evolve, safety, simplicity and global alignment will be essential. Tokenisation stands at the forefront of this with the potential to not only reduce fraud but also improve the customer experience.

An extra safeguard against cybercrime with tokenisation

The issue many businesses and customers face is that their data remains exposed during transactions. This increases the risk of fraud and company liability issues in the event of data breaches. Tokenisation technology replaces sensitive data with a unique, randomly generated string of symbols that cannot be easily interpreted. This provides an extra safeguard against cybercrime. This added level of security benefits both consumers and businesses. It can reduce vulnerabilities in everything from online purchases to mobile payments.

For merchants, this is particularly beneficial. By keeping sensitive information, such as customers’ card details, outside their own systems, they minimise the risk of security breaches. Tokenisation also helps businesses meet compliance standards, such as PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard). With no need to store or transmit sensitive data, companies can lower their security management responsibilities and reduce the overall costs of compliance. Tokenisation facilitates this easier compliance by deferring regulatory requirements across regions. Businesses can then rely on tokenised data instead of managing the security of the original PAN (Primary Account Number).

Enhancing the payment experience with tokenisation

Friction during transactions has long been an issue in finance, costing the industry $2 billion dollars a year in lost payments. Consumers increasingly expect faster and more seamless payments in all aspects of their life, from in store shopping to online purchases.

With tokenisation technology, the payment process becomes faster. Sensitive information no longer needs to be re-entered or verified externally during each transaction. This reduction in data exposure reduces the risk of fraud while maintaining the rapid pace of real-time payments. Overall this creates a secure and safe payment process for businesses while not interrupting the real-time user experience.

Frictionless payments aren’t the only benefit of tokenisation. With customers being more likely to complete purchases when a tokenisation system is in play, with Visa reporting that authorisation rates improve by 2.1% using the technology. This is mostly due to the dynamic card-on-file information that tokenisation provides. It reduces payment failures and ensures a smoother purchase process, with failed payments no longer an issue.

A final example for how tokenisation enhances payment experience both user and provider side can be found in B2B Cross-Border payments. The market is projected to grow significantly, with estimates indicating a 43% increase to reach $56.1 trillion by 2030. The risk of fraud grows with this, alongside increasingly in depth and complex international laws and national regulations, companies need both security, and to be customer facing in their plans. Technologies that secure payments and provide seamless transactions, like tokenisation, are pivotal in supporting this growth by reducing risks and improving efficiency.

The future of payments

As alternative payment methods and RTP networks continue to rise, tokenisation will be crucial in creating a global payments ecosystem that is both secure and frictionless. Visa has issued over 9.5 billion tokens globally, with Mastercard reporting over 50% year-over-year growth in tokenised transactions. This rapid adoption highlights the importance of tokenisation in building secure, efficient payment networks.

By reducing fraud, simplifying security management, and improving the overall customer experience, tokenisation is set to play a leading role in shaping the future of payments. Especially as digital and cross-border transactions become increasingly important.

It’s more than just a security measure. It’s a critical technology that enhances the entire payment ecosystem, making transactions faster, safer, and more efficient for all parties involved.

Gunnar Már Gunnarsson, Co-founder & CTO of PAYSTRAX

  • Cybersecurity in FinTech
  • Digital Payments

Author

Berkley Egenes

Published

7 October 2024

Estimated Read time

4Mins

Berkley Egenes, Chief Marketing & Growth Officer at Xsolla, on the legislation changing financial services

The European Union’s Digital Market Act has sent tremors through digital payments. The legislation is designed to stop Big Tech’s monopoly over vital online services, from search engines to messaging apps. But beneath the surface, one of the most fascinating battlegrounds is how the Digital Markets Act will impact the lucrative world of digital payments. A space long dominated by a few influential players. This will affect how industries, including the video game industry, monetise these services.

Big tech’s digital tollbooth

For years, the platform owners have controlled much of the infrastructure around digital payments. Major platforms have tightly controlled access, charging app developers and merchants fees for every transaction processed. Furthermore, they take hefty cuts from each purchase through their ecosystem. The impact of the Digital Markets Act may vary across different platforms. Some companies will need to adjust their models to fit the legislation. Others may push back or delay changes through legal and regulatory channels. 

The Digital Markets Act specifically targets a select group of ‘gatekeepers’, defined by their user base, revenue, and platform reach. Not every platform or company will be obligated to follow the Digital Markets Act’s rules. However, companies like Apple and Google, fall under the Digital Markets Act’s direct scope. The legislation now obliges these companies to open their platforms. This will allow smaller players and third-party services to operate without being strangled by eye-watering fees or exclusionary policies. 

The impact on monetisation with Digital Payments

The big question is how this will impact the business models of the gatekeepers and the developers who rely on these platforms. For years, the mobile platforms have depended on hefty commission fees. Often as high as 30%, these monetise digital payments within their ecosystems. These fees have been a central sticking point for developers, particularly video game studios, which sometimes generate billions in revenue through in-app purchases and microtransactions. 

