World Payments Report 2026: The (Not-So) Silent Takeover - Winning Back Merchants Means Playing Differently (Capgemini Research Institute)

Summary

• Non-cash transaction volumes are expected to rise from 1,685 billion in 2024 to 3,540 billion by 2029.p.6
• 40% of small and mid-sized merchants plan to switch to PayTechs within a year, driven by faster onboarding and better service.p.6
• 66% of merchants trust banks over PayTechs for financial services.p.7
• Instant payments and e-money wallets grew from 13% of non-cash payment volume in 2020 to 25% in 2024, and are projected to reach 32% by 2029.p.12
• Only 15% and 22% of small and mid-sized merchants respectively are satisfied with their current banking relationships, against 36% for large merchants.p.27
• Banks take up to seven days to onboard a merchant, while PayTech players take less than 60 minutes.p.30
• Only 24% of banks have deployed SoftPOS, against 43% of PayTech players.p.24

Key insights

1. From 2014 to 2024, global non-cash transaction volumes grew fourfold, compared with 1.5x growth in global GDP.p.3
2. Asia-Pacific has the highest projected CAGR at 20.2% from 2024 to 2029.p.9
3. Over 90% of non-cash transactions now happen in retail and business-to-consumer (B2C) settings.p.10
4. In e-commerce, digital wallets accounted for 53% of transaction value in 2024 and are projected to reach 65% by 2030.p.11
5. Cards made up 65% of total non-cash payment volume in 2020 and are expected to decline to 47% by 2029.p.12
6. 41% of banks have adopted GenAI, against 60% of PayTech players.p.24
7. Payment orchestration is deployed by 47% of banks, versus 70% at PayTechs.p.24
8. Only 15% of banks believe they are fully capable of delivering tailored offerings.p.26
9. Onboarding costs USD 214 at PayTechs compared to USD 496 at banks.p.30