Key Payments Trends for 2025

Key Payments Trends for 2025

Summary

This report explores the key trends that are poised to disrupt the payments ecosystem in 2025. The discussion centers around embedded payments and the rise of super-apps; the growth of alternative payment rails such as real-time payments and buy now pay later solutions; and the adoption of technology such as artificial intelligence, open banking, and blockchain.

Technological change and evolving consumer preferences are driving rapid innovation in the payments industry. Consumers are demanding faster and more convenient payment methods, leading to the rise of real-time payments and embedded payments in ecommerce. Inflationary pressures and low regulation have facilitated the spread of buy now pay later offerings, giving consumers the opportunity to bypass traditional credit channels. Developments in computing continue to enable more advanced blockchain and artificial intelligence solutions to offer new payment channels and proactively prevent fraudulent activity. Regulatory bodies are attempting to level the playing field for new market entrants by legislating on data privacy and sharing, leading to increased adoption of open banking solutions.

Scope

• Integrating embedded payments solutions is vital to merchant success in ecommerce. Merchants adopting this technology can benefit from a 5-12% increase in conversion rates and a 15-30% rise in average cart values.
• Buy now pay later growth is booming, with 51% of global consumers having used these services as of 2024.
• The total value of cryptocurrencies surged in late 2024, highlighting the volatility of these assets’ prices. Despite this, use of blockchain-powered payment tools is widespread and increasing with the adoption of stablecoins.

• Identify the factors driving growth of the wider payments landscape, including super-apps, open banking, and blockchain.
• Understand the impact of innovations such as generative AI.
• Establish a greater understanding of these factors through our proprietary data and extensive research.