Per GlobalData, the digital payments market size is valued at USD 2,476.8 trillion in 2023 and is expected to increase at a CAGR of 14.3% over the forecast period. The increased adoption of digital payments is propelled by a high convenience level, as shown through the expansion of Tap-to-Pay tech, which started gaining momentum in Q4 2022 – Q1 2023. Additionally, such payments help eliminate the need for physical cash or checks, which can be inconvenient and time-consuming. Globally, governments have advocated and endorsed digital payments for numerous reasons, such as bettering financial inclusion, minimising cash usage, enhancing transparency, and promoting economic progress.
Worldwide partnerships within payments and ecommerce;
Payment innovation with a regional focus in Europe, the Americas, Australia, Asia, and Africa;
Buy Now, Pay Later;
Relevant use cases: Mastercard, Visa, Mangopay.
Within the same month, payment provider Stax Payments joined forces with PayPal for online payment acceptance, enabling customers to accept payments with PayPal, Venmo, and PayPal Pay Later options through the Stax payment platform, while offering nearly instant access to funds, fraud detection and seller protection on eligible transactions, together with PayPal’s built-in compliance standards. Additionally, PayPal’s over 430 million global active accounts were permitted to purchase with said merchants.
Later in September, PayPal announced two collaborations into separate verticals, the first one being with Meta, which sought to enable donations for charities on Facebook and Instagram in the US, UK, Australia, and Canada through the PayPal Giving Fund, and one with Uber, where it expanded its multi-year partnership to act as the latter’s strategic collaborator for its worldwide expansion and scalability. Areas of cooperation include additional processing through PayPal Braintree, alternative domestic debit network routing across a range of geographies, instant driver, and courier payouts to PayPal and Venmo, and custom support for new business lines.
Financial infrastructure for businesses Stripe and Tulip, a cloud-based retail solutions provider, brought together the latter’s retail POS solutions expertise and Stripe’s payment tech to better the payment experience for retailers and their consumers alike. The integration enabled support for diverse payment methods such as BNPL and Payment Links, together with access to Stripe’s payment infrastructure. Within the context of diversifying payment methods to serve additional verticals of the ecommerce sector, Nuvei and Plaid extended their partnership to support an extensive array of businesses in accepting bank-based payments for multiple use cases, such as utilities and B2B. Nuvei also cooperated with Stuvia, a marketplace for educational material, to help expedite the latter’s international growth by optimising its payment capabilities and expanding its target base. B2B payments company TransferMate was another enterprise to cooperate with an international payments platform to strengthen its global reach, namely with 3S Money.
Alibaba Group and its affiliates were amongst the names to have announced numerous developments within the cross-border payments space. The start of Q3 2023 saw AliExpress collaborate with China-based fintech PingPong Payments as an external partner to help Chinese merchants get paid abroad by having the PingPong cross-border collection option available on the ecommerce marketplace of Alibaba Group. In August, luxury travel retailer DFS Group partnered with Ant Group to better payments and marketing digitalisation across the DFS retail and online stores network. DFS was set to leverage Alipay+ to provide an end-to-end digital experience, engaging with its customers pre-, during-, and post-shopping across 36 stores in 15 markets, and 12 online shops in four markets. In the same month, Alipay+ joined hands with Macau Pass to help the company expand the coverage of Macau Wallet's MPay cross-border payment offering to over 40 overseas countries.
Similarly, global payments and financial platform Airwallex announced a partnership with US-based unified global spend platform Brex to advance its global market presence, enabling the platform to leverage its suite of solutions such as local currency collections for its global corporate card and its global employee expense reimbursements. Its focus on helping remove friction for international payments was also showcased by the August collaboration with Israel-based OurCrowd, which sought to facilitate investments in global startups by having the Airwallex API integrated to enable users from over 195 countries to invest in their own currencies and bypass restrictions caused by USD-denominated wire transfers. Shortly after, US-based payments consulting startup Yeeld teamed up with Airwallex aiming to expedite global payments.