Free-to-play mobile games specifically rely heavily on players making in-game purchases, from cosmetic skins to virtual currency. Under the current system, a significant chunk of that revenue is siphoned off by platform holders. They collect commissions on every transaction. This has forced game developers to either raise prices or accept slimmer margins while operating within the confines of strict payment policies. 

The Digital Markets Act is disrupting this current model. Game developers have been fighting the ability to direct players to alternative payment methods. They may now have the freedom and access to offer alternative ways to market and monetise their game while still having the player experience on the mobile phone. As a result, for the first time, consumers may be able to choose alternative payment processors. This potentially reduces costs for players and developers alike. 

For video game developers, particularly indie studios, the Digital Markets Act could represent a long-awaited relief from the large hold of app store economies. Developers can now distribute, market and sell their digital items and bundle packs through their online web shop or mobile SDK. By exploring these alternative options, developers will be retaining more of the profit per transaction. They could invest in better content or offer custom promotions to players – a win for both creators and consumers in the gaming industry across Europe.

Don’t ignore the challenges

The Digital Markets Act ushers in a brave new world of competition and choice for consumers, but it’s not all plain sailing. While the Digital Markets Act is designed to promote competition, the actual implementation of its provisions is still subject to regulatory developments and potential litigation. This means the full impact of the Digital Markets Act could take time to materialise. Moving towards a more open payment system demands a mountain of technical tweaks and a watchful eye from regulators. The real headache will be getting all these different payment systems to talk to each other while keeping security watertight. 

Consumers also have to consider how they will adapt to these changes. While there are many benefits, changing habits takes work. The success of the Digital Markets Act will depend on effective communication, education, and transparency to ensure consumers are aware of the new options and their benefits.

A new era for Digital Payments?

While the Digital Markets Act promises greater choice and a more level playing field, the road ahead will be anything but smooth. While the Digital Markets Act’s potential to break down monopolistic practices is significant, its effects may not be felt immediately. Regulatory processes, litigation, and slow consumer adoption could mean the transition to a more open digital payments landscape occurs gradually over time. Gatekeepers have maintained a firm grip on payment infrastructure for years, charging high fees that have eaten into developers’ profits. But with the Digital Markets Act tearing down some of these walls, game studios may have the flexibility to finally bypass gatekeepers and offer cheaper in-game purchases, subscriptions, and services directly to consumers.

While the Digital Markets Act opens doors for smaller developers and alternative payment options, it also forces companies to rethink their monetisation strategies. This could potentially pass new costs onto consumers in other ways. What is clear is that the digital payments landscape is in flux. How the tech giants, game developers, and consumers adapt to this new reality will define the future of monetisation in the digital economy. The game is far from over, and the real winners have yet to be decided.

Berkley Egenes, Chief Marketing & Growth Officer, Xsolla

  • Digital Payments

Author

Tetyana Golovata

Published

17 September 2024

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Tetyana Golovata, Head of Regulatory Compliance at IFX Payments, on builidng compliance into business culture

Regulation plays a critical role in shaping the fintech landscape. From Consumer Duty and FCA annual risk reporting to APP fraud, the tectonic plates of the sector are shifting. Whether you consider these regulations as benefiting or hindering the industry, businesses are struggling to keep up. 

According to research by fraud prevention fintech Alloy, 93% of respondents said they found it challenging to meet compliance requirements. In a new study by Davies a third of financial leaders (36%) said their firms had been penalised for compliance breaches in the year to June. The FCA brings in its operational resilience rules in March 2025. So, it is more important than ever to ensure your company makes the grade on compliance. 

Learning lessons from history

Traditionally, FX has struggled with the challenge of reporting in an ever-developing sector. As regulatory raise the bar on compliance, responsible providers must help the industry navigate the changes and upcoming deadlines.

Fintechs and payments companies are entering uncharted waters. They face pressure to beat rivals by offering more innovative products. Regulators have struggled to keep up in the past. Gaps in legislation have allowed some opportunists to slip between the net, as seen in the collapse of FTX. Because of this, implementation and standardisation of the rules is necessary. This ensures innovation remains seen as a force for good, and to help identify and stamp out illegal activity.

Culture vs Business

Culture has become a prominent factor in regulatory news. We have seen cases of large fines and public censure relating to cultural issues. FCA COO Emily Shepperd observed in a speech to the finance industry, “Culture is what you do when no one is looking”.

Top-level commitment is crucial when it comes to organisational culture. Conduct and culture are closely intertwined. Culture is not merely a tick-box exercise. It is not defined by perks like snack bars or Friday pizzas. Rather, it should be demonstrated in every aspect of the organisation, including processes, people, counterparties, and third parties.

In recent years, regulatory focus has shifted from ethics to culture. Recognising its crucial role in building market reputation and ensuring compliance with rules and regulations. Furthermore, boosting client confidence, and retaining employees. The evolving regulatory landscape has significantly impacted e-money and payments firms. Moreover, regulations are strengthening each year. Each regulation carries elements of culture, as seen in:

  • Consumer duty: How do we treat our customers?
  • Operational resilience: How can we recover and prevent disruptions to our customers?
  • APP fraud: How do we protect our customers?

