For years, conversations about payments focused on speed.
How quickly can money move? How many payment rails do we support? Can customers pay with digital wallets? Those questions still matter, but they're no longer the most interesting ones.
The latest Citizens Payment Trends Report suggests we're entering a new era of payments, one where success isn't measured by introducing another payment method but by how seamlessly payments disappear into everyday business processes. APIs are connecting banks directly with enterprise software, embedded finance is becoming part of treasury operations, and real-time payments are steadily replacing slower, manual processes.
The report explores how more than 300 treasury leaders are adapting to this changing landscape. While the research focuses on midsize companies, many of its findings reflect broader payment trends that are shaping banking, global commerce, and financial technology as a whole.
For software teams, these trends tell another story entirely.
Every innovation adds another integration, another API, another dependency, and another business-critical workflow that needs to work perfectly.
Payments have become software. And software needs testing.
Payments are becoming invisible
Perhaps the biggest shift isn't a new technology. It's where payments happen.
A few years ago, businesses often logged into dedicated banking portals to initiate transactions, approve payments, or reconcile accounts.
Today, they increasingly expect those capabilities to exist inside the systems they already use.
Finance teams don't want another dashboard. They want payments embedded inside their ERP, procurement software, accounting platforms, and treasury workflows.
The Citizens report reflects exactly that trend.
According to the survey, 76% of organizations already use APIs from their financial institution to embed payment processes into their ERP systems. Among companies implementing embedded finance, 80% choose to partner with their bank, while only 3% build those capabilities internally.
That's a remarkable shift.
Banks are evolving from payment providers into infrastructure providers. Their services increasingly power software rather than websites.
For QA teams, that dramatically expands what needs to be tested. A payment no longer starts and ends inside one application.
It may travel through an ERP platform, an authentication provider, multiple APIs, fraud engines, accounting software, notification services, reconciliation systems, and reporting dashboards before the transaction is complete.
One failed integration can affect the entire customer journey.
Faster payments create higher expectations
Real-time payments continue gaining traction across the industry.
Within organizations already using instant payments, RTP has become the dominant solution, with adoption rising from 91% to 97% in just one year. Companies cite transaction speed and broader financial institution support as the biggest reasons for adoption.
Customers rarely think about payment infrastructure. They think about outcomes. They expect payments to arrive immediately.
Balances to update instantly. Invoices to reconcile automatically. Notifications to appear within seconds.
As expectations rise, tolerance for failure falls. A payment delayed by a few hours might once have been an inconvenience. Today it can become a support ticket, a failed purchase, a supplier dispute, or a regulatory issue.
That changes how financial institutions think about quality. Testing isn't simply about confirming whether a transaction succeeds.
It's about validating whether an entire ecosystem continues working under real production conditions.
Treasury teams are looking beyond speed
One of the most interesting findings in the report is that faster payments aren't the biggest benefit companies report.
Treasury leaders consistently place equal (or greater) importance on visibility.
Respondents say digitization has improved:
- cash management
- financial visibility
- operational control
- cash flow forecasting
Those improvements explain why embedded finance has become so attractive.
Payments generate data.
When payment information flows automatically into ERP systems, treasury software, and accounting platforms, finance teams gain a much clearer picture of their organization.
That creates better forecasting. Better liquidity management. Better decision-making.
In other words, payments have become information systems as much as financial systems.
The payments landscape is becoming more complex
Digital transformation rarely replaces complexity.
It usually redistributes it. Paper disappears. APIs appear. Manual reconciliation disappears. System integrations multiply. Standalone banking portals disappear. Embedded finance connects dozens of business applications together.
Each improvement creates another dependency.
The result is a payments landscape that is simultaneously simpler for customers and significantly more complex behind the scenes.
That complexity extends beyond APIs.
Organizations increasingly combine:
- real-time payments
- ACH
- card payments
- digital wallets
- traditional checks
- multiple payment rails
- third-party payment providers
Supporting choice has become a competitive advantage.
Testing every possible path through those systems has become almost impossible.
Checks refuse to disappear
One surprising finding from the report is that checks remain remarkably resilient.
Although only 19% of respondents consider checks critical, nearly two-thirds still believe they have value, particularly because contractors and vendors continue requesting them.
The future of payments isn't about replacing every legacy technology overnight.
It's about managing hybrid environments.
Financial institutions increasingly need to support modern payment methods alongside traditional ones.
That means testing legacy infrastructure and new technologies together.
Security remains central
Payments continue to attract fraud.
Sixty-seven percent of treasury leaders remain concerned about payment fraud, while nearly half experienced fraud during the previous year. Organizations using machine learning or AI reported lower fraud incidence than the overall survey population.
Interestingly, fewer respondents explicitly reported using AI than in previous years.
The report suggests this may be because many organizations now consume AI-powered fraud protection as a managed service without seeing the technology itself.
That reflects a broader trend across banking.
Technology increasingly becomes invisible.
Customers don't buy AI.
They buy secure payments.
Looking beyond the report
While the Citizens report focuses primarily on treasury modernization, many of its findings connect with wider developments across the payments industry.
