{
  "id": 17045299,
  "title": "Payment providers must look beyond transactions, fintech executives say",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/29/payment-providers-must-look-beyond-transactions-fintech-executives-say",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-10-29T09:39:55.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "TechCabal",
    "slug": "techcabal",
    "url": "https://techcabal.com/2026/10/29/payment-providers-must-look-beyond-transactions-fintech-executives-say/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Fintech executives emphasized that payment providers must go beyond transactions and focus on helping businesses manage cash flow, understand customers, and reduce fraud. At a panel titled “The Business Behind the Transaction,” representatives from Mastercard, Remita, and OPay argued that merchants needed services that connected payments to their wider operations, along with reliable support and staff training.\n\nShabir Ahmed, Mastercard’s Senior Vice President for Customer Solutions in Central Africa, stressed the importance of connectivity, data-driven intelligence, and trust. He argued that payment technology's value lies in what businesses can do with it beyond collecting money. For Remita, this means offering financial management, invoicing, and statutory compliance services. Onyluka, Remita’s divisional head for corporate and consumer business, highlighted the need for tools that link financial information to banks, lenders, and regulators, as payment records become more useful when they support borrowing, reporting, and business management decisions.\n\nMeanwhile, OPay’s director for key account merchants, Isimeme Ayobami Owobo, stressed the significance of integrating technology into business operations and training employees to use it effectively. He pointed out that installing a payment terminal is merely the first step; businesses must fully leverage available tools, such as QR-code payments, to speed up transactions.\n\nThe panel discussion underscored the challenge facing payment providers in expanding their role within merchants' businesses. While processing transactions creates a point of contact with customers, transforming that relationship into a broader service requires a deep understanding of each business's unique operations. The executives concluded that payment acceptance alone is insufficient for digital adoption; the real value lies in businesses' ability to use transaction data to manage cash, serve customers, and plan growth.",
  "summary": "Payment providers must help businesses manage cash flow, understand customers and reduce fraud as accepting digital payments becomes only the first step in adