Payments Report 2024

As the global payments ecosystem undergoes a period of rapid transformation, the Payments Report 2024 serves as an essential resource for industry leaders navigating shifting trends, emerging technologies, and dynamic consumer behaviour. The payments landscape has seen accelerated growth across both traditional and alternative channels, driven by rising digital adoption, technological advancements, and an increasing focus on seamless user experiences.

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the key trends defining the payments sector in 2024, highlighting the opportunities for strategic growth, as well as the challenges posed by regulatory pressures, financial crime, and evolving infrastructure demands. With in-depth data covering global market penetration, transaction values, and consumer preferences, the insights presented here will empower decision-makers to refine their strategies, enhance operational efficiency, and capitalise on the growing demand for innovative payment solutions.

Furthermore, the report takes a forward-looking approach, incorporating forecasts for 2025 and exploring pivotal themes such as artificial intelligence in payments, the evolution of tokenisation and decentralised finance (DeFi), and the adoption of emerging technologies like blockchain, generative AI, and machine learning. These innovations are redefining how payments are processed and driving efficiency, enhancing security, and creating personalised customer experiences. As businesses adapt to these advancements, understanding the interconnected forces shaping the payments industry—from regulatory frameworks to shifting consumer expectations and technological disruptions—becomes critical for sustained competitiveness and growth in an increasingly complex global landscape.

Whether you are a payments provider, technology innovator, or regulatory stakeholder, the Payments Report 2024 delivers actionable intelligence and a clear vision for the future of payments.

Table of Contents

Voices from the industry: Insights into the 2024 payments landscape

Global payment reach and growth

The payments industry in 2024 is witnessing significant momentum, with digital commerce, remittances, and mobile point-of-sale (POS) payments driving substantial growth worldwide. Transaction values continue to surge, particularly in digital commerce, projected to reach £8.49 trillion. At the same time, penetration rates and user bases across markets are expanding rapidly, reflecting a clear shift toward digitised payment methods. This growth underscores the increasing reliance on mobile technology, as mobile POS payments continue to gain adoption and user trust.

For payments leaders, this data highlights two key imperatives: first, the need to prioritise seamless digital and mobile payment solutions to meet rising consumer demand; and second, to identify untapped regional opportunities, particularly in emerging markets with growing transaction volumes. On a global scale, international currency trends, such as the U.S. dollar’s dominance in SWIFT transactions, remain critical for cross-border strategies, offering further opportunities to optimise international payment flows. This evolving landscape presents fertile ground for innovation, ensuring organisations remain competitive in an increasingly digital economy.

Industry outlook and key challenges

The outlook for the payments industry in 2024 is optimistic, with a striking 60% of professionals reporting a positive outlook and an additional 17% expressing strong confidence in growth. This optimism is underpinned by increasing budgets, technological investments, and advancements in areas like connected commerce, open banking, and real-time payments, all of which are seen as the biggest opportunities for the sector.

However, this growth is not without its hurdles. Financial crime and cybersecurity threats dominate as the most significant challenge, affecting 27.54% of respondents. Regulatory compliance, digital transformation, and infrastructure modernisation also remain critical pain points that payment leaders must address. Understanding these dynamics is essential for shaping strategies that balance growth opportunities with risk management, ensuring that innovation in the payments space aligns with security, compliance, and customer expectations.

The evolution of payments in 2024

In 2024, the payments landscape continues to evolve, with credit cards, BNPL, cryptocurrency, and mobile wallets playing pivotal roles. Visa and Mastercard remain dominant, supported by strong global merchant acceptance, particularly in key markets like the U.S. and Brazil.

Meanwhile, BNPL services are thriving, especially in Europe, where providers like Klarna, Afterpay, and Affirm are seeing widespread adoption. However, consumer challenges such as overspending and refund difficulties raise important regulatory considerations.

At the same time, cryptocurrency adoption is accelerating in regions like Argentina and India, reflecting growing interest in decentralised payment solutions. Finally, mobile wallets—led by Google Pay, Apple Pay, and PayPal—are transforming payment habits globally, with significant penetration both online and offline, particularly in markets like India, Mexico, and the U.K.

For payment leaders, these shifts highlight the need to embrace flexibility, innovate across payment channels, and address emerging consumer challenges to stay competitive.

Credit card market share

Merchant credit card acceptance worldwide for online purchases in 2024

Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL)

Cryptocurrency

Mobile payments and digital wallets

Consumer behaviour

In 2024, debit cards remain the dominant payment method, used by 53% of respondents, followed by bank transfers and credit cards at 39% and 33%, respectively. Digital wallets are also gaining traction, particularly among younger demographics, with 34% of respondents aged 18-27 using them compared to only 21% in the 60-78 age group. Notably, cryptocurrency adoption remains niche, used by just 6% overall, but 9% of users aged 28-43 report usage.