Cross-border payments platform Currencycloud and fintech Incard also partnered to help creators and digital entrepreneurs reach global markets, aiming to simplify and add value to international payments. What is more, Currencycloud cooperated with accounts payable platform Nook to upgrade the latter’s capabilities, enabling invoices to be paid in 35 different currencies and to more than one hundred countries. Financial messaging platform Swift teamed up with Wise looking to expand cross-border payment options for financial institutions globally.
Further reiterating the worldwide payments space, other notable collaborations focused on payment orchestration, improved customer experiences, and overall checkout optimisation through varied technologies. Exemplifying this is the partnership between global payment orchestration platform FinMont and chargeback mitigation provider Justt aimed at automating chargeback disputes through the usage of AI, and that between payment orchestration platform IXOPAY and TrustPay, which sought to provide worldwide merchants and clients alike with improved payment solutions. Another company leveraging AI to enable enterprise merchants to improve operational efficiencies, better customer experiences, enhance product discovery, and help drive more sales was the open SaaS ecommerce platform for B2C and B2B brands BigCommerce in partnership with Google Cloud. A separate notable development was that of global retail management software Teamwork Commerce and fintech Adyen, who launched a Pay by Link solution, supporting omnichannel capabilities for simplified transactions for retailers.
Moving onto payment optimisation for separate verticals, some collaborations that caught our eye involved Walmart and Expedia Group, who sought to provide Walmart+ members with new benefits, such as the ability to get Walmart Cash by booking vacations, Shift4 and RedWeek, where Shift4’s end-to-end commerce platform was set to be leveraged by RedWeek’s online payments for their timeshare rental and membership transactions, and FreedomPay and Worldpay from FIS, which focused on providing integrated payments and omnichannel technology for varied enterprises within retail and hospitality, amongst others. Gift card expertise and technology provider Diggecard and Ingenico, a global payments acceptance solution company launched a gift card solution to facilitate the integration of payment and commerce services.
In the European space, among the first partnerships to have taken place in Q3 2023 was that between Italian fintech Tinaba and Ant Group, which sought to enable customers to make direct payments in Asia using the Tinaba app via QR codes at partner merchants supported by Alipay+ in South Korea and Malaysia. Within the context of travel payments, the UK-based provider of data-driven solutions and services for the airline industry Branchspace partnered with CellPoint Digital, a payment orchestrator, to help airlines leverage both companies’ solutions for digital strategy optimisation, conversion rate increases, and better customer engagement with the launch of an airline-specific payments ecosystem.
The B2B industry saw three notable developments, with one of the first announcements in Q3 2023 centring Nexi and Shopware, which partnered to improve payment capabilities for B2B merchants and specific verticals in European ecommerce markets and to enable an Omni-commerce suite, beyond ecommerce. Germany-based B2B payments company Mondu made public two separate collaborations, namely with payments specialist Acquired.com – to expand its services to more businesses in Europe – and with enterprise commerce platform Spryker – to support B2B buyers through adaptable payment choices.
When talking about bettering payments and the overall checkout experience for both merchants and consumers, Europe had multiple developments taking place throughout the region. Ingenico and Axerve, an Italy-based merchant service provider partnered to improve merchant onboarding and in-store payments through the introduction of the former’s Payments Platform-as-a-Service (PPaaS) solution. Dutch payments orchestration platform WLPayments and Checkout.com, a UK-based payments solutions provider announced that they aim to improve the entire payments ecosystem by providing new benefits to clients such as online merchants, acquirers, PSPs, EMIs, and ISOs. Endava and AcceptPayments.com teamed up to establish an online comparison marketplace for payment services to change how businesses discover payment service providers. The platform would enable merchants to compare services across varied categories for their online, physical store, remote, or multichannel retail operations.
