We are officially in the first week of 2026. The recent U.S. attack on Venezuela has led emerging markets to anticipate a shift in global trade. While the ripple effect on payments might take time to show up in the market, the state of payments is already taking shape behind-the-scenes. At a growth rate of 4%, the total payments market size is expected to reach $3.0 trillion by 2029, according to the McKinsey Global payments report 2025.
The speed and method of money movement are becoming as vital as the amount itself. esign choices are currently being implemented, from wage payments in Southeast Asia to B2B settlements in Europe and retail checkouts in Latin America, setting the course for the next ten years in the payments industry. Let’s look at how the payments industry and and will evolve for 2026 and beyond.
Key trends reshaping the payments industry
The payments landscape has undergone a radical transformation in recent years. The KPMG report showcases the falling trajectory of cash use in emerging markets since 2014, largely catalyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which solidified the dominance of digital methods over cash.
New payment options
Digital wallets, mobile payments, and e-commerce have definitely surged in popularity in the last 5 years. Currently, digital wallets account for approximately 30% of global point-of-sale volume. Additionally, account-to-account (A2A) payments have become increasingly popular due to their lower cost offered by platforms compared to traditional card networks.
As per the Fintech Technologies Market, the global fintech technologies market is expected to record a CAGR of 16.5% from 2025 to 2034, while the valuation is anticipated to reach USD 1008.56 Billion. This is a clear indication of the pace at which digital adoption is increasing for B2B payments and the competition being intensive.
Technological advancements with AI
Innovation is booming, encompassing fields like embedded finance and real-time payment infrastructure. Artificial intelligence (AI) now adds another layer of deployment for enhanced fraud detection and payment process optimization to the payment rails. With instant being the new normal, organizations are now exploring platforms to process B2B payments in less than 24 hours. On the other hand, Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) remain an area of ongoing exploration and something to watch out for 2026.
Competitive and regulatory intensify
The last few years have showcased how the market is highly competitive, with agile fintech firms aggressively challenging established banks. This has triggered new regulations, such as the EU's PSD3 and the push for common standards like ISO 20022 that aim to improve interoperability, transparency, and security, especially in cross-border payments. For instance, strong customer authentication and compliance checks are promoting fair competition amongst the fintechs.
SME centric solutions
Platforms have shifted the focus on small and medium enterprises ensuring that payment systems meet the needs of merchants and sustain their business models. SMEs in particular have been at the heart of the economy: in 2023 they represented over 99% of the UK business population. Fintechs and payment services offer choice, value for money (adjusting fees charged on each transaction to make it more affordable for SMEs), and trust to win the market share. The focus shift has led to product-led solutions for businesses addressing their unique requirements and meeting the demand with customised solutions.
Looking at 2026 and beyond, the three forces reshaping global payments are: fragmentation and regionalization, adoption of stablecoins and the AI potential, according to McKinsey. While the AI trajectory can be difficult to predict given its arbitrary nature, the multirail ecosystem and stablecoins have definitely arrived.
4 ways to thrive in the payments industry in 2026
Simplicity led by intelligence
With users increasingly relying on agents and automation, operations must now fundamentally prioritize simplicity, transparency, and personalization to meet the rising demands of consumers. Across the board, platforms are developing new products and services based on advancements in payments technology. However, the only differentiator will be simplified versions of tech services, facilitated by premium application programming interfaces (APIs) that are hard to displace.
Compliance-embedded infrastructure
Convenience and personalization are now becoming basic expectations from B2B platforms. While fraud continues to pose a major threat and cause serious harm to businesses, prevention is improving. In the first half of 2024, over £710 million of unauthorised fraud was prevented compared with £650 million in the same period in 2023. The trigger that influences businesses in choosing the right platform is compliance-embedded infrastructure that can hold multiple currencies, accounts, and integrate their existing tech stack.
Trust is imperative
Sounds simple, but trust is key in a market dominated by AI, and multiple platforms to choose from As organisations transition to automation and transactions move faster behind-the-scenes, platforms will need to provide the ‘what happened’ and ‘why it happened’ to both users and regulators. And this links to the first point of simplicity, as trust and adoption will rely on players’ ability to simplify complexity while maintaining control.
Trust in the platform and the engine behind it will be the bare minimum ask from the customers in 2026 and beyond.
Reduce the gap
Platforms are leveraging local payment rails either through strategic industry collaborations or direct market access. Simultaneously, customers are prioritizing solutions that minimize the number of intermediaries handling their funds. To effectively connect marketplaces with clients, the clear imperative is to streamline the transaction process by reducing the number of steps or 'loops' involved. Competitive cross-border payments are now powered by efficiently completing the global transactions in one or two steps.
Verto brings these converging demands to provide a single, intelligent infrastructure layer. By offering a unified, API-first approach, it simplifies complex cross-border transactions into one or two steps, directly addressing the need to 'reduce the gap.' Verto Atlas lets you monitor transactions and maintain a transparent ledger to satisfy both 'trust is imperative' and 'compliance-embedded infrastructure' requirements. Ultimately, it delivers 'simplicity led by intelligence' by providing granular, real-time data, ensuring businesses maintain control while benefiting from unprecedented speed and ease of transactions.
Ready to enhance the next gen global payments? Sign up → Verto.co
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