Change in payments used to be a matter of technological evolution. Now, it’s a matter of generational urgency.
A deep dive into recent conversations with payments industry leaders for the “What’s Next In Payments Series: The Alphabet Strategy” reveals four defining themes in how financial institutions and payment providers are thinking about the impact of Generation Z and the rising Generation Alpha on payment experience expectations, workflows, and even business models:
This rising cohort of digital natives, raised exclusively on smartphones and streaming, isn’t just asking for speed and convenience across payments and business; they are demanding it.
This mindset, rooted in immediacy and designed for a life lived through screens, is forcing a reckoning across the payments industry. From instant money movement and API-first architecture to consumer-grade B2B experiences, the new table stakes are higher, faster, and more flexible than ever before.
Generational Expectations Are Redefining Payments
Younger cohorts (Gen Z and Gen Alpha) drive a fundamental shift in how consumers perceive payment experiences. Instant payments, digital wallets, and seamless experiences are now baseline expectations, not future aspirations. Decades of banking evolution are not what shape these emerging generational expectations. The seamless experiences that platforms like Uber, Amazon, Venmo and TikTok offer shape them.
“When I was in school, I learned from books, from people in front of me, real people face-to-face,” David Durovy, senior vice president and head of enterprise transformation at i2c, explained. “Fast forward to today … is that where younger generations are taught and how they trust information? I would say they’re really not.”
Instead, consumers now build trust in businesses through screens, the same channels where younger users learn, shop, bank and communicate.
“They’re digital first,” said Elena Casal, chief client officer of The Clearing House. “And they also have a philosophy of ‘Let’s do something now, or let’s not do it.’ There’s not a case for ‘later.’”
These digital-first, real-time expectations are pushing financial institutions and payment providers to prioritize speed, transparency and ease of use.
Infrastructure Must Be Modular, Flexible, and Future-Ready
The implications of this generational shift? It’s the startlingly stark fact that, across both B2C and B2B contexts, legacy systems and rigid roadmaps are liabilities. The winners in payments innovation will be those who can scale rapidly, integrate new technologies without disruption, and flex to evolving user needs.
But while the temptation for brands may be to chase the latest platform or gimmick — say, TikTok-powered campaigns or AI chatbots — industry leaders caution against mistaking fads for strategy.
“We need to be very careful of where we’re placing bets,” explained i2c’s Durovy, citing the metaverse as an example of the pitfalls of trend-chasing.
Instead, Durovy urged a return to first principles: building adaptable, modular systems that can evolve alongside users, not ahead of them or behind them.
“We’ve built a platform that is integrated, but allows you to have that future flexibility,” he explained, noting the importance of API connectivity and AI readiness. “If you’re not already executing, developing, maturing, expanding [with AI], then you are absolutely behind against the industry.”
This emphasis on modularity and resilience over trend-chasing may be the only reliable defense against a world where consumer behaviors change overnight.
“Everyone talks about agile development,” Zachary Held, head of product and commercialization at Boost Payment Solutions, said. “But we’re applying that same model across the entire organization, so we’re constantly evolving with the changing needs of our customers.”
Ultimately, whether through APIs, AI, or automation, organizations must architect these systems for change, not just speed.
Consumerization of B2B Payments Is Accelerating
One key implication as younger professionals ascend into decision-making roles? The growing pressure on B2B payments to reflect the user experience of consumer platforms. The exact expectations that Gen Z brings to Venmo and Uber also apply to procurement and accounts payable and accounts receivable (AP/AR) workflows.
Even trust itself, once the domain of face-to-face interactions and printed disclosures, is undergoing a shift. “If you send me a printed disclosure, but I applied through a digital channel — am I at odds?” Durovy asked. “If I have a physical interaction, am I less likely to trust it because of human error?”
In other words, Gen Z trusts screens more than people in some circumstances, and payments must meet them where they already are.
“B2B payments are complex, but that doesn’t mean they have to feel complex,” said Boost’s Held.
After all, for Gen Z professionals entering the workforce, many of whom have never written a check, the experience of using legacy payment systems may feel, at times, like a glitch in the matrix.
“There’s a fundamental misalignment between the expectations of the younger generation and the reality of how things happen in the workplace,” Held said. “Forty-four percent of Gen Zers don’t even know how to write a check. At the same time, one-third of B2B payments are still made via check.”
Visibility and control are, and will be, expected by Gen Z and Gen Alpha customers as they move fully into their own careers, especially as they act as consultants, sole proprietors or gig economy workers. Being able to move money 24/7, stressed TCH’s Casal, “brings an end-to-end experience that these generations will use … to ‘level up’ financial accounting and planning.”
Personalization and Contextual Trust Are Critical
What began as a conversation about youth and speed has become a broader narrative about transformation. The future of payments isn’t just about faster money. It’s about reengineering systems to serve users who expect the world to work like their favorite app — personalized, transparent and immediate.
“This generation is comfortable with evolving technologies,” Casal explained. “And all of us [in financial services] can leverage that to be our best selves.”
Preferences can evolve. The only constant is the need for adaptive infrastructure that can evolve alongside them.
“The further we go towards allowing the digital to speak to the analog … that really creates the set of experiences users want and expect,” Durovy said. “Consumer cohorts splinter faster than ever before. If your infrastructure can’t pivot with them, you’re done.”
The challenge is for businesses to not only deliver tailored solutions but to deliver them through the mediums where consumers build trust: screens, apps, and frictionless flows.
In this new landscape, the most successful payments don’t feel like payments at all. They’re invisible — woven seamlessly into the user journey, like Uber’s background billing or Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” checkout.