Culture Drivers

Key drivers of culture include implementing policies on remuneration, conflicts of interest, and whistleblowing. However, for it to become embedded it must touch employees at every level.

This is showcased by senior stakeholders and heads of departments facilitating close relationships with colleagues across a company’s Sales, Operations, Tech and Product teams to build a collaborative environment. 

Finance firms must recognise the trust bestowed on them by their customers and ensure the protection of their investments and data is paramount. Consumer Duty may have been a wake-up call for some companies, but progressive regulation must always be embraced and their requirements seen as a baseline rather than a hurdle.

Similarly, the strengthening of operational resilience rules and the upcoming APP fraud regulation in October are to be welcomed, increasing transparency for customers. 

Compliance vs Business 

Following regulatory laws is often viewed as a financial and resource drain, but without proper compliance, companies are vulnerable to situations where vast amounts of money can be lost quickly.

A case in point is the proposed reimbursal requirement for APP fraud, which will mean payment firms could face having to pay compensation of up to £415,000 per case.

Complying not only safeguards the client and their money, but also the business itself. About nine in ten (88%) financial services firms have reported an increased compliance cost over the past five years, according to research from SteelEye.  Embedding compliance earlier in business cultures can be beneficial in the long run, cutting the time and money needed to adapt to new regulations and preventing the stress of having to make wholesale changes rapidly. 

Building a cross-business compliance culture 

Compliance is a key principle at IFX Payments, and we strive to be a champion in this area. In response to these challenges, the business restructured, establishing dedicated risk and regulatory departments, along with an internal audit function. 

Regulatory compliance aims to support innovation by developing and using new tools, standards, and approaches to foster innovation and ensure product safety, efficacy, and quality. It has helped the firm to navigate the regulatory landscape while driving growth and maintaining high standards.

This organisational shift allowed each business line to own its own risk, with department partaking in tailored workshops designed to identify existing, new, and potential risk exposure. Shared responsibility for compliance is the only way to create a culture which values it. We see this as a great way for organisations to drive innovation while sticking to the rules. 

  • Digital Payments

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

19 August 2024

Estimated Read time

6Mins

FinTech Strategy met with Stiven Muccioli, Founder & CEO at BKN301, to discuss digital payment services connecting North Africa, the…

FinTech Strategy met with Stiven Muccioli, Founder & CEO at BKN301, to discuss digital payment services connecting North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.              

BKN301 Group is a London based fintech provider that offers Banking-as-a-Service, connecting North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. The company aims to address the financial inclusion gap in these regions. It provides digital payment and banking platforms to unbanked populations. BKN301 has successfully partnered with fintechs in Egypt and Qatar, serving millions of customers and providing access to financial services. They are also focused on expanding their market in Europe. The company aims to become a leader in the industry and bridge the gap between Europe and the Middle East.

At Money20/20 Europe, FinTech Strategy spoke with BKN301 Founder & CEO Stiven Muccioli to find out more…      

Tell us about the genesis of BKN301…

“I launched the company in 2021 with the vision to create the biggest tech provider for a digital banking service connecting North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. We are looking at the demographic sheet of the world… In Europe, we are overserved by the banking system and it’s quite tough to create new projects in the FinTech space. It’s hard to scale past Europe, into the Middle East and North Africa. Ours is an operation in its early stages. There is a huge penetration with mobile devices in the Middle East and North Africa, but at the same time there are a huge amount of people unbanked.

So, we have created the platform to allow digital banks to start fast and with low cost. Basically, we are the ‘backbone’ for the new digital banking era in the Middle East and North Africa. We also work with many companies across Europe. However, we are very focused on the connection between the Middle East, North Africa and Europe. Also, we are focused on the remittances business and cross-border payments because many working abroad in Europe don’t have access to the banking system in Europe. And there are many digital banks in Europe trying to fulfil this gap for new customers.”

Tell us about your career journey…

“I began 15 years ago in the startup business and founded two other companies. The first one, Tippest, was a copycat of Groupon in Italy. This was founded with a group of friends in 2011 and we were able to scale successfully, leading to its sale in 2015. Following that, I moved to the US where I spent some time as an angel investor. In 2016 I came back to Italy to start a new company. It was a corporate venture operation inside of the Iccrea Bank, one of the biggest banking groups in Italy. We created a company named Ventis. It delivered the first super application that merged e-commerce and the digital bank.

We created a platform capable of delivering an e-commerce service, and at the same time digital banking services, payment cards, accounts and more. We managed this part of the business for the Group and reached good numbers. In 2020, we sold the company and today it is the third biggest payment player in Italy.”

Tell us about some of the successful partnerships BKN301 has been involved in…

“We have seen great successes with key partners such as Damen. Damen is a e-payment company in Egypt serving 18 million customers. Thanks to our technology, they are able today to provide a digital payment application to millions of Egyptians. They are now connected and have access to a range of financial services to save money and receive remittances from Europe and across the Gulf. A very successful story in terms financial inclusion.

It’s the same in Qatar where we serve a partner that provides service to labourers and construction workers – there are around 700,000 such workers in Qatar. A good example of financial inclusion because we provide the platform for a low-cost digital banking platform connecting unbanked people to Europe.”

