The North American edition of the biggest and most exciting event of the payments industry, Money 20/20 USA happened from the 27th to the 30th of October in Las Vegas – and our team was there to share our expertise and absorb new insights about the trends, challenges, and future ways of the money industry, as well as to bring the most relevant findings and content from Money 20/20 to you here on our blog.
Latin America was a major point of discussion at the Money 20/20 stages, mainly with two points of focus: as a benchmark for instant payments and payment innovation, especially Brazil’s Pix; and also as a perfect example of the massive potential of emerging markets — besides Latam, also Africa and parts of Asia. Be it to grow in established regions, be it to boost solutions in untapped markets, the key lies in understanding customer needs, payment behavior, and how rising technology can make an actual difference in improving or creating new products in the industry of money.
However, from the content sessions we are attending, we would say the number one keyword at Money 20/20 is: strategic partnerships. As the payment landscape evolves and both customer needs and merchant demands become more and more refined, aligning with the right partners to expand product capabilities without straying from the core focus proves ever more fundamental for susteinable growth.
To understand more about what was discussed today about these and other key trends, what industry experts foresee for the future of the world of payments, and more, keep reading!
The future of money
With 2030 "just" 5 years and 2 months away, Money 20/20 — an event which is always future-focused — questioned a lot about what we can expect, and how we can prepare, for what the industry of payments will look like in the future. While Generative AI is making waves in the industry, with major opportunities especially for risk management (we will dive further into this later on in article) and personalized customer flows, the core of the business of money in the future will worry about the same things it does today: understanding and providing value to the customer (both the direct client and their own end-users), working with the agility and robustness required to properly and fastly adapt to changes, understanding the strategic role payments play in business growth, and applying strong anti-risk analysis to keep it as secure as possible.
Customers have growing demands for ever faster, more seamless, and more personalized payment experiences, so payment providers will need to keep focusing on creating frictionless transactions that blend seamlessly into the end-users' daily lives. AI’s predictive analytics capabilities can help businesses anticipate market trends and customer behaviors, thus enabling more proactive and strategic decision-making in the payments industry. On the other hand, the future of money will likely see an increased focus on developing innovative security solutions that don't compromise user experience — and regulators will need to keep up, potentially leading to more frequent updates in compliance requirements, to which payment businesses must also be able to quicky adapt to.
These frequent discussions at the event further emphasize the need for businesses in the payments industry to remain agile, customer-focused, and forward-thinking as they navigate the evolving landscape of money and finance towards 2030 and beyond.
Where Latin America leads innovation
In terms of payment methods, the industry’s — and users’ — current darlings are definitely instant payment methods. Contactless payments are a preference of more and more customers worldwide, and the two trends are already merging up: Brazil’s Central Bank has just released contactless Pix, currently available in only a couple of financial institutions, but expected to grow its reach until being offered by all of them in February 2025. With Pix having quickly surpassed traditional bank transfers, the release of the RTP’s contactless feature should break the final barrier between Pix and debit cards, making Brazil’s favorite payment method rise even further.
Amidst a scenario of payment innovation growth, Latin America also rises its cross-border e-commerce industry — which, in term, make payments even more strategic. In her presentation at the Borderless Money Summit, on Sunday the 27th of October, our Director of Sales Clarena Furtado showed how cross-border online sales grow even further than the domestic volume in Latam: cross-border volume rises at a 30% rate per year, while domestic e-commerce grows 21% per year. Thus, even know domestic makes up the majority of e-commerce sales (total volume of USD 509 billion, versus USD 68 billion coming from foreign merchants), the growth rate is significantly faster, showing the untapped potential of such markets.
And to reach the digital-savvy Latam customers — especially in its #1 market, Brazil —, the merchant and the payment provider must understand the local market, how they want to pay, and how they prefer to shop. To exemplify the importance of this, 39% of Latam online customers consider the inability to pay with their preferred payment method to be the number one reason why they abandon a purchase — as we’ve shown and discussed in our white paper The Payment Habits of Latin American Gamers.