In the context of payment modernisation and innovation, Slovakian PSP TrustPay partnered with Portugal-based SIBS to include Multibanco and MB Way Pay in its portfolio, both popular payment methods in the region. JCB and PAYONE extended their collaboration to offer contactless payments in Germany and Austria by enabling the JCB Contactless payment method and the additional security layer of J/Secure. When talking about contactless payments, Intesa Sanpaolo and Nexi launched a SoftPOS solution for merchants to leverage smartphones to accept payments made with contactless cards and digital wallets. Furthermore, NatWest selected Icon Solutions’ payments framework to modernise payments as it continues to align with the ISO 20022 payment data message standards, aiming to enhance the end-to-end customer experience with flexibility in payment flow initiation. One other development to have taken place in this space was defined by the launch of the Tap-to-Pay functionality for merchants in Europe and North America, enabled by the partnership of fintechs Aevi and Bleu.
The announcements centring payments within the North American space focused predominantly on infrastructure modernisation, with the companies that collaborated in Q3 2023 looking to better the experience for both businesses and consumers, be it through product launches or upgrades to their existing offerings. Such an instance is the partnership between payments provider Blackhawk Network (BHN) and Recharge.com, which enabled BHN to digitally distribute gift cards across the US and Canada. Finance automation platform Ramp joined Shopify as its exclusive expense management provider and entered the procurement space with the introduction of its flagship product, Ramp Plus, designed to integrate bill payments, vendor management, price intelligence, procure-to-pay, and spend management into a single unified platform. Shopify also partnered with Amazon to have the Buy with Prime app integration launched for merchants to offer Buy with Prime on Shopify stores.
Integrated payment processing solutions company Shift4 was among the names to collaborate with multiple companies in the space. It was chosen as a payment processor for St. Louis Blues, part of the NHL professional sports franchise, it partnered with Give Lively to offer fundraising services to non-profit organisations, and lastly with Amazon to provide customers at stadiums and arenas with a checkout-free shopping experience. Within the context of simplifying payments for ecommerce verticals, Nuvei cooperated with 888, an iGaming operator, to improve its payment experience in the US and increase acceptance rates, B2B BNPL solution provider Tabit and fintech Jifiti partnered to expand embedded B2B lending to merchants in Canada, Hallmark and Venmo launched Hallmark + Venmo Cards for their users, and Payoneer and Airbnb expanded their relationship to help hosts get paid in local currencies.
Moving further onto modernisation tactics, IBM was one company whose strategy clearly showcased further digitalisation plans. In September, it announced that IBM Payments Centre joined the Swift Partner Programme to collaborate with Swift members and provide access, integration, and the development of new payment solutions by utilising an expanded set of APIs and comprehensive access to API testing materials, documentation, and accreditation status. Shortly after, it joined hands with banking software company Temenos to integrate its payment capabilities into the IBM Cloud for Financial Services. Payroc and paytech Ingenico also partnered to launch Self/3000, an unattended payment tool developed for self-service settings, whereas Wix and Stripe announced the introduction of Tap-to-Pay on Android for US merchants to simplify in-person commerce.
In the Central and Southern American space, payments platform Paysafe and FX provider IC Markets announced the expansion of their payment offering in Latin America, and ACI Worldwide together with fintech infrastructure provider Dock made public their plans for the launch of Acquiring-as-a-Service solutions in Brazil. US-based payments and money transfer company MoneyGram partnered with the Banesco bank to expand its digital receive network to Venezuela, whereas issuer-processor Paymentology and DolarApp enabled Mexicans to buy anywhere in USD with no fees. One other important development within the space was the introduction of Google Wallet into Colombia following integration with Nu’s Moradita Credit cards, a Nubank subsidiary in the region.