Globally, financial institutions are exploring transparent cross-border payments, digital identity, digital currencies, digital assets, agentic commerce, and new cross-border models. Global e-commerce continues to drive demand for faster settlement, better interoperability, and common data standards, while regulatory changes are encouraging greater security and consistency across payment ecosystems.
Together, these developments point toward a future where payments become even more connected, intelligent, and deeply embedded into commerce. Although these topics fall outside the scope of the Citizens survey itself, they reinforce the same direction of travel: more integration, higher customer expectations, and greater operational complexity.
Testing has become a business decision
Every trend in the report points toward the same conclusion.
Payments are becoming more connected. More automated. More business-critical.
That means QA teams face a growing challenge.
Every software release has the potential to affect hundreds of customer journeys, payment flows, APIs, integrations, fraud controls, and downstream business processes.
Testing everything simply isn't realistic. The challenge is identifying what matters most.
That's where risk-based testing becomes essential.
Rather than treating every workflow equally, teams prioritize the payment journeys where failures would create the greatest operational, financial, or regulatory impact.
For financial institutions embracing payment innovation, this approach provides the confidence to move faster without increasing business risk.
Frequently asked questions
What are the biggest payment trends shaping the industry in 2026?
The Citizens Payment Trends Report highlights five trends that are reshaping modern payments: the continued adoption of real-time payments, the growth of embedded finance, greater use of banking APIs, stronger fraud prevention, and ongoing treasury digitization.
Together, these trends show how organizations are modernizing payment operations while improving visibility, automation, and efficiency.
How is global e-commerce influencing payment innovation?
The report focuses on treasury operations rather than global e-commerce, but its findings reflect broader payments innovation across the industry.
As global commerce continues to expand, businesses increasingly expect faster global payments, better cross-border payments, and seamless payment experiences. This creates new opportunities for financial institutions to modernize their payment infrastructure and support international growth while maintaining reliability and security.
Why are treasury teams investing in embedded finance?
According to the report, treasury teams are increasingly embedding payment capabilities directly into ERP systems using APIs provided by their banking partners. This gives treasury leaders better visibility over cash, simplifies payment workflows, and improves forecasting.
Rather than switching between multiple applications, finance professionals gain direct access to payment services inside the software they already use.
What role do cross-border payments play in the future of banking?
Although the report primarily examines domestic treasury operations, cross-border payments remain one of the fastest-growing areas of the payments market. As global e-commerce expands, businesses increasingly expect more transparent cross-border payments, simpler cross-border transactions, and faster settlement.
Combined with evolving rules, new payment strategies, and common data standards, these developments are expected to reshape how financial institutions support international commerce.
Why are real-time payments becoming the standard?
The report found that adoption of RTP continues to rise because businesses value faster transactions and broader banking support.
As customer and supplier expectations continue to evolve, real-time payments help organizations move money more efficiently while improving operational visibility. This shift is expected to continue as more financial institutions expand support for instant payment services.
How are AI and automation changing payment systems?
The report discusses the use of machine learning and AI for fraud mitigation but does not specifically cover AI agents or agentic commerce. Across the wider industry, however, automation is increasingly supporting payment decision-making, fraud detection, and operational efficiency.
As payment ecosystems become more connected, AI is expected to create new opportunities for both banks and businesses while helping improve security and reduce operational risk.
Why is security becoming more important in modern payments?
As payment ecosystems become increasingly interconnected, maintaining strong security is becoming crucial. The report found that fraud remains a major concern for treasury leaders, with many organizations relying on real-time monitoring and two-factor authentication to protect payment processes.
As payment innovation continues, balancing stronger protection with a seamless customer experience will remain a priority.
How are payment trends affecting merchants and consumers?
The report focuses on treasury functions rather than consumers or merchants, but many of the same trends ultimately benefit both groups. Faster payments, embedded finance, and improved payment infrastructure allow businesses to pay suppliers more efficiently, improve customer experiences, and support future commerce.
As digital payment options continue to expand, both merchants and consumers are likely to benefit from faster, more reliable payment services.
What does the future of the payments market look like?
The report points toward a continued shift toward API-driven banking, embedded finance, and real-time payments. Beyond the report, the wider payments industry is also seeing the rise of digital wallets, digital identity, digital assets, and digital currencies, alongside growing interest in agentic commerce.
Regions including Europe and the Middle East continue investing in payment innovation, creating significant growth opportunities for financial institutions that can adapt to changing customer expectations while maintaining resilience and trust.
Building confidence in the future of payments
The Citizens Payment Trends Report shows an industry moving decisively toward embedded finance, API-first banking, and real-time payments. These technologies promise faster transactions, greater visibility, and better customer experiences—but they also create increasingly interconnected software ecosystems where even small defects can have far-reaching consequences.
As payment platforms continue to evolve, quality assurance needs to evolve alongside them.
That's where TestResults' QA Risk Agent comes in. Instead of asking teams to manually identify every critical payment flow, the QA Risk Agent automatically analyzes applications to uncover the business processes, integrations, and customer journeys that carry the highest risk. It then generates risk-based test cases in minutes, helping QA teams focus their efforts where failures would have the biggest impact.
In a world where every payment touches multiple systems, knowing what to test first is becoming just as valuable as automation itself.