What are some of the key challenges financial institutions are facing that you can help them with? What problems are companies asking you to solve?

“At BKN301, we’re focused on our technology and building an ecosystem based on APIs so we’re able to provide those APIs to digital banks – with us, they save time and money. So, the integration cost is far less than a traditional integration cost. They’re able to work multi-market because we are in different markets and they won’t have any legacy agreement with big corporates. We provide APIs so they can develop and use them for core banking and processing.”

“Every year there is a new wave of news, but we don’t know how long each trend will it last… A couple of years back blockchain was at the core and everyone want to add a feature, sometimes without any reason. Now it’s the same with AI. To build a concrete platform on AI or on blockchain, you need many years, and a lot of investment, to be focused. I don’t believe companies that come out after six months saying they are now AI based. It’s impossible to build a real platform based on AI that quickly. We need to define the real companies. So, which one has the mature technology. It’s a good wave and I think there is a huge need. For example, anti-money laundering controls driven by AI could be a game changer.”

And what’s next for BKN301? What future launches and initiatives are you particularly excited about?

“This year we want to get more established in the market in Europe, so we will be focused on expansion. The goal for us is to become the door, the access bridge, between Europe and the Middle East. We aim to become a backbone for the new financial ecosystem across the region.”

Why Money20/20? What is it about this particular event that makes it the perfect place to showcase what you do?

“Every year there is a new wave of news… A couple of years ago blockchain was at the core and everyone wanted to add some feature on blockchain, sometimes without any reason. And now it’s the same with AI. To build a concrete platform on AI, or on blockchain, you need to be focused for years and have a lot of investment – it can’t be done in six months. So, as with blockchain, we need to define the companies making real progress with established technology based on AI, the same as we did with blockchain. It’s a good wave that can meet a huge need, for example with anti-money laundering controls, and Money20/20 is a great place to learn more about where the industry is at today.”                                                                           

Author

Published

30 July 2024

Estimated Read time

3Mins

Digital payments enable access to financial services by underserved members of society at a time when the digital divide is widening.

The United Nations emphasises financial inclusion as a driver for economic development, including it as component eight of the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. The World Bank defines financial inclusion as crucial economic development and social progress that ensures equal access to financial products and services. 

In recent years, accessibility to financial services has improved rapidly as financial technology has advanced. The 2022 World Bank report revealed that 71 percent of people in developing countries had access to a bank account in 2021, a 42 percent jump from a decade earlier. 

The key driver of this development in financial inclusion is the growth of digital payments, which surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the CFA Institute. 

Role of digital payments 

Digital payment technologies, such as digital wallets, online mobile banking apps, and contactless transactions, contribute to the growth of financial inclusion. Compared to traditional methods, digital payments offer multiple benefits.

Reduced costs are one reason digital payments have become a significant cause of economic growth. They allow lower barriers to entry for underserved people. 

With more people having digital financial accounts, the underprivileged can receive wages, government benefits, or remittances more easily. 

Digital transactions provide a safer alternative to physical cash transactions. The digital records for each transaction help people manage their finances and increase transparency in businesses. They also help mitigate the risks of theft or fraudulent activities. 

Accessibility

Digital payment solutions significantly improve accessibility to financial services. They eliminate geographical barriers for people living in remote areas as long as there is internet access. 

Online platforms make it easier for people to conduct transactions, pay bills, and access credit and insurance services from anywhere. They also allow instant payments that happen in seconds without the need for third parties. 

The accessibility of digital payments extends to people with disabilities. Mobile banking apps often include features such as voice commands, screen readers, and accessible interfaces that cater to them. 

Case Studies

Many digital payment initiatives have successfully promoted financial inclusion in marginalised communities. 

One of them is India’s Jan Dhan-Asdhar-Mobile (JAM) Trinity initiative, which was launched in 2014. The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana programme aims to provide universal access to banking facilities with at least one basic banking account for every household. This programme promotes financial inclusion in rural areas by offering zero-balance accounts with debit cards.  

Meanwhile, the Aadhar programme introduces a biometric digital identity for Indian residents, simplifying access to financial services. Lastly, the Mobile Network programme focuses on growing mobile network infrastructure to facilitate digital payments. 

Challenges and Solutions 

Still, the challenges of achieving financial inclusion through digital payments persist. In 2022, 1.4 billion adults remained unbanked. Meanwhile, increased accessibility also comes with the consequence of more people becoming prone to potentially unscrupulous lending practices, especially since the underprivileged often lack sufficient financial knowledge to avoid such schemes. 

Thus, financial education is crucial so that more people can effectively protect their wealth. The government should initiate financial literacy programmes for the people. The programmes could also be conducted through online platforms to reach more communities. 

In addition, increasing security technology is also important to overcome the risk of fraudulent activities. AI technology might solve this problem, as it can efficiently detect suspicious patterns and mitigate fraud schemes. 

Future Outlook

Digital payments’ future role in driving financial inclusion will become more prominent as mobile and internet penetration increases. Governments should prioritise investment in telecommunications and internet infrastructure to reach their optimal potential. 

