The pandemic accelerated payments industry digitization across the entire landscape, as merchants turned to ecommerce to keep doors open, consumers eschewed cash in favor of electronic and contactless payments, and payments technology providers rapidly developed and launched new solutions to keep up.

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Payments Ecosystem: Diminishing analog payment use—as well as the battle for share between entrenched electronic payment methods and emerging challengers—will intensify the battle for customer spending this year.

Payments Ecosystem: POS hardware, POS software, and gateway providers are working to become one-stop shops for merchants. Offering simple, robust access to front- and back-end solutions across industries lets them better serve merchants demanding integrated solutions.

Payments Ecosystem: Acquirers and processors, networks, and issuers each play distinct roles in the payments purchasing chain. But those roles are shifting amid commoditization, new competitive dynamics, and technological innovation.

Payments Ecosystem: This year will reveal how providers must adapt to lasting pandemic-driven digitization across payments channels, ranging from in-store retail to B2B ecommerce.

The payfac model has catapulted into the mainstream, thanks to payments disruptors like PayPal, Square, and Stripe. The growth in the number of payfacs, and in the payment volume passing through them, is reshaping key relationships within the payments ecosystem. But the model bears some drawbacks for the diverse swath of companies adopting it, as well as for the merchants that work with them.

Competition from fintechs and consumer brands is compelling leading banks and technology providers to revise their strategies. These fintechs and brands are scaling and evolving rapidly on top of banking as a service (BaaS) and open banking infrastructure. We’ve spoken with executives at financial institutions, fintechs, and vendors about how to thrive in an ecosystem that’s reshaping financial services.

Spotify could break away from Google and Apple’s payment duopoly: Google’s alternative payments pilot program might only serve higher-profile apps, leaving smaller developers in the lurch.

The tech giant hopes digital COVID-19 vaccine cards, dynamic CVVs, and expanded acceptance will bring skeptical iPhone owners into its payments ecosystem.

Residents in eight states will soon be able to add their drivers licenses or state IDs to the Apple Wallet, which might help convert more iPhone owners to Apple Pay users and keep existing users within Apple’s payments ecosystem.

Go deeper: The "Participants in the Payments Purchasing Chain” section of the Payments Ecosystem report details network trends and long-term shifts.

It helps Robinhood compete with banks, other fintechs, and other digital brokers by capitalizing on a shift to debit and younger users’ payment preferences.

Payments industry reacts to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and international sanctions.

Check out the “Payment Methods and Funding Mechanisms” segment of our payments ecosystem report collection.

Related content: Check out the BNPL section of the “Payment Methods and Funding Mechanisms” report, which is part of our payments ecosystem report collection.

Related content: Check out the “Participants in the Payments Purchasing Chain” section of our Payments Ecosystem 2022 report collection to learn more about how unified commerce will be a key focus for providers this year.

The offering could pose a threat to mPOS hardware providers but helps Apple grab more in-store volume and bolsters its payments business.

And it widens the net of transactions that can be made via mobile, including very low-value payments. A Government Crackdown on Payment Players Could Weaken the Duopoly. After signaling interest in antitrust policymaking to regain control of the country’s payment ecosystem, the Chinese government has ramped up implementation, per April 2021 Reuters reporting.

Square opened its Cash App ecosystem to 13-17 year olds under parental supervision in the hopes of creating life-long users.

And it opens a cross-selling opportunity for Adyen by encouraging merchants that want to limit costs through more interconnected payments systems to use its other payment services. Related content: Check out the Mobile section of “The Payments Ecosystem” report to learn how providers are expanding payment acceptance offerings.