Looking ahead, consumer openness to new payment methods is mixed. While only 5% of respondents are “very likely” to adopt new payment technologies, a significant 17% are “fairly likely.” However, scepticism persists, with 41% indicating they are “not likely at all” to try new options. Despite this, the importance of cashless options remains high, with 62% of respondents rating them as “very important,” underscoring the continued shift towards digital payments.

These insights highlight a generational divide in payment preferences and a need for payment providers to balance innovation with familiarity to encourage adoption among more hesitant users.

Financial crime

Financial crime continues to grow in scale and complexity in 2024, with a 15% increase in overall case volumes compared to 2023. Notably, facility takeovers have surged by 99%, underscoring the evolving tactics of fraudsters and the need for enhanced detection mechanisms. Identity fraud remains the most prevalent case type, accounting for 59% of all reported incidents, highlighting its enduring role as a significant risk for businesses and consumers.

The biggest challenges facing organisations include fraud (65%), cybercrime (52%), and AI-enabled threats (38%), reflecting the increasing sophistication of criminal operations. To combat these challenges, organisations are prioritising investments in advanced technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence (59%), digital identity verification (46%), and automation processes (44%).

For industry leaders, this data underscores the critical importance of proactive investment in technology-driven fraud prevention tools and governance frameworks. Addressing these issues is not just about compliance; it is essential for maintaining customer trust, ensuring operational resilience, and mitigating financial and reputational risks.

Future technologies and innovations

In 2024, payments innovation is being driven by the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), tokenisation, and emerging technologies like central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and stablecoins. AI is playing a transformative role, with fraud detection and prevention leading as the top use case (85%), followed by compliance monitoring and personalised customer experiences. However, comfort with AI-driven payments varies across demographics, with younger generations and male users showing higher acceptance.

Tokenisation is becoming increasingly prevalent in e-commerce, with 67% of merchants leveraging network or gateway tokens for enhanced security. Simultaneously, decentralised finance (DeFi) is expanding globally, reflected in the growing number of unique users. Ethereum remains the dominant blockchain for DeFi, capturing 56% of total value locked (TVL) and solidifying its role in decentralised financial ecosystems.

CBDCs are advancing, with over 100 countries engaged in development by 2024, while stablecoins like Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) continue to provide liquidity and stability. For payments leaders, these advancements underscore the need to integrate AI tools, enhance security through tokenisation, and stay attuned to blockchain innovations. Adapting to these trends will be key to meeting the demands of the evolving digital economy.

Artificial intelligence in payments

Tokenisation and DeFi

CBDCs and stablecoins

Forecasts for 2025

The payments industry is projected to experience significant growth in 2025 across various markets, driven by advances in digital commerce and mobile POS payments. Transaction values are expected to surpass £10 trillion, with digital commerce leading the charge. The average transaction value per user will see a steady rise, reflecting increased adoption and consumer activity globally.

Market penetration is forecast to hit 50% for digital commerce, while mobile POS payments continue gradual growth. User numbers are set to approach 3.9 billion across all segments, emphasising the scale of adoption worldwide. However, challenges like financial crime and compliance will persist, while opportunities in real-time payments and open banking offer growth potential. As we move into 2025, technological innovation and digitalisation will remain a top investment focus, underscoring the industry’s transformation toward efficiency and scalability.

Global payment reach and growth

State of the industry in 2025

Technology and investment

Conclusion: Key insights and strategic takeaways

The 2024 Payments Report highlights the rapid evolution of the payments industry driven by technological innovation, changing consumer behaviour, and emerging challenges. Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative force, streamlining fraud prevention, compliance, and personalised customer experiences, while tokenisation and decentralised finance (DeFi) continue to reshape digital security and financial ecosystems. The adoption of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and stablecoins further reflects a shift toward digital-first payment solutions.

Consumer preferences are also evolving, with digital wallets, mobile POS payments, and Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services seeing increased adoption across age groups and regions. At the same time, financial crime remains a persistent challenge, requiring continued investments in AI, automation, and digital verification to strengthen resilience.

Looking ahead to 2025, industry leaders must embrace emerging technologies, including generative AI and blockchain, while prioritising digital transformation, security enhancements, and cross-sector partnerships. Staying ahead of these trends will enable organisations to meet evolving consumer demands, drive growth, and maintain competitiveness in an increasingly interconnected and digital payments landscape.

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