AI-powered solutions are expected to continue to develop and offer many ways to accelerate digital finance adoption. With the advancement of technology, security and customer experience will also improve. 

  • Digital Payments

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

25 July 2024

Estimated Read time

6Mins

FinTech Strategy met with Merusha Naidu, Global Head of Partnerships at Paymentology, to discover more about the global issue processor.

Banks, digital banks and fintechs, around the world, trust Paymentology to issue and process all forms of cards and transactions, at scale. Paymentology offers a cloud-based platform, rich data, a global footprint and proven track record powering industry leaders and game-changers.

A global issuer processor with on the ground teams in 50+ countries across 14 time zones, Paymentology’s founders saw that the payments industry was stagnant and limited, in both capability and ambition.

In March 2021, Tutuka and Paymentology merged, resulting in a ‘payments and card processing powerhouse’. The merger combined the ultra-advanced, multi-cloud platform of Paymentology with the global reach and experience of Tutuka to revolutionise cloud-based processing globally. 

Tutuka was traditionally a financial services company, that provided payment processing technologies, software and services, and application programming interfaces (APIs) for e-commerce and digital transacting across countries in Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, while Paymentology processed for legacy banks in Europe and the UK. The merger enabled banks and fintechs to integrate into a single API, go live and issue cards almost anywhere in the world.

At Money20/20 Europe, FinTech Strategy spoke with Global Head of Partnerships, Merusha Naidu, to find out more…

Tell us about the genesis of Paymentology?

“Paymentology is a global neo processor. We work with banks and fintechs to help them issue their own cards, whether prepaid, debit or credit, virtual or physical. The beauty of the platform is that it’s fully cloud native. So, we’re scalable. We’re focused on speed to market so when you are working with a fintech, or a digital bank, it’s all about two things. How do you innovate? And then how do you go live quickly? Those are two areas of the business that we really focus on. Not only is our tech state of the art, with everything built in the cloud, all of our infrastructure is also in the cloud, including things like our connection to schemes.

We were the very first issuer processor to connect to Visa Cloud Connect, via cloud endpoints in Europe. Being first in embracing modern practices, we ensure our processes are next-generation, thanks to our fully cloud-native and digital infrastructure.

What makes us different? We operate across UK, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia Pacific; we are truly global, operating across all five regions. One of the things that makes that possible is our tech. A customer can integrate with us once and then launch across five regions if they wanted to, or multi-market rollouts. We offer a huge ability to scale using integration. Our customers are able to replicate that digital first experience across every single jurisdiction. So, whether it’s Kenya and Dubai and then Saudi Arabia and Portugal, they can have the same experience across the world.”

Tell us about your role at Paymentology?

“I’ve been with Paymentology for 14 years. Prior to taking up my current role as Global Head of Partnerships, I was the Regional Head of Asia Pacific. So, when you look at partnerships, I was asked a question recently at a talk: ‘What would my message be to issuers across the industry?’ My message is that you can’t do it alone. If you want to create truly scalable, innovative solutions, you’ve got to work with partners and collaborate with the best in class. We know we are best in class when it comes to issuer processing, but we also create ecosystem partners that close the gap when it comes to creating really valuable payment ecosystems.

Whether it’s top core banking providers, leading cloud services, or premier card manufacturers, these are the partners we collaborate with. This allows us to confidently assure our customers that we work with the best, to deliver the best, across the entire value chain.”

Tell us about some of the successful partnerships Paymentology has been involved in…

“We were the first company to deliver flip card technology for our client Mox. Paymentology embedded its global processing capability into the platform, to enable Mox to launch its ground-breaking feature to ‘flip’ between debit and credit spending on the all-in-one Mox card. This allows you to have one physical card, one virtual card number, but in the background, we link it to two different accounts.

It gives the customer real flexibility around how they can spend, because if it’s everyday purchases, they can use their debit account or their prepaid account. If they have larger purchases, they can switch in the app and use their credit facility. So, it really gives customers flexibility and choice – two things at the heart of what we do.

“Cross-border payments for us is key. Meanwhile, everyone talks about being digital first. For us, tokenisation has helped and we have a superior partner, MeaWallet, to help us deliver this. Elsewhere, crypto has been seen as a sore point but it’s coming back and people again want that flexibility. So, having a way for customers to spend their crypto, converting crypto to free apps and making sure that data is at the heart of all that. It’s about learning about our customers, understanding what our customers want and using our data to make informed decisions, or giving our customers data so that they can make the decisions.”

And what’s next for Paymentology? What future launches and initiatives are you particularly excited about?

“We’re excited about being able to deliver flexibility, control, agility. Because the Paymentology platform is so agile, in the future you will be able to plug in even more different components into the offering. So, a customer can add in rewards and loyalty points. For example, airlines have a platinum MasterCard product, so it opens them up to all of the MasterCard loyalty rewards, airport lounges, all of those benefits. It’s all about being innovative and keeping up with that innovation and growing with customers.”

Why Money20/20? What is it about this particular event that makes it the perfect place to showcase what you do? How has the response been to Paymentology?

