Payments Drive Fintech Growth Globally

Payments have moved from a back-office function to the leading edge of fintech, growing from about 25% to 55% of global fintech revenues — roughly $126 billion of $378 billion — driven by open banking, regulatory sandboxes, and infrastructure like PSD2 and India’s UPI. Despite growth in digital wallets and embedded finance, payment cards remain central, accounting for roughly 45% of global transaction value (about 62% in the U.S.), and issuers are reimagining cards as personalized, security-focused lifestyle products. In emerging markets, mobile-first players such as OPay (built by Yahui Zhou leveraging Opera’s user base) have achieved rapid adoption through low-data optimization and last-mile access. Small and medium businesses are adopting pay-by-credit-card and other payment-flexibility platforms to smooth cash flow, extend payment cycles, and earn rewards. Banks are upgrading infrastructure — including card tokenization — to integrate with Apple Pay and Google Pay where regulators permit, as seen in recent moves by Philippine banks. Together, these regulatory, technical, product and market-specific advances position payments as the dominant axis of fintech growth globally and for underserved regions.