Fintech is evolving faster than the policies designed to govern it.
The Thredd team
The global payments landscape is shifting fast — and regulators are struggling to keep up. For fintechs, that means new challenges, but also a powerful opportunity to lead from the front.
Real-time payments, embedded finance, open banking, AI, and CBDCs have transformed the payments ecosystem in just a few short years. As this wave of disruption continues, fintechs and payment service providers are creating new infrastructure at scale and often faster than regulation can adapt.
This is the central challenge facing the global payments industry today. While innovation surges forward, regulation is being built in real time. And as highlighted in a recent conversation between Charlotte Crosswell, Senior Advisor to the UK Government, and Tony Craddock, Director General of The Payments Association, during PAY360 earlier this year, this growing gap isn’t just problematic, it’s unsustainable.
For companies like Thredd, and for fintechs building payment solutions, understanding and responding to this gap is critical to long-term success.
Gone are the days when payments were managed by a handful of large providers. Today’s landscape is densely populated with fintech startups, embedded finance platforms, cross-border players, and card scheme enablers — many operating across different regulatory regimes.
The complexity this creates for regulators is immense. Crosswell pointed out that many government and regulatory teams are small, often rotating, and frequently lack the deep technical knowledge of the companies they’re meant to oversee.
We can’t expect regulators to deliver full strategic roadmaps at the speed fintech moves. By the time a regulation is passed, the market has already evolved.
For fintech professionals, this presents both a challenge and a chance: to influence the direction of regulation while continuing to build at pace.
Payments are no longer a back-office function. They’re now tied to political agendas, national security, and economic growth. As Tony Craddock noted, executive orders in the US, for example, are now focusing on stablecoins, data ownership, and cross-border regulation.
There’s a rising tension: between global financial inclusion, anti-money laundering, and the commercial drive for speed and convenience.
At the same time, payments are increasingly vulnerable to fraud and financial crime. Craddock referred to the rise of “criminal entrepreneurs” — individuals and networks leveraging sophisticated tech stacks to bypass regulation and steal at scale.
This isn’t just about fraud. It’s about geopolitics, criminal innovation, and the future of global financial systems
While regulators work to catch up, the onus is on industry leaders including fintechs, issuers, and processors to drive alignment and clarity. This includes engaging in cross-border collaboration, sharing innovation insights, and helping define best practices before problems arise.
Charlotte Crosswell pointed to emerging markets as a source of inspiration. In many developing economies, payments infrastructure is leapfrogging traditional systems entirely. Offering new models of financial inclusion and ecosystem-wide cooperation.
This kind of global payments innovation needs to be matched by equally global cooperation. For fintechs operating internationally, aligning with different rulesets, expectations, and risk models is no longer optional, it’s essential.
Thredd operates at the intersection of innovation and execution, helping fintechs; launch, scale, and manage modern card and embedded finance programmes in more than 40 countries. As regulation continues to evolve, our approach combines technical agility with the operational insight needed to navigate changing compliance requirements.
For fintech teams trying to balance product velocity with compliance, security, and risk mitigation, the message is clear: You need a partner who understands both the opportunity and the obstacles.
We’re already working with leading fintechs to help them stay ahead of shifting regulations, fraud risk, and cross-border complexities. If you want to future-proof your payments programme with confidence, talk to the Thredd team today.
The Thredd team
April 07, 2025
The Thredd team
March 24, 2025
The Thredd team
March 19, 2025
The Thredd team
March 17, 2025
Sign up to receive Industry news, events and insights delivered straight to your inbox.