One of the most important developments to have taken place in Q3 2023 within the Australian place was the partnership between ANZ Worldline Payment Solutions and Alipay+, which enabled Australia-based customers and businesses alike to accept payments through the latter’s services. Alibaba Group’s subsidiaries made several developments public within the Asian space, with one of the first being that Alipay is collaborating with Southeast Asian countries following an increase in Chinese tourist spending on the platform. Ant Group and Central Retail, a Thai retail platform, partnered to launch Alipay+ for tourists at its stores to benefit from digital payments. In the context of offering mobile payments for Asian tourists, Alipay+ cooperated with the Saudi Tourism Authority to introduce its unified global mobile payment and marketing solution to Saudi Arabia, further expanding its coverage. Moreover, it joined hands with UAE-based NEOPAY to expand its digital payments offering to merchants in the region and cooperated with PayNet to offer payment services to inbound and outbound Malaysian customers and travellers. PayNet also partnered with UnionPay International to enable cross-border QR code linkage. Multiple developments within the Asian space focused on Malaysia, with fintech and full-stack payments and business banking platform Razorpay partnering with Curlec to launch an international payment gateway platform for Malaysia. Stripe and digital platform Staytion partnered to power payments in Southeast Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand.
Another name to have had partnerships across the board is the National Payments Corporation Of India (NPCI). It helped Indian payments and API banking solutions company Cashfree Payments to launch AutoPay on QR for subscription-based businesses, and its subsidiary NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) teamed with Fonepay to launch a QR code-based payment solution between Nepal and India. One of its first developments in Q3 2023 centred CRED, which sought to introduce RuPay credit card UPI payments and make transactions more convenient for its members. CRED also partnered with Shopify to diversify payment options for merchants operating on the Shopify platform. The Indian space also saw fintech PhonePe and PayMate collaborate for the launch of an income tax payment feature. Other companies that announced developments in the Asian space in Q3 2023 are the Chinese travel platform VakaTrip and Nuvei which partnered to enhance card payment acceptance for its international customer base, and South Korean MOIN which teamed with Currencycloud to expand global coverage for remitters and improve the cross-border payment experience for customers.
White-label payment gateway provider Akurateco announced two integrations in the MENA region, namely with Tap Payments and MyFatoorah. Digital commerce enabler Network International partnered with J.P. Morgan Payments to strengthen the company’s acquiring offering in the Middle East.
An enterprise whose focus was on both the Asian and African spaces in Q3 2023 is Paymentology. One of its first collaborations was with e-payment and financial services provider TrueMoney with the goal of bolstering financial services in Thailand and Cambodia, followed by its partnership with Saudi Arabia-based HyperPay to improve the latter’s payment solutions in the Middle East. What is more, it cooperated with Boya to simplify expense management for businesses in Kenya. Similarly, global payments network TerraPay had three collaborations focused on cross-border payments, one with Bangladesh-based mobile financial services provider Nagad to enable access to cross-border money transfers for Bangladeshi expatriates, one with Attijariwafa bank in a bid to facilitate cross-border payments in Morroco, and one with Safaricom to facilitate outbound cross-border remittances.
Moving onto the African space solely, Uber and Safaricom cooperated to help Kenyan riders pay for trips through the mobile money service M-PESA. Google along with the African card scheme Verve enabled Nigerians to pay with Naira cards on the Play Store, whereas Nigeria-based fintech Flutterwave made public the launch of a digital FX platform for Nigerians, in partnership with Wema Bank and Kadavra BDC. Additionally, Flutterwave collaborated with financial institution IndusInd Bank for its expansion into India.
Other companies to have furthered their BNPL efforts are as follows: Microsoft extended its PayPal partnership, integrating its Pay Later solution in the US, UK, Australia, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy; iDEAL, Dutch fintech in3 and Buckaroo made public their pilot plans to enable clients to pay in three instalments by using iDEAL’s payment methods; B2B payments platform for SMBs Melio and Credit Key, a B2B BNPL provider teamed up to introduce Pay over Time, offering SMBs flexible terms to pay vendors; Open Banking payments provider Trustly provided Sergel with support to offer a reliable way for instalment payments’ management; Payment orchestration platform APEXX Global tapped Klarna to offer worldwide merchants its payment methods; and lastly, digital payments provider Citcon cooperated with Cash App Pay and Afterpay.
