4 payment trends that shaped 2025

The rise of instant payments

Payments are becoming faster and more seamless. Traditional rails that once required days to settle now complete in seconds thanks to instant payments. This trend gained significant traction in emerging markets, such as Brazil’s Pix and India’s UPI – two successful examples that achieved mass adoption with seamless digital integration and a promise of greater inclusivity. Now instant payments are set for mass rollout across Europe.

While eurozone banks have had the technical infrastructure to offer instant payments through SEPA Instant since 2017, only 11% of euro money transfers currently happen instantly.¹ This is likely to change following the EU’s Instant Payments Regulation (IPR), which came into effect on October 9, 2025, requiring all banks and payment service providers to offer euro credit transfers that settle within 10 seconds, 24/7.

The IPR creates an opportunity for banks to reclaim customer relationships from dominant card networks. Account-to-account instant payments could offset 15%–25% of future card transaction volume,² allowing banks to retain transaction data and build new revenue streams through value-added services such as real-time payouts and embedded finance. Banks offering personalized embedded financial services report three to five times higher customer lifetime value than those relying solely on traditional models³.

Merchants benefit from faster settlement, as do gig economy workers such as delivery drivers and ride-sharing drivers who can now receive payments immediately. For consumers, instant payments complement an already wide variety of seamless payment options. However, adoption will ultimately hinge on security.

The speed of instant transactions amplifies fraud risks, particularly authorized push payment scams, which are growing 20%–25% annually.⁴ Unlike card payments, instant transfers lack built-in chargeback mechanisms, leaving consumers and businesses exposed. The industry is actively working to address this, and the EU’s Verification of Payee requirement, which launched alongside the IPR, adds protection by validating receiver account details before settlement.

Hyper-personalizing the payment card

Despite the digital innovation sweeping financial services, physical payment cards remain a powerful tool for banks to build emotional connections with customers. Today, every element of the card experience – from materials and design to issuance –  can be hyper-personalized to reinforce customer loyalty and brand affinity. With good reason, too.

Financial institutions that implement advanced personalization strategies see 15%–20% increases in revenue and 10%–30% reductions in customer acquisition costs, according to a report from The Financial Brand.⁵ And customers who develop a stronger emotional affinity with their bank or fintech typically spend more, use more services, and maintain longer-lasting relationships.

The payment card, which is increasingly seen as a status symbol, is an ideal vehicle for achieving this outcome and catering to the varied needs of a diverse customer base. For example, eco-conscious Gen Z consumers prefer wooden and recycled plastic alternatives, while tech-savvy users adopt cards with advanced features such as biometric authentication (fingerprint) or dynamic CVV functionality. 

Luxury-seeking customers gravitate toward metal or ceramic cards that signal exclusivity – a strategy proven to drive revenue among premium segments. One Canadian fintech reported 40% growth in customer acquisitions through their metal card offering, while a global bank cited 40% increased spending among those who had metal cards.⁶

Emerging technologies like AI and drop-on-demand printing make card production faster, cheaper, and more scalable. Customers can generate unique artwork through text prompts using AI tools such as G+D’s Convego^® Card Designer, while drop-on-demand leverages industrial inkjet technology to enable high levels of customization on demand.

Personalization extends beyond the card itself. The “unboxing moment” – the first physical interaction – is a significant touchpoint. Bespoke packaging, magnetic closures, and personalized welcome letters reinforce the card’s value as a status symbol, strengthening customer loyalty from day one.

As Sascha Behlendorf, Director Value Creation at G+D, told Spotlight earlier this year, “Hyper-personalization and individuality bring you closer to the customer and create a more intense customer relationship.”

The second wave of the digital wallet evolution

While cards remain important, digital wallets are increasingly becoming the default payment method, with the number of users expected to grow from 4.3 billion in 2024 to 5.8 billion by 2029.⁷ Apple’s decision to open NFC access on iOS to third parties is accelerating this shift, offering banks and wallet issuers an opportunity to launch proprietary tap-to-pay solutions and reclaim a critical touchpoint – payments account for roughly 80% of all customer interactions.⁸

The transformation, however, extends far beyond payments. Kristian T. Sørensen, Co-Chair of the Mobey Forum’s Digital Wallet Expert Group, explains: “Digital identity wallets are taking center stage now because they are becoming the enablers of any type of transaction, not just payments.” Initiatives such as the EU’s Digital Identity Wallet framework are driving this evolution, positioning wallets as containers for an expanding universe of tokenized assets, such as central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), security tokens, and real-world assets. In markets with Secure Element access, banks can already store concert tickets, travel passes, and credentials linked to verified identities, eliminating the need for physical IDs.

This broader scope gives banks a competitive advantage in round two of the “wallet wars.” As trusted, regulated entities, they’re naturally positioned to handle the sensitive credentials that users prefer to keep with established institutions – something that Big Tech cannot easily replicate. “The wallet business is very likely to be highly complex and highly regulated, and banks have always thrived in such environments,” says Sørensen. “So, I see a strong role for the banks.”

When it comes to implementation, there are different paths to choose from: some banks are building independent wallets for maximum control, while others are pursuing collaborative approaches such as TWINT in Switzerland and Wero across Europe, where shared infrastructure accelerates adoption while reducing costs.

Security as a competitive differentiator

Security remains the most important pillar for financial institutions – and their strongest point of differentiation. Rapid digitalization has empowered fraudsters to commit increasingly sophisticated financial crimes, making enhanced security essential not only for protection, but also for building consumer trust and driving customer engagement.

This competitive advantage should inform how banks approach digital expansion, particularly when evaluating so-called “superapps” – all-in-one platforms that consolidate multiple services into a single interface. While apps such as WeChat in China have achieved massive success, replicating this model in Western markets poses significant risks for banks. Each third-party integration introduces reputational exposure that banks cannot fully control, while the additional regulatory headache compounds exponentially – every new service layer brings distinct compliance obligations.

More crucially, banks risk diluting the trust they’ve built over decades by venturing too far from their core competencies. As Bart Vullings, Senior Product Manager at G+D Netcetera, notes, “The superapp model works for non-financial institutions because convenience is their most important currency. For banks, it is trust – and once you lose it, it’s hard to get back.”

Rather than building everything apps, banks should leverage security as a key differentiator within existing services. For example, by replacing passwords – responsible for 86% of web application breaches – with biometric passkeys.⁹ Device-bound passkeys offer phishing-resistant alternatives that merge “something you have” (device) with “something you are” (biometrics) seamlessly, unlike traditional multi-factor methods vulnerable to phishing and SIM swapping.

This security-first approach extends naturally to digital wallets, providing another opportunity for banks to gain the upper hand. While tokenized payments are inherently secure, provisioning fraud – where criminals trick users into sharing card data – causes an estimated $450 million in global losses annually.¹⁰ Banks can counter this threat by integrating credential control features that give customers real-time visibility to revoke access to unrecognized devices or merchants. 

This shared-responsibility approach empowers customers to actively manage their credentials while building deeper trust – security accomplished with customers rather than for them. “By increasing the visibility of how and where digital credentials are stored, banks can strengthen trust and fight fraud, helping consumers take a more active role in keeping their credentials secure,” says Jukka Yliuntinen, Portfolio Owner Payment & Identity at G+D Netcetera

Published: 27/11/2025