Digital payments & settlement
Real-time rails, QR payment schemes, card networks, merchant acquiring and cross-border settlement.
Real-time settlement is quietly becoming the default, not the upgrade
Instant-payment rails have moved from pilot to plumbing across a dozen major markets this year.
QR payment schemes reach interoperability — mostly
Cross-scheme QR acceptance is closing gaps between neighboring markets, but a few sticking points remain.
Cross-border settlement times keep falling
New corridors built on real-time rails are cutting settlement from days to seconds. Not everywhere, though.
Card networks respond to instant-payment competition
Interchange economics are shifting as merchants get more routing options than ever.
Fraud shifts from cards to real-time rails
As instant payments scale, so does a new category of irreversible-transfer fraud. How banks are responding.
Merchant acquiring consolidates around three platforms
A wave of acquisitions is concentrating processing volume. What it means for smaller merchants.
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