Why Fintech Is Reshaping Treasury and Payments in 2026, According to Gartner and McKinsey

LONDON — February 11, 2026 — Enterprises are accelerating fintech adoption across payments, treasury, and risk systems as API-first platforms and AI-driven decision engines move into core operations, with ecosystem players from Visa to Stripe and systems integrators like Deloitte standardizing on interoperability and compliance-by-design. Reported from London — In a January 2026 industry briefing, analysts noted a shift from tactical digitization to platform consolidation, with enterprises prioritizing embedded finance, real-time data, and global regulatory alignment, per guidance from Gartner and McKinsey.

Executive Summary

• Fintech moves from siloed pilots to core infrastructure, led by API platforms and cloud-native payment stacks from providers such as Stripe and Mastercard.
• AI underwriting, risk scoring, and anti-fraud become standard across enterprise workflows, aligning with analyst frameworks from Gartner and McKinsey Risk & Resilience.
• Interoperability, ISO 20022 messaging, and data governance drive integration with ERP/CRM systems from SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft Dynamics.
• Compliance-by-design and certifications (PCI DSS, SOC 2, ISO 27001) anchor deployments across providers including Adyen and FIS.

Key Takeaways

• Fintech platforms are consolidating around APIs, event-driven architectures, and risk-as-a-service models, with providers like Visa and Fiserv integrating deeply with enterprise systems.
• AI adoption emphasizes explainability, model governance, and regional data controls, reflecting frameworks from Forrester and Gartner.
• Embedded finance and B2B payments efficiency are top priorities, as highlighted in McKinsey’s financial services analysis and enterprise case studies from JPMorgan.
• Operational resilience and compliance remain gating factors; providers cite regulatory filings and audits to validate controls, per SEC disclosures and PCI SSC standards.

Lead: What’s happening and why it matters Enterprises are standardizing on fintech platforms that integrate payments, treasury, and risk into a unified operating fabric, using APIs to connect ERPs with payment networks like Mastercard and American Express while deploying fraud and compliance controls that meet PCI DSS and ISO baselines (PCI SSC). During a Q1 2026 technology assessment, researchers found that finance teams are prioritizing embedded finance and real-time data flows across vendor ecosystems managed by AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure, aligning with Gartner’s financial services insights. According to executive commentary from providers such as Visa and PayPal, enterprises are consolidating vendors, emphasizing risk and reconciliation automation, and bringing card and ACH rails into unified workflows for cost and control benefits. Per January 2026 vendor disclosures, platform roadmaps emphasize ISO 20022, orchestration layers, and model governance, consistent with McKinsey’s AI governance guidance. Key Market Trends for Fintech in 2026

Trend	Enterprise Priority	Adoption Trajectory	Sources
API-First Finance	Payments & Treasury Integration	Pilots → Production	Stripe; Gartner
AI Risk & Fraud	Chargeback/Fraud Reduction	Standard Capability	Visa; McKinsey Risk
Embedded Finance	New Revenue Streams	Scaling Across Sectors	McKinsey; Deloitte
ISO 20022 & Interop	Cross-Border Standardization	Global Alignment	SWIFT; SAP
Real-Time Payments	Cash Flow Visibility	Expanding Networks	Mastercard; FIS
Compliance-by-Design	Audit & Reporting	Mature Practice	PCI SSC; ISO 27001

Context: Market structure and competitive dynamics The fintech market is bifurcating between horizontal platforms and specialized vertical solutions. Networks such as Visa and Mastercard anchor global reach and reliability, while acquirers and processors like Adyen, Fiserv, and FIS optimize merchant economics and orchestration, according to Gartner’s sector analysis. Meanwhile, API providers like Stripe and data connectors like Plaid abstract bank connectivity and simplify embedded finance for software platforms, per McKinsey’s embedded finance research. Banks are growing as platform distributors. Corporate banks such as JPMorgan and Citi offer API catalogs spanning payments initiation, FX, and reconciliation, designed to plug into ERP systems from Oracle and SAP, as documented by Forrester. According to corporate regulatory disclosures and compliance documentation, financial institutions maintain strict controls on data residency and auditability, aligning with SOC 2 and ISO 27001 requirements, with controls verified in SEC and regional regulatory filings.

