Recently, The Fletcher Group team participated in a session called Payments University, which featured a deep dive into the foundational concepts, evolving technologies, and regulatory shifts shaping the fintech and payments ecosystem. Led by Ray Leach, Director of Fintech at Augustana University and a seasoned educator in economics and analytics, the session was designed to sharpen our agency’s expertise.
In fintech, innovation moves at lightning speed. We stay in constant learning mode, tracking the latest developments and emerging possibilities to help our clients tell their stories effectively. With more than 20 years of specialization in this space, we’ve navigated everything from the rise of real-time payments to evolving regulations around stablecoins. In a landscape of constant change, our clients count on us not only for communications strategy, but as informed partners who understand their products, customers, and risk environment. Serving them well means speaking the language of payments fluently and anticipating what’s next.
We were reminded of a few key truths:
- Payments Is the Core of All Financial Services. Ray emphasized that payments are not just a product, they are the infrastructure upon which banking, lending, investing, and insuring are built. Understanding the players (issuers, acquirers, networks), how interchange and merchant discount fees work, and why PayFacs are enabling smaller merchants to digitize are critical insights for any fintech communicator or strategist.
- The sector is no longer monolithic. Leach outlined four key verticals: Payments, Banking, Wealth Management, and Digital Assets. Each vertical is distinct in its technologies, regulatory pressures, and customer expectations an each growing into its own distinct industry.
- Technology as a Convergence Force. APIs, open banking frameworks, cloud infrastructure, and mobile-first design have converged to rapidly accelerate fintech product development. The next wave of Agentic AI and distributed ledgers like blockchain are already changing how we think about security, personalization, and cross-border movement of money.
- Financial services is one of the most regulated industries in the U.S., and yet regulations struggle to keep pace with innovation. We explored: regulatory shifts under different administrations, the Genius Act, state licensing, and key lessons from collapses like Synapse.
- There will always be emerging trends, but the hot ones today are: merchant-owned stablecoins, real-time payments, open banking retrenchment, and Agentic AI that acts autonomously.
After the session, I sat down with Ray to dive deeper into some key areas.
Six Questions with Ray Leach: What’s Next for Fintech and Payments
Jennifer Tramontana: You called payments the “foundation” of financial services. What’s the most underappreciated challenge facing the sector?
Ray Leach: It’s the backend infrastructure. We often focus on the front-end user experience—wallets, neobanks, payment buttons—but forget that most of those systems still run on legacy banking rails. Even as real-time payment systems like FedNow emerge, many banks are not equipped to integrate them securely or efficiently. That creates friction for users and limits innovation for developers.
Jennifer Tramontana: With the Genius Act passed, what’s your take on the future of stablecoins and their potential impact?
Ray Leach: It’s a double-edged sword. The Genius Act gives regulatory clarity and allows nonbanks, like retailers, to issue stablecoins backed 1:1 by U.S. cash or equivalents. That opens the door for companies like Amazon or Walmart to create payment ecosystems outside Visa and Mastercard, avoiding fees. But without strong oversight, we could revisit the ‘Wild West’ of banking from the 1800s.
Jennifer Tramontana: What’s the significance of JP Morgan now charging fintechs for API access to customer data?
Ray Leach: It’s a pivotal moment. If more banks follow JP Morgan’s lead, smaller fintechs could be priced out of innovation. We’ll see higher costs passed to consumers and potentially fewer choices in the market.
Jennifer Tramontana: You introduced the concept of Agentic AI. How real is this, and what should fintechs be preparing for?
Ray Leach: It’s very real—and already in early deployment. MasterCard’s Agent Pay and OpenAI’s recent announcement both demonstrate how agents will not just analyze or recommend—they’ll act. Fintechs need to prepare for liability and trust implications.
Jennifer Tramontana: The Synapse collapse has rattled confidence in BaaS. What are your top governance takeaways?
Ray Leach: Banks must maintain full visibility of every end user. Going forward, owning your ledger matters. Banks must enforce stronger data reconciliation and require detailed recordkeeping from fintech partners.
Jennifer Tramontana: For executives who want to stay informed without getting overwhelmed, what’s your best advice?
Ray Leach: Follow a few high-signal sources. Jason Mikula’s Fintech Business Weekly is my top recommendation. Don’t try to read everything—focus on what your clients or partners care about most.
