Pandemic-driven digital habits have stuck, propelling the global payments industry to an estimated $1.803 trillion in revenues this year, per our calculations of Boston Consulting Group (BCG) data. But now those shifts will be tested by economic pressure. Below are four charts showcasing how the payments ecosystem will change in 2023.

Card Networks Will Face Disintermediation

US card networks are dominant and growing, with payment value up almost 13% this year. But opponents are chipping away at their power:

• New payment methods like buy now, pay later (BNPL) and account-to-account (A2A) payments are cheaper for sellers. Besides increasingly accepting these methods, sellers may promote them more heavily to drive customer usage.
• Outside of the US, domestic payment networks like India’s Unified Payments Interface are emerging as card alternatives. As they team up with counterparts in other markets, multinational networks could get shut out.

To fight back, card networks will partner on—or roll out their own—installment and A2A payment offerings, while streamlining cross-border payments. And they’ll double down on other fast-growing sectors, like B2B.