Starting off with Mastercard, the company announced the launch of the Mastercard Receivables Manager, an automated solution to enable businesses to accept and process virtual card payments, developed in partnership with Billtrust, a B2B order-to-cash software and digital payment services provider. Multiple Mastercard collaborations within Q3 2023 centred B2B payments, with the company partnering with supply chain finance platform KredX to make B2B digital payments rewarding for both enterprises and vendors, with Paysend to augment cross-border payments for SMEs looking to pay vendors through a joint offering entitled Open Payment Network, and with procurement and supply chain AI-driven software provider GEP to embed its virtual card tech for improved B2B payments. Moving onto separate areas of activity, it supported Ethiopia-based Dashen Bank with the launch of a multi-currency international prepaid card, as well as UAE-founded spend management fintech Qashio to launch corporate credit cards and offer virtual issuance capabilities in the region. Similarly, Philippines-based Asia United Bank collaborated with the company towards the introduction of a virtual card for online purchases in a bid to support digitalisation. Another notable development in the Asian space was its partnership with Checkout.com to enable Careem Pay customers in the UAE to access secure and fast near real-time payments. Within the gaming and mobility verticals, Microsoft’s Xbox announced the Xbox Mastercard co-branded credit card, set to be issued by Barclays US Consumer Bank, and Mercedes-Benz tapped Mastercard to introduce embedded in-car payments at the point of sale.
The second company in focus, namely Visa, had a development strategy that showed a predominance for bettering its own services, expanding its reach, as well as assisting companies with the introduction of innovative services. Like Mastercard, it centred B2B payments, having kicked off Q3 2023 with the news that it partnered with SAP to simplify B2B payments within the APAC region through embedded services. In collaboration with CB International Bank (CBiBank) it launched a cross-border B2B payments solution for businesses worldwide, with CBiBank officially joining the Visa B2B Connect platform. It also tapped Conferma Pay, a virtual payments provider to expand Visa Commercial Pay, its extensive suite of B2B payment solutions. Its digitalisation efforts included a collaboration with UAE-based NymCard to launch a plug-and-play end-to-end issuance platform as part of Visa’s Ready to Launch programme, the introduction of an integrated package of e-payment services in Egypt alongside Islamic banking solutions aiBANK, as well as a partnership with ABHI and YellowPepper to introduce A2A payments for customers and clients in the UAE region. Furthermore, together with US-based automating accounts payables and receivables provider Veem, Marqueta, and Pathward as an issuer, it announced the launch of a Visa virtual card to expand Veem’s real-time payment capabilities. Visa also partnered with Paysend to assist with the provision of improved international money transfers and tapped Currencycloud to launch Visa Cross-Border Solutions. Earlier company announcements showed that it was also dabbling in the BNPL space, having made public a collaboration with UK-based credit company Tymit to support the adoption of instalment credit among large financial institutions.
A platform-specific payment infrastructure provider, Mangopay’s strategy for Q3 2023 focused on bettering payments within separate verticals. One of its first announcements centred on sustainable energy solutions company Vestas, which selected Mangopay to manage the payment flows of its B2B marketplace, Covento. When talking about the B2B space, it also teamed up with the fintech platform offering access to B2B payments and credit Kriya to better the B2B payment experience. Mangopay entered the Web3 space, helping France-based fantasy football platform Sorare to launch a Cash Wallet feature that enables users to make payments using real-world currencies such as USD, EUR, and GBP. What is more, Mangopay furthered its activity within the marketplace industry, having partnered with composable commerce platform Spryker to enable businesses to build marketplaces, and with global enterprise digital commerce platform VTEX to facilitate digital transactions for marketplace operators.
Summing up all the developments to have taken place in the payments and commerce space, we can clearly see a propensity for digitalisation, with businesses seeking to integrate advanced tech into their processes, optimise checkout experiences, and provide choice and flexibility in payments, with the goal of retaining customers and becoming front-runners in the industry. Lastly, the proliferation of real-time payments and Open Banking technology further showcases a consumer demand for instantaneous services, with more to be seen in the second half of The Paypers Global Quarterly Analysis, which focuses on the banking and fintech industries.
Until then, make sure to check out our Global Overview of Payments Providers 2023 report, a market analysis of key payment providers in the B2B and B2C commerce payments ecosystem.
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