Amir Wain

This research examines how the relationship between banks and their issuers and processors is evolving as payments infrastructure modernization accelerates alongside increasing consolidation across the payments ecosystem and intensifying competition from non-bank players seeking bank charters.

Once viewed primarily as legacy technology or middleware – providers, issuers and processors are now fewer in number and more deeply embedded as strategic partners supporting banks’ growth, innovation, and customer experience initiatives. The study explores how this shift, influenced by a more concentrated provider landscape and the emergence of newly chartered, digital-first competitors, is shaping banks’ modernization priorities, including technology architecture, data access, flexibility, and speed to market. In doing so, it assesses how banks of different sizes are redefining expectations around service, collaboration, accountability, and long-term risk as they navigate choice, innovation, and dependency in an increasingly competitive payments environment.