A new era of payment processing is on its way, driven by a new generation of technology-first payment processors that are reimagining financial infrastructure from the ground up.
A new era of payment processing
These next-gen providers are not just layering new solutions onto existing legacy systems but are completely rewriting the banking stack, enabling financial institutions to innovate faster, reduce costs and enhance customer engagement.
Traditional financial institutions often take 20 to 30 months to launch a new product, primarily due to the limitations of outdated core banking systems.
Emerging payment technology firms like Zeta are tackling this challenge head-on by offering an “omnistack” approach, which integrates card issuing, core banking and lending services into a single unified platform.
Unlike conventional point solutions or middleware integrations, this new model decomposes banking into its foundational components, allowing for greater agility, hyper-personalisation and faster innovation cycles.
With cloud-native, cloud-agnostic and API-first architectures, these platforms can reduce implementation timelines, minimise operational costs, and provide financial institutions with the tools to deliver real-time, scalable payment solutions.
The Importance of Faster Iteration Cycles
As discussed in an earlier article, speed is a crucial factor in banking innovation.
The traditional multi-year development cycles seen in incumbent financial institutions significantly limit their ability to adapt to market changes and customer demands.
Next-gen payment processors, however, prioritise rapid iteration cycles, where new products and features can be launched in weeks rather than years.
By leveraging real-time customer feedback, AI-driven analytics and automated testing environments, these companies ensure that each iteration compounds incremental improvements, leading to exponential innovation and efficiency gains.
This faster development cycle not only enhances customer experience but also helps financial institutions stay ahead in a highly competitive market.
AI-Powered Decisioning and Conversational Interfaces
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is playing an increasingly pivotal role in modern payment processing.
Next-gen providers are incorporating decisioning AI to optimise financial processes such as:
- Fraud detection and risk management
- Automated credit underwriting
- Dynamic pricing models for financial products
Decisioning AI allows banks to optimise return on assets (ROA) by integrating multiple decision points into a unified AI-driven framework, ensuring higher efficiency, reduced risk and better financial performance.
Conversational AI, on the other hand, is set to transform customer interactions.
Traditional banking interfaces – whether branch-based or app-based – are often constrained by static functionality and rigid workflows.
Next-gen payment platforms are integrating conversational AI assistants, allowing users to:
- Perform transactions using natural language commands
- Receive real-time financial insights based on spending behaviour
- Customise banking products dynamically based on individual preferences
This shift from static, menu-driven banking interfaces to intelligent, conversational interactions has the potential to dramatically improve financial accessibility, engagement and customer satisfaction.
The Vision Behind Next-Gen Payment Processors
Companies like Zeta are on a mission to democratise banking (the gradual process of removing control of the finance industry away from the select few big banks/financial institutions and distributing the power) by providing institutions with powerful, scalable financial technology that reduces the barriers to innovation, efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
Their target customers are licensed banks and financial institutions, which can leverage their platforms to enhance product offerings, streamline operations and increase revenue.
With rapidly evolving consumer expectations, regulatory requirements and competitive pressures, the traditional “layered” approach to banking modernisation is no longer sufficient.
Instead, they argue, a full-stack reimagination of payments infrastructure is essential to meet the demands of a digital-first economy.
“It’s one thing to use next-gen tech; it’s another thing to provide next-gen capabilities,” explains Bhavin Turakhia, cofounder and CEO, Zeta.
“We call ourselves next gen because nobody else provides the capabilities we’ve built. That’s really the way we distinguish ourselves.
By doing this, we have the ability to decompose banking entirely, in terms of technology, into its most foundational components – kind of like an operating system, if you will.
We call them foundational modules. And then all products are layered on top of this polymorphic omnistack architecture, so Zeta’s fundamental IP is concentrated in our four foundational modules.
Also, we’re cloud native, cloud agnostic and cloud portable. Underneath our foundational modules is a private cloud layer that allows the rest of the stack to be completely cloud agnostic.”
The Future of Payment Processing
The payments landscape is shifting toward a model where financial institutions no longer need to rely on outdated core systems or lengthy product deployment cycles.
As digital wallets, embedded finance and decentralised financial services gain traction, the demand for scalable, agile and cost-effective payment infrastructure will only increase.
The next decade of payments innovation will be driven by firms that combine deep technology expertise with a relentless focus on efficiency, speed and customer experience.
The era of legacy banking is fading, and in its place, a new breed of payment processors is naturally shaping the future.
The post A new era of payment processing: The rise of next-gen infrastructure appeared first on Payments Cards & Mobile.