Payouts Replace Paychecks in Banking’s Next Big Shift

Payouts have become the new paycheck, creating opportunities for banks, Ingo Payments CEO Drew Edwards writes in a new PYMNTS eBook, “Headlines That Will Shape the Close of 2025.”

Last month, I found myself gripping the steering wheel of my Jeep on Moab’s Hell’s Revenge trail — crawling up a narrow ridge, unable to see past my hood, knowing I couldn’t stop. “Keep the wheels turning, trust the path,” I prayed. That moment captures exactly where FinTech-bank partnerships stand as we close out 2025.

PYMNTS asked for the headline that will define Q4 and set the tone for 2026. In a year of geopolitical shocks, AI breakthroughs and the Genius Act, here’s mine: “The Quarter Without Headlines: Building Tomorrow’s Payout Revolution.”

Counterintuitive? Well, consider what’s happening beneath the surface. Every FinTech leader I’ve spoken to this year tells the same story: planned Q4 innovations have taken a backseat to evolving bank requirements post-Synapse. Banks now require real-time core synchronization where prefunds once sufficed, upgraded risk monitoring, enhanced KYB tools and more — a collective shift ensuring banks control their fiduciary responsibilities. At Ingo, we’re fortunate that close collaboration with our banks and partners like Sardine keeps us ahead of these standards while maintaining innovation momentum.

But the future isn’t waiting. A new payments paradigm is already here: payouts have become the new paycheck, creating unprecedented opportunities for banks to build sticky account relationships.

This is personal for me. My family includes a creative freelancer whose income reality opened my eyes. He doesn’t wait two weeks for a paycheck anymore. Monday’s video project, immediate payout. Wednesday’s consulting call, another payday. Friday’s work, another. His income flows continuously from multiple sources, matching his work rhythm.

Though I tell them in my loving paternal way that they’re unique, the reality is they’re really not. Millions of Americans — the “gig generation” — are building these dynamic income streams through rideshare driving, deliveries, freelancing and more new types of work. Each activity should and will eventually trigger instant payouts. The traditional payroll cycle is dissolving into something more fluid, responsive, human.

Banking’s holy grail was always direct deposit — it created stickiness and profitable relationships. In this new world, payroll happens daily. And how we support the gig generation through purpose-built features becomes critical. Innovative companies and their bank partners can transform transactional money flows into new account relationships with recurring funding, replacing traditional direct deposit. For workers like my family member, every transaction is a payday, and that experience makes the difference between burden and delight.

Like my moment in Moab, we can’t stop now. Though visibility is limited and the path narrow, we must keep the wheels turning, trusting this careful navigation leads somewhere transformative; where a new “payments innovation” will break headlines, describing the day that we’d been building for years.

This is why Q4 2025 is “The Quarter Without Headlines.” While the industry quietly rebuilds its infrastructure post-Synapse, we’re laying the foundation for something bigger: instant payouts that create new banking relationships. Every gig payment becomes an opportunity to capture an account. Every freelance invoice, a chance for banks to become essential.

The real story of 2025’s close isn’t as flashy as we all thought it would be in January 2025. Instead, it’s about the unglamorous work happening right now — the compliance updates, the risk monitoring, the real-time synchronization. This invisible infrastructure will power 2026’s transformation: making “the payout is the new payroll” a reality for millions of workers.

Sometimes the most important revolutions begin in silence. The path ahead may be narrow, but we know where it leads. Keep the wheels turning, y’all.