What shapes consumer transactions and payment technologies, and where is it going?
Rapid changes in technology, regulation, and consumer behavior continue to reshape the payments industry. Javelin’s payments research team tracks commercial and consumer payment trends, evaluates emerging payment technologies, and anticipates what’s next. Through unbiased research, data-driven insights, and actionable advice, we help financial institutions, payments providers, and technology companies develop strategies that position them for success in a rapidly evolving market.
Payments Research
Reports
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...
2026 Credit Payments Trends
The U.S. credit card market is healthy and strong, but performances among banks diverge along size lines. Large issuers have been able to better curate their customers through acquisition and segmenting, and the differences show up most acutely ...
2026 Debit Payments Trends
For decades, the checking account has served as the foundation on which all consumer and business payments have rested. But that stability is now beginning to give way to the seemingly relentless march of open banking, with new rails, new risks,...
2026 Digital Assets & Crypto Trends
A shift in regulation has helped move digital assets from the edges of the mainstream financial world to a place in the spotlight. Now, the deep work begins: not only rethinking the existing systems of value movement but also building solutions ...
2026 Emerging Payments Trends
In emerging payments, hype comes first, often well in advance of the actual broad use of the payment tools and technologies. In 2026, after a year of press releases heralding the transformation to be brought about by ]agentic AI, look for consum...