“Paymentology is headquartered in the UK so it’s important for us to make sure we’re representing business across Europe. This is the centre of the world for banking innovation. People look to this event to really learn about what’s happening in the industry globally and discover what trends are going to come up. What should we be doing? How can we innovate together and learn from each other? That’s one of the things I really love about Money20/20; the talks in all of the panels are so interesting and I always leave knowing more. Being in the payments industry, and especially being an issuer processor, it’s important for us to learn from the industry and understand where we need to move so that we can stay at the forefront of developments.”

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

17 July 2024

Estimated Read time

7Mins

FinTech Strategy spoke with Craig Ramsay, MD for Business Development at Episode Six, to learn about its approach to partnering to create payment products customers will love

Episode Six (E6) have a deep understanding of the industry pain points and a vision of the enormous opportunity in the paytech arena. The three co-founders of E6 came together in 2015 to build and launch TRITIUM® – a platform that helps banks and fintechs leave legacy behind and build payments products their customers love.

From there, they attracted several visionary allies within key payments industry players to support E6, as they built a global team to bring their vision to market. They currently have employees in 35+ countries and support clients across five continents.

During Money20/20 Europe we spoke with Chris Ramsay, MD for Business Development at Episode Six, to learn more…

Tell us about the genesis of Episode Six?

“We are a mature business not a startup. We’ve been going nine years. Furthermore, we’re series C and have raised over £97 million across three rounds. The last round was in March 2023. We’re actually a secure reliable FinTech. We work with the likes of HSBC and can meet that reliability change for banks who might be wondering whether a solution provider will still be around in two years. E6 has 180 employees globally. We operate in Asia, the US and we’re growing fast in Europe.

Additionally, we see huge growth in this space and we’re really excited – it’s one of the reasons I joined from HSBC nine months ago. At E6, we love to solve customer problems, and a customer problem has payment as a component. We want to make that customer journey a better experience in a safe and secure way. Banks want to do that. Companies want to do that. People just need the technology to be able to do it well. And we think we’re able to support that now and in the future.”

Tell us about your role at Episode Six?

“I joined from HSBC where I was the innovation head on the corporate side for the bank speaking to a lot of the verticals. And every time I spoke to hospitality, healthcare, or telcos, they were asking about how can you actually do intake as a bank… And the bank’s response is that they would love to do that, but they’re not fintechs. I got a bit frustrated by trying to always push for change. Yet there is a different way. And that way is for banks to actually think about E6 as a partner. We provide technology. We’re a technology company. We have a ledger that allows you to actually take lots of different products to sit alongside your core business, and then we can do the issuing and processing.

What are some of the key challenges financial institutions are facing that you can help them with? What problems are they asking you to solve? In doing so, what are the challenges for Episode Six?

“We are now deploying into the Middle East and recently launched within Saudi Arabia. Our technology can pretty much be used in every country. And what’s interesting, I’m a banker and I know that everybody likes to make things complicated. The payments process does not have to be complicated. You can simplify it. People who are buying into our services start from addressing their customer problems. They’re keen to solve them and don’t want, or need, to understand all the ins and outs of payments. They just want to be able to get things done. And that’s where again, we try and focus a lot of our effort. So, it’s the people aspect of our company we’re proud of because we are bringing cross industry knowledge combined with technology to actually have a bit of fun.

Tell us about some of the successful partnerships Episode Six has been involved in…

Japan Airlines

“Japan Airlines is one of the companies that we power. You download the Japanese Airlines app when you’re booking your flights. And if you’re a regular customer you get points like you do with BA. And they also have a multicurrency wallet within their app that’s linked to a card. That card is powered by a bank and has 15 currencies on it, along with the loyalty points. So, the card can be used outside of Japan as a normal debit card and handles the currency conversion. We have Revolut in Europe and they have an inbuilt multicurrency app in Japan airlines and link to loyalty points.

So, for the Japanese Airlines customer, they don’t have to worry about being embarrassed about not having the right currency abroad and plan how they will actually be able to spend their money. Our platform also enables FX rates to be changed. For example, Platinum Japanese Airlines customers get better FX rates. All of this creates a great customer experience, but it’s the flexible technology that’s making things happen.”

A-Tono

“We have also just launched with A-Tono in Italy. Italians love real Cash, but even so digital payments grew 12% last year compared to 2022, totalling €444bn, up from €397bn. It represents a huge opportunity for payment solutions providers and retailers.  A-Tono wants to deliver prepaid card offerings across many verticals: transit, gift cards, post offices and more. They needed the right technology to be able to make these offerings. You take a card and load money onto it – we power that for A-Tono. We’ve actually migrated all of their existing customers onto our platform. They want to stand out as the innovator in digital payments in Italy where Italians don’t have many choices.

By integrating E6’s powerful enterprise-grade payment processing and ledger technology, A-Tono can now offer its clients, which span a number of sectors in Italy, access to the latest global payment capabilities. Switching to E6 has broadened the services A-Tono is able to offer clients when it comes to payments processing and solutions, giving them more flexibility, choice and revenue streams.