The role the payment provider plays in this context can be highly strategic: they are key in helping the cross-border merchant have the needed local knowledge, as well as supporting with local regulatory needs, payment trends, business opportunities, and much more. With a robust, scalable solution, a transparent operation, and local expertise, the payment provider prooves an essential partner for merchants tapping foreign markets. Here, a transparent operation means transparency for the end-user — no hidden fees, charging in local currency, for example — and for the merchant, which also should involve frequent, comprehensive data reports, and performance reviews to help the merchant make the most of the market.
All in all, it’s clear that not only does the USA have a lot to learn from Latam’s payments landscape, but that Latin American countries could hugely benefit from a payment environment more connected between each market. As Pix opens up the space for other instant payment methods to rise across the region, understanding how to go beyond the solution itself is key to creating an environment where massive adoption and a truly revolutionary payment strategy can bloom.
The fundamental power of counting on the right partners
As an event centered on the payments industry, Money 20/20 USA provides a unique platform for attendees to engage in meaningful conversations, share knowledge, and explore business opportunities with a diverse range of industry players. While interactions with partners and potential collaborators are expected, the event also fosters discussions and collaborations even between competitors, highlighting a growing trend in the evolving world of finance: the power of strategic partnerships.
Emerging as a powerful tool for growth and innovation, partnerships leverage the strengths of two or more organizations, allowing them to access new audiences, enhance their value propositions, and drive innovation — without compromising their core business. With careful consideration and alignment, even partnerships between competitors can yield outstanding results for all parties involved, unlocking new markets, creating innovative product offerings, and opening up new revenue streams. As the financial industry continues to evolve, expertise in specific areas — for example, PagSeguro’s +20 years focus in the Latin American e-commerce and payments landscape — becomes a major differentiator.
These collaborations are not just about expanding reach or product lines; they're about creating ecosystems that can better serve customers, drive innovation, and navigate the complex regulatory environments across different markets. As we move forward, the ability to form and maintain these strategic partnerships will likely become a key differentiator in the competitive world of global payments.
Risk Management in the era of AI
One of the central topics of discussion in Vegas was the critical issue of risk management in the evolving online landscape. As e-commerce and digital payments continue to grow, so do fraud attemps — a trend that is even even more pronounced as payment providers and merchants expand into emerging markets. Latin America, for instance, is a major target for digital fraudsters, presenting unique challenges for businesses operating in the region.
While AI offers powerful tools for merchants, payment companies, and customers to enhance their operations and experiences, it has also fallen into the hands of fraudsters, who turn to AI to analyze platform vulnerabilities, study legitimate user behaviors, and create increasingly sophisticated fraudulent patterns that closely mimic genuine transactions. This arms race in technological capabilities underscores the need for equally advanced anti-fraud measures.
In thix context, the approach to risk management must go further than specific technologies or features. It's crucial to design anti-risk systems with adaptability at their core, capable of responding swiftly to the ever-changing dynamics of the payments world. Furthermore, it's essential to reframe risk management not as a necessary evil, but as a potential catalyst for business growth. Keeping fraudsters away without causing too much friction for legitimate customers requires solutions that are neither overly restrictive, nor too lax — especially with secure, scalable cross-border processing being ever-more important for high-growth, high-risk verticals such as betting.
Growing through thought leadership
In the ever-evolving world of fintech, staying ahead of the curve is crucial for success. Looking beyond payments, Money 20/20 USA 2024 closed off the event with a special “Marketing Wednesday” content agenda, providing valuable insights into key strategies for growth and market positioning in the global payments industry.
With expertise, consumer understanding, and adaptability as major differentials in today’s business landscape, thought leadership has become a cornerstone of success for worldwide payment companies. That is a major focus for us here at PagSeguro, as we see it as an opportunity not only to reinforce our expertise through data and insights, but also to foment knowledge among and about Latin America’s rising payments and e-commerce landscapes. You can check out our Knowledge Hub to access our latest white papers, ebooks, guides, videos, and much more.
Especially when dealing with cross-border payments, which connect merchants from anywhere in the world to foreign customers, market and customer behavior data provides essential insights to merchants, helping them better understand the opportunities, trends, and challenges in other regions.
Money 20/20 USA is already a week away, but make sure to stay around here at #PagNews for more exclusive content coverages, exclusive articles about key trends and opportunities in the world of payments, and the best and the latest about Latin America's innovative payments landscape. And, to talk directly to our team about how we can help your business, click here to contact us.