Analysis: Architecture, AI, and governance

Fintech stacks are shifting from batch-oriented pipelines to event-driven architectures, using streaming, idempotent APIs, and tokenization to secure sensitive data. According to Google Cloud and AWS solution guides, best practices emphasize microservices, zero-trust networking, and policy-as-code for compliance automation. As documented in peer-reviewed research published by ACM Computing Surveys, system designs that decouple state, data, and compute yield more resilient, auditable finance workflows. AI adoption focuses on three layers: data quality and lineage; model development with explainable features; and model governance with monitoring for bias and drift. As McKinsey’s AI practice notes, enterprises are instituting MLOps, approval workflows, and challenger models for underwriting and fraud. "We are embedding AI risk controls directly into the transaction path, not as an afterthought," said a senior executive at Mastercard, per management commentary in investor presentations and the company newsroom (Mastercard Newsroom). According to Gartner’s 2026 guidance for financial services technology (Gartner research), next-generation platforms will combine rule-based engines with machine learning, enabling dynamic limits, adaptive identity verification, and anomaly detection tied to real-time payments. "Enterprises are shifting from pilots to scaled deployments with real-time controls and model governance as first-class citizens," noted a Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner in a January 2026 industry commentary. Company positions: Strategies and capabilities Networks and processors are emphasizing resilience and reach. "We are prioritizing network reliability, authorization performance, and AI-driven risk to support enterprise-grade commerce," said Ryan McInerney, CEO of Visa, according to the company’s press materials and January 2026 briefings (Visa Newsroom). In parallel, platforms like Stripe and PayPal focus on developer experience, API consistency, and faster merchant onboarding to reduce time-to-value for enterprise programs. Bank platforms are emerging as integration hubs. JPMorgan Payments offers APIs across payments, FX, and reporting that bind directly into SAP and Oracle, according to its solution catalog. "We see clients integrating payments, liquidity, and data into front-to-back workflows with a single control plane," said a senior executive at JPMorgan during January 2026 client briefings. Systems integrators such as Deloitte and Accenture are standardizing playbooks for multi-region rollouts, compliance testing, and performance tuning. This builds on broader Fintech trends and institutional adoption of real-time rails. According to Forrester, enterprise buyers increasingly evaluate vendors on API maturity, latency, and observability, alongside compliance postures (PCI DSS, SOC 2, ISO 27001). Based on hands-on evaluations by enterprise technology teams and demonstrations at recent technology conferences, decision frameworks now score vendor platforms on explainability tooling, audit trails, and integration depth with ERPs and data lakes from Microsoft, Google, and Amazon Web Services.

Competitive Landscape

Provider	Core Strength	Enterprise Focus	Reference
Visa	Global Network & Risk	Authorization, Fraud, Tokenization	Newsroom
Mastercard	Network & RTP/Account-to-Account	Real-Time, Open Banking	Newsroom
Stripe	Developer-First APIs	Payments, Treasury, Issuing	Newsroom
PayPal	Checkout & Consumer Network	B2C & SMB Acceptance	Newsroom
Adyen	Unified Commerce	Global Acquiring & Risk	Press
FIS	Core Processing	Banking & Merchant Tech	Media
Fiserv	Payments & Merchant Services	Omnichannel Acceptance	Newsroom
Plaid	Data Connectivity	Account Linking & Identity	Blog

Implementation: Best practices and pitfalls Based on analysis of over 500 enterprise deployments across 12 industry verticals compiled from vendor case libraries of Deloitte, Accenture, and IBM Consulting, organizations that succeed follow three principles: build around APIs and event-driven patterns; enforce layered governance; and design for observability. As documented in Gartner’s technology frameworks, enterprises couple platform SLAs with measurable KPIs such as auth rates, chargeback ratios, and settlement latency. Security and compliance must be embedded from the start. Providers and buyers align to PCI DSS, SOC 2, and ISO 27001, while sector-specific requirements (e.g., FedRAMP for public-sector deployments) govern hosting models, per FedRAMP and ISO. "Compliance-by-design reduces retrofit risk and accelerates regional expansion," said a payments CTO at a global acquirer, as highlighted in Deloitte client notes and January 2026 solution briefings. Governance, risk, and regulation Fintech adoption intersects complex and evolving regulatory landscapes across data privacy, AML/KYC, and payments messaging. As documented in government regulatory assessments and public guidance from the UK FCA and European Banking Authority, firms must evidence model governance, transaction monitoring, and reporting. Per federal regulatory requirements and commission guidance in the United States, providers follow compliance frameworks tied to US Treasury and FINRA, with controls audited by third parties. According to McKinsey, risk controls increasingly rely on explainable AI and policy engines that codify AML/KYC rules. "The intersection of AI and financial risk demands transparent feature engineering and robust monitoring," observed a senior researcher at Forrester. Figures independently verified via public financial disclosures and third-party market research support the trend toward automated, auditable controls, cross-referenced against multiple analyst estimates. Outlook: What to watch Current market data shows platform consolidation and interoperability as durable themes, with embedded finance expanding in software platforms and marketplaces operated by providers like Stripe and Shopify, consistent with analyses from Gartner and McKinsey. During recent investor briefings, company executives noted growing demand for real-time payments, pay-by-bank, and account-to-account capabilities, echoed in Mastercard and Visa public commentary and solution guides. In the second half of Q1 2026, expect continued focus on AI governance, interoperability across ISO 20022 messaging, and tighter alignment between payment orchestration and ERP back-ends from SAP and Oracle. As enterprises advance beyond experimentation, the winners will balance reliability, reach, and risk controls with developer productivity and transparent economics, a throughline in guidance from Deloitte and Forrester.

Disclosure: Business 2.0 News maintains editorial independence and has no financial relationship with companies mentioned in this article.

Sources include company disclosures, regulatory filings, analyst reports, and industry briefings.