Together, E6 and A-Tono will offer clients easy access to the most innovative payment solutions, integrated seamlessly into their existing infrastructure to provide secure, scalable and best in class customer-centric experiences. 

Whatever the size of the company, whatever the region, we want to be involved in solving customer problems.”

“Everybody says cheques are going to go, they’ve been saying that for years but it’s actually happening. Not in the US, but digital payments are on the rise and it’s not just card payments. You’ve got wallet payments and the likes of PayPal, people don’t want physical cash. I don’t think the large retail brands have found a real solution. When you see what’s on offer at events like Money20/20 there are lots of people who can actually solve problems and it’s the collaboration I get excited about. What I’ve seen change over the last three or four years is that the Visas, the Mastercards and the big banks are looking to find small organisations like us to figure out how to solve their problems.”

And what’s next for Episode Six? What future launches and initiatives are you particularly excited about?

“The great thing is that we can go fast. We’re able to take a customer opportunity today and be delivering it and in market by the end of the year. That growth is consolidating our position that we are a technology company that can be trusted. We’re here to stay, but it’s the people that are employed by E6 that are really going to be the difference about why we are chosen versus some of our competitors. It’s not just about technology, it’s about trust and it’s about partnership because everybody wants their money to be transferred safely. And we can be trusted because we’re already trusted by the big banks.

Why Money20/20? What is it about this particular event that makes it the perfect place to showcase what you do? How has the response been to Episode Six?

“Networking is really important for us as a small company. I wander around the stands here and there are lots of people who can actually solve problems and it’s the collaboration I get quite excited about. What I’ve seen change over the last three or four years is that the big banks are looking to find small organisations like us to figure out how to solve their payments problems. And that’s different to when I was working for a bank only a few years ago. You just have to be here at Money20/20… What I’m seeing, since we returned after Covid, is how many people from different parts of the world are coming here to actually talk to each other in person. If you’re not here at Money20/20, then it’s actually hard to be relevant in this industry.”

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

15 July 2024

Estimated Read time

4Mins

FinTech Strategy hears from Till Wirth, EVP of Product at Wise Platform, to find out more about its mission to make international payments fast, low-cost, convenient and transparent

At Money20/20 Europe in Amsterdam, Till Wirth, EVP of Product at Wise Platform, took part in an impactful session titled “From Personal Payments to Enterprise: The Changing World of Cross-Border.” Wirth’s panel talk focused on the transformative trends in cross-border payments and their implications for both personal and enterprise financial transactions.

“Wise is a global technology company building the best way to move money around the world. Wise Platform is Wise – but for banks, large businesses and other major enterprises.

We allow our partners to embed the best way to send, receive and manage money internationally into their existing infrastructure, creating value for their business and customers.

Over the past decade, Wise (formerly known as Transferwise) has built a global payments infrastructure that has revolutionised how money moves around the world. Now, thanks to Wise Platform, other companies can gain access to our industry-leading, reliable service seamlessly.

We save partners time and money by allowing them to deploy new products and services to customers seamlessly, helping them to speed up innovation and serve, retain, and grow their customer base.”

FinTech Strategy spoke with Wirth to learn more…

Tell us about the genesis of Wise… Why is this an exciting time for the company?

“For us at Wise, it’s all about continuing towards our mission of making international payments fast, low-cost, convenient and transparent for our customers and partners.

It’s an exciting time for us as we’ve moved over £118bn on behalf of our 12.8 million active customers in the last financial year and helped them save more £1.8bn in fees. Over 62% of Wise’s transfers are completed instantly (in 20 seconds or less). Wise Platform, our global payments infrastructure for banks and enterprises is growing quickly, too, which allows us to bring the benefits of Wise to more people around the world.”

Tell us about your role…

“I lead the Wise Platform Product team building the global payments infrastructure for banks, financial institutions and enterprises around the world. For example, my team built the product behind the collaboration we announced with Swift last year.”

What are some of the key challenges financial institutions are facing that you can help them with? What problems are they asking you to solve?

“Consumers now expect their cross-border payments to be instant, convenient and transparent. And they are moving to providers they can trust to provide these services. As a result, we’re seeing banks focusing on retaining and winning back their customers through improving their cross-border payments experience. This is exactly what Wise Platform is helping them to do.

We work with more than 85 partners globally, including Bank Mandiri, Indonesia’s largest bank by assets, Shinhan Bank, one of South Korea’s oldest and largest national banks, and GMO in Japan to provide them with the capabilities, technology and network to enable fast, secure and cost-effective international payments for their customers. Quickly, directly from their own apps, without any major technical overhaul.”

Tell us about a recent success story…

“In June this year, Wise Platform hit a major milestone when our integration with Nubank, the world’s largest digital banking platform with over 100 million customers, went live.

Thanks to our partnership, Nubank’s premium Ultraviolet customers can now access multi-currency accounts and debit cards powered by Wise directly from their Nubank app. Customers benefit from a convenient user experience that we’ve tested and iterated over the years for our own customers to seamlessly manage their finances internationally.”

Why do you think the evolution of collaboration between banks and fintechs is set to continue?

