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
Stablecoins and the Programmability Gap: Changes Are Happening Upstream
Stablecoins are often framed as just another payment rail, but that view misses what makes them important. Programmability shifts how and where payment behavior is defined, moving logic upstream of banks and traditional processors. That change i...
Co-Branded Credit Cards Smoke, Private Labels Choke
Co‑branded credit cards thrive when financial institutions and consumer brands join to create value neither could deliver alone. When designed well, these partnerships fuel customer acquisition, deepen loyalty, and generate major revenue streams...
Kraken and the Risk Stack: How the Crypto Exchange Will Change Settlements at the Fed
Kraken didn’t gain a Fed account to mimic existing banks. It gained one to rebuild core payment architecture. This report breaks down how direct access to Fed settlement layers, coupled with dollar rails, alters the risk stack for payments and r...
From the Lab to the Lead: Analyzing Successful Changes in Innovation
Enterprise innovation has moved beyond labs, demos, and culture theater into a disciplined, business-anchored capability. Based on interviews with innovation leaders across payments and financial services, this report examines how accountability...
Instant, Faster and Same Day Payments: Where Speed is Grabbing Share
Ten years after the Federal Reserve set the U.S. faster-payments agenda in motion, the market is beginning to show what fit-for-purpose adoption looks like in practice. This report examines how real-time payments, Same Day ACH, and other faster-...
Small Business, Big Debit Opportunity: The FI Counter to P2P Fintechs
Small businesses are leveraging peer-to-peer apps for business purposes, and PayPal and Cash App are excelling in this space. Banks must not grow complacent. They should be competing by offering services like Zelle and tap-to-pay.
The Evolving ISOs: How Changes in Payments Influence Their Ongoing Shifts
Independent sales organizations (ISOs) are evolving as payments and point-of-sale technology become more complex. Once primarily focused on selling payment terminals, today’s ISOs serve as trusted advisors, helping merchants navigate advanced PO...
Self-Use Motivations Extend the Prepaid Payments Life Cycle
There’s been an intriguing shift in gift cards, which are no longer simply given by others. Consumers are buying prepaid cards for themselves to take advantage of companies’ rewards, make online purchases, and control their spending. Businesses ...
2026 Credit Card Risk: Happy Days are Here Again (For Top Issuers)
The year bodes well as 2026 approaches the end of the first quarter. Economic indicators are strong, the credit card market is growing at a healthy rate, and credit cards remain the dominant payment method as inflationary pressures drive h...
How Banks and Fintechs Are Jostling for Position in the New Data Access Economy
Financial data aggregators are losing ground as connectivity becomes a commodity and banks reassert control. The real battleground now lies in who can turn permissioned data into superior intelligence—fraud, risk, and analytics—while navigating ...