What shapes consumer transactions and payment technologies, and where is it going?
Any conventional wisdom about payments—how they’re made, the currencies being used, the cards presently in favor—doesn’t last long before the next wave of technology, innovation, and regulation. Javelin’s analysts conduct research at the forefront of payments, identifying the emerging trends for financial services companies and payments providers and offering insight into how they can best position themselves not just for what is current but also for what is coming.
Payments Research
Reports
Are Consumers Showing Interest in Direct Payments?
Javelin Strategy & Research’s data dives into consumer behavior show that consumers’ usage of and interest in lower-cost payment methods like account-to-account transactions and pay-by-bank remain a small piece of the overall payments picture, a...
22nd Annual U.S. Open-Loop Prepaid Card Market Forecast, 2025-2029
Open-loop prepaid programs show resilience and positive growth opportunities across nearly all market verticals. Javelin Strategy & Research continues its annual assessment of open-loop prepaid programs across a range of categories and identifie...
Tokenization: The Proof of Ownership in a Digital World
As digital assets gain a stronger foothold in mainstream financial services, use cases are expanding. The tokenization of such things as real estate deeds, vehicle titles, reinsurance, and artwork—now happening in pilot projects—is providing a m...
Agentic Commerce Approaches: How Can Banks Prepare?
Agentic commerce is simultaneously everywhere and nowhere, but that’s changing fast. As the technology takes root, various stakeholders are establishing protocols and frameworks that will attempt to manage a fundamental shift in how products and...
2025 Commercial Payments Year in Review
The 2025 Commercial Payments Year in Review report distills the headline stories in commercial payments, from stablecoins moving into the mainstream and agentic AI entering network rails to real-time payment growth and the next wave of embedded ...
Merchants Should Planogram Payments
Enterprise merchants have increasingly adopted payment orchestration strategies to drive new payment types, increase payment success rates, and optimize platform performance. However, each new PSP, network connection, and fraud tool adds complex...
Evolutions in Secured Cards: Not Ready for Traditional Lenders
An emerging fintech payment card is a variation of the long-established secured credit card, with a significant twist. Instead of requiring a credit-challenged consumer with a weak or thin credit file to place secured funds in escrow to back the...
2025 Emerging Biometric Authentication at the Point of Sale Scorecard
This inaugural Javelin Strategy & Research scorecard assesses the emerging market for biometric authentication at the point of sale and identifies three Pillars in this emerging technology, each with its own Best in Class vendor.
Honor All Cards: The U.S. Credit Card Model Takes a Hit
The Honor All Cards principle—that any merchant with a Visa and/or Mastercard sticker in the window accepts all card products on those networks—could be undermined by a recent settlement involving the card giants. That will have profound effects...
2026 Commercial & Enterprise Trends
Commercial payment providers are strategically reimagining their infrastructure, pricing, sales, and risk management strategies. This strategic flexibility ensures they purpose-fit for new commercial payment technologies and end user expectation...