“One of the reasons is that while banks have scale, they can gain agility in non core focus areas by working with fintechs and deliver significant customer benefits quickly.

Most banks have been built to focus on domestic banking, meaning their global cross-border payments are often not a priority. However, fintechs are better able to specialise and focus on one specific customer pain point. This means they can innovate much more quickly.”

Why Money20/20? What is it about this particular event that makes it the perfect place to showcase what you do? What’s the response been like for Wise?

“It’s a great event that brings the industry together and enables us to discuss the progress we’re collectively making. This year in particular, it was great to be on a panel to discuss how the cross-border payments landscape is evolving and the latest trends we’re seeing. We look forward to the upcoming event in the US later this year.”

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

11 July 2024

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Digital payments are now the preferred payment method for much of the world, and they continue to evolve.

They were first introduced through the creation of credit or debit cards. These physical cards allowed consumers to spend money without needing cash.

Advances in mobile technology led to online banking apps, mobile wallets, and contactless payments. These methods are even more convenient and are transformative for commerce, online and in physical outlets.

Throughout 2024, there are ten key trends expected to rise as digital payments evolve:

1. Rise of cryptocurrencies in everyday transactions

Cryptocurrencies, or crypto, are digital currencies maintained by a decentralised blockchain system rather than any government or institution. Owning a crypto means possessing assets that are not tangible, hence it is more popular as an investment currently.

Many platforms are gradually integrating crypto into their financial ecosystem. For example, PayPal — the online payment giant — allows users to buy, hold, and sell crypto.

Despite its volatility issues, crypto is predicted to keep growing. It offers fast transactions, easier cross-border payment, and lower transaction fees than traditional methods.

2. Biometric Authentication

The security concerns surrounding digital payments are unchanged, but the method for securing them is improving all the time. This has led to widespread growth in biometric authentication. Biometric authentication allows for more security and convenience than traditional passwords and PINs, which can be forgotten or stolen. It makes impersonation far more difficult.

Biometrics requires users to input unique physical characteristics like fingerprints or facial features (via a camera). Approved in an instant, consumers can make payments easily by verifying with the tap of a finger or by staying still for the camera.

3. Growth of Peer-to-Peer Payments

Peer-to-peer payment apps allow users to send money directly to another user using a mobile device. The convenience of this payment mode made it popular.

Among the most used apps are Zelle, Venmo, and Paypal. Zelle, for instance, gained $307 billion in transactions in 2020, 58% growth on the previous year, and part of a wider trend in digital payments growth during the Covid-19 lockdowns.

This method offers instant transactions advantageous for time-sensitive transactions like splitting bills or sending emergency funds. It also commonly has a low-cost or free transaction compared to traditional banking options.

4. AI fraud detection with digital payments

AI technology has greatly impacted many sectors, including digital payments. Fraud detection with AI is a solution that uses algorithms to analyse large transaction data. This AI tool can recognise suspicious patterns and identify discrepancies that indicate fraudulent activity.

Companies like Visa introduced AI fraud detection this year. The AI-powered security tools are included in the Visa Protect suite. The fraud detection tool, including digital wallets, can be used for immediate payments.

5. Real-time payments (RTP)

Real-time payments make immediate transactions between accounts significantly better than traditional banking systems, which might take days. This is a preferred option for both consumers and businesses.

Businesses can improve cash flow with faster payments, and consumers can access funds immediately. Currently, the RTP frameworks continue to be adopted by worldwide financial institutions. It is expected to be the standard for various transactions, including payroll and cross-border payments.

6. Voice-activated transactions

Voice-activated payment is an innovative method for users to do transactions simply using speaking commands. A payment system such as this can be more convenient for users than the common typing password method.

This form of authentication is possible through voice recognition tools used in mobile apps. Additionally, voice-activated payments offer a high level of security and a smoother consumer experience. As more companies adopt this trend, it is expected to become even more popular in 2024.

7. QR code payments

QR code payments uses a unique QR code that smartphones can scan to authorise transactions. It is usually connected to consumers’ mobile banking apps or mobile wallets as the source of payment.

This contactless payment offers a seamless payment experience that is highly desirable for users. Businesses also benefit from the simplicity of the method by making transactions faster and seamless.

8. Cross-border payments

Cross-border payments are expected to grow consistently as the world moves on from the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, more businesses are engaging in cross-border payments, and 80 percent expect a transaction volume increase in the next 12 to 24 months.

International payments often suffer from high fees and lengthy transaction times. However, companies are expected to improve their capabilities as cross-border payments increase.

9. Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL)

Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services are a more accessible of borrowing for payment than traditional methods like credit cards.

They allow consumers to make purchases and spread the cost over time. This method enables minimal or zero percent financing and no initial credit check.

Many e-commerce platforms have integrated these payment system as they become more popular. 

10. IoT devices integration for digital payments

Integrating Internet of Things (IoT) devices with mobile payments helps make the consumer experience more convenient. This innovation allows wearables and smart home appliances to make contactless payments.

Furthermore, IoT devices can also generate data that can be analysed to create a more personalised experience.

  • Digital Payments