Trends and insights The Future Is Here: Shaping What's Next in Payments

The Visa Payments Forum (VPF) 2025 for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA), gathered more than 700 clients, partners, and payments industry leaders to explore the future of payments, commerce, and money movement. Set against a dynamic backdrop of innovation and collaboration, VPF surfaced several pivotal trends poised to shape the trajectory of payments across the region in the years ahead.

More innovation in payments is happening in CEMEA than anywhere else in world. The way we pay and get paid is not only becoming more convenient, secure, and inclusive, but also more connected, intelligent, and personalized.

The Future Is the Card Reimagined

Consumer cards are still growing; however, the card experience is evolving and opening doors to new opportunities in both consumer and commercial spaces. Consumers love the speed and simplicity of tap experiences. At Visa, we are reimagining the card through new capabilities in the physical card or digital credential.

Innovations like Tap to Add Card, Tap to Activate, Tap to Confirm, and Tap to Accept, are emerging, with Tap to Peer-to-Peer (P2P) envisioned for global tipping. Notably, Tap to Phone is transforming mobile devices into Point of Sale (POS) terminals, helping millions of businesses — large and small — accept in-person, contactless payments anytime, anywhere.¹

Multi-currency innovations, such as the adaptable Visa Flex Credential further advance these capabilities. Visa is also extending beyond traditional cards with Visa Pay, offering real-time, interoperable account-to-account money movement.

The Future Is Digitally Secure

Security and trust are the cornerstone of digital payments. Visa’s recent annual Stay Secure study showed that 76% of consumers across 17 markets in CEMEA fully trust digital payments.² Ensuring the user of a Visa card is the is the rightful user of that card in both the physical and digital worlds drives key innovations:

• Tokenization: Nearly half of Visa digital transactions are now tokenized, replacing sensitive data with secure, unique identifiers. Visa aims for 100% token adoption,³ adding one billion tokens last quarter alone.⁴
• Biometric Authentication: Visa Payment Passkey replaces one-time passwords with biometrics, setting a new standard for secure, seamless authentication.
• Enhanced Data: Visa leverages behavioral analytics, purchase history, and device information for a consumer-centric approach to fraud prevention, enabling more effective and tailored solutions.

The Future Is Data-Driven

As digital payments grow, so does the wealth of data generated, enabling smarter networks, better fraud detection, and more personalized experiences.Visa has invested over $3 billion in AI and data infrastructure over the last decade.⁵ Building on 30 years of AI application, these investments have revolutionized fraud detection through advanced deep-learning algorithms. Over 100 products harness AI capabilities, enhancing the intelligence of the Visa network, refining operations across all transaction stages — initiation, authorization, processing, and settlement.

Data also drives customer acquisition. AI-powered solutions analyze user behavior to offer personalized financial products, improving conversion rates and customer satisfaction.

The Future Is Hyper-Personalized

For affluent consumers, who account for 21% of global spending, tailored experiences are no longer optional – it’s an expectation. Understanding their behavior and preferences enables targeted solutions. For example, Visa Infinite and Signature cardholders focus on domestic spending, with travel as their top spend category, while Ultra High Net Worth (UHNW) individuals spend 41% on retail shopping and 53% on cross-border transactions.⁴

Leveraging this granular data, Visa is building a personalization engine to match user preferences with tailored offers and experiences, meeting the unique needs of this high-value customer.

The Future Is Stablecoins

With the payments landscape more dynamic and competitive than ever, stablecoins are emerging as one of the most promising tools for faster and more accessible digital payments. In 2023, Visa became one of the first major payments networks to settle transactions in stablecoin when it piloted enabling clients to fulfill their settlement obligations in USDC.⁶ To date, over $225 million in stablecoin volume has been settled through Visa across participating clients. In CEMEA, Visa is expanding its stablecoin settlement solution to select issuers and acquirers, enabling USD cross-border transactions through blockchain technology.

Through partnerships, Visa enables stablecoin use across multiple fronts: cards and credentials, where we facilitate buying and spending stablecoins via Visa card cross-border money movement; enhancing speed and efficiency with partners like Yellow Card;⁷ and programmable digital money, helping partners mint and burn their own stablecoins via the Visa Tokenized Asset Platform.

The Future Is AI Commerce

As AI agents evolve from recommending products to executing purchases, they must reflect consumer intent, manage payments securely, and navigate complex scenarios. Visa Intelligent Commerce empowers consumers with flexible AI integration, allowing them to delegate purchasing decisions with customizable controls or retain full review power.⁸

Visa’s innovation with tokenization paired with biometric authentication via Visa Payment Passkey further fortifies security, building trust crucial for widespread adoption and ensuring a seamless, secure AI commerce experience. The CEMEA region is primed for AI Commerce, with 57% of total payment volumes already digital and over 86% of in-person transactions being contactless.⁹

All brand names, logos and/or trademarks are the property of their respective owners, are used for identification purposes only, and do not necessarily imply product endorsement or affiliation with Visa.

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2. Stay Secure 2025 - How Consumers are Embracing Security Measures in the Era of Digital Payments
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6. Visa’s role in stablecoins
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