从支付基础设施到利润引擎：增值服务何以成为支付行业的未来

Why value-added services arethe future of payments Introduction The payments industry is at a defining crossroads.As fee compression, commoditization, and a flood ofnew entrants erode the profitability of traditionaltransaction models, payment providers face anurgent imperative: transform core capabilitiesinto revenue-generating, experience-enhancingvalue-added services (VAS). The future belongs to those whocan elevate payments from autility to a strategic enabler ofgrowth and loyalty. The transformationimperative Payments firms are underpressure. Global payments revenues grew just6% in 2024—the slowest pace in a decade—while merchant acquiring margins1declined by 30% over the last five years. Regulatory changes such as PSD2 inEurope and the Durbin Amendment in the US have reduced fees paymentsproviders can earn from card transactions by more than 50%. Meanwhile,the competition is intensifying: More than 4,000 fintechs entered theUS payments arena in the past two years, providing innovative andvalue-generating payment services. What got the payments industry here will not get it to the next stage.To thrive, payments firms must leverage their unique assets—data, trust,and infrastructure—to deliver differentiated value-added services beyondtheir core transaction-based business model. Payments firms are under pressure.Global payments revenues grew just6% in 2024—the slowest pace in adecade—while merchant acquiringmargins declined by 30% over thelast five years. Why value-addedservices, and why now? •Agentic AI is maturing:The rise of predictive and autonomousdecisioning tools creates fertile ground for smarter fraud mitigation,real-time pricing, and personalized offers. AI can help reduce frauddetection costs by 30% and improve detection accuracy by morethan 50% compared to traditional methods. The strategic importance of value-added services reached aninflection point. Several powerful market forces have convergedto accelerate this shift: •Customer expectations are shifting:Seventy-one percentof customers expect personalized experiences, while 80% ofbusiness buyers expect the same personalized experience asconsumers, and 77% of businesses refuse to make purchaseswithout personalized content. Consumers and businesses expectpayments to be instant, global, and low-cost. Stablecoins—digitalcurrencies tied to stable assets—are meeting these demandsby enabling real-time, cross-border transactions with minimalfees. Stablecoins transfer volume grew by 115% since early 2024.Payments firms can create new revenues by enabling contextualservices and new digital currencies to their clients (B2C), or toconsumers served by their clients (B2B2C). By 2030, the total VAS market will exceed $1.2 trillion, with marginsup to three times higher (nearly 45%) than traditional transaction-based models (about 15%). This shift is not just about top-linegrowth; it’s about optimizing profitability, sustaining market share,and generating long-term differentiation. To capture this market opportunity, payments firms can anchor onfive key opportunity spaces with a strong value proposition and rightto win: (1) data monetization, (2) marketing services, (3) loyalty andrewards, (4) digital assets and stablecoins, and (5) AI-enabled fraudservices. Let’s uncover each of those opportunity areas, witha description of the opportunity, value proposition for payments,and the addressable market. •Data is the new currency:Payments firms possess proprietarytransaction data ripe for monetization. Financial institutions thatmonetize data achieve 1.5 times faster revenue growth; the globalpayments data monetization market is estimated to reach$7.3 billion as consumers are looking for financial institutionsto provide valuable insights. 1Unlocking growthby monetizing data Payments firms are uniquely positioned to capitalize on proprietaryreal-time data generated by billions of transactions. This proprietarydata is a goldmine for actionable insights, powering both directand indirect monetization models. Directly, payments providers can offer anonymized data products,benchmarking dashboards, and analytics platforms to merchantsand partners—enabling smarter business decisions andtargeted growth strategies. Indirectly, this data underpinsbetter pricing, hyper-personalized offers, loyalty strategies,and operational efficiencies. The size of the prize is significant: By 2030, data monetizationin payments could generate more than $100 billion in annualrevenue globally. Payments providers’ trusted relationships andregulatory expertise position them as the natural stewards of thisdata, ensuring privacy and compliance while unlocking new valuefor clients. Figure 1 illustrates data monetization plays, including their businessimpact and complexity, for payments firms. 2Expanding intomarketing services As customers expect highly personalized experiences and cookiesdata becomes less relevant, brands are scrambling for high-quality,consented data that c