European users can now send money in-app as Klarna pushes into core banking territory.

Major shifts from aging cohorts to rising media time and uneven AI adoption set the stage for another unpredictable year. Here are five charts to help your business understand these changes and kick-start the new year.

Thanks to open banking and real-time payments, pay by bank has become a promising card alternative, offering speed, low costs, and security. But US adoption remains limited. This report dives into what’s holding it back and what can boost growth.

Early Warning Services, the company behind Zelle and Paze, submitted a five-point plan to US financial regulators to combat fraud. While a multi-sector approach could be a good idea in theory, it may also deflect from each financial player’s responsibility to secure every transaction. If FIs want customers to trust that their money is safe with them, they can’t blame their partners for fraudulent transactions that customers use their mobile banking apps to make. But clearly, the traditional siloed approach to combating fraud isn’t working against sophisticated criminal rings that operate across multiple platforms.

Early Warning Services’ Zelle disclosed double-digit year-over-year (YoY) growth across critical segments during the first half of 2025, per a press release. With P2P’s absence in Zelle’s volume increase list, the platform holds firm hold on essential payments, but seemingly has failed to disrupt established use patterns among users who still differentiate between smaller transactions—Venmoing a friend back for coffee—and large, major payments, such as Zelle-ing a landlord monthly rent.

The news: Cash App rolled out an extra layer of protection for minors’ P2P payments, with automatic flagging for sponsors (parents or guardians) to approve risky requests. Our take: Attracting young users at the beginning of their financial lives can yield long-term loyalty to the app.

Macroeconomic uncertainty and an overreliance on Cash App led the company to slash its full-year guidance

Budgeting concerns, high interest rates, and other factors are pushing the generation to alternatives.

The P2P player was able to make this pivot thanks to the success of its integration in banks’ apps, which currently lead to 98% of its transactions

The option can help boost customer engagement and build its brand awareness among potential new customers

The rule would require larger payment apps to be regulated like banks. Ending this rule would be a win for Apple Pay and Google Wallet

It’s a major win for the P2P player as the Trump administration dismantles the agency

The bank will start blocking more transactions that originate from social media

Fraud concerns aren’t slowing down the P2P player as its growth outpaces peers

The tie-up can help attract younger travelers and aids in Venmo’s monetization journey

But the social media platform may struggle to get its users on board unless it can differentiate the P2P service from its peers

While the lawsuit may not go anywhere under Trump’s CFPB, the P2P platform’s continual fraud concerns may damage its reputation

Gen Zers are driving growth in both emerging and traditional payment methods as they embrace cards, BNPL, and digital wallets. Payment providers must now align their offerings with Gen Z’s preferences as the cohort’s spending power grows.

The mobile wallet’s scaled-back rollout has been slow. But wero should be able to overcome that thanks to its transformative nature

The agency has launched similar inquiries with other major banks. These could create reputational problems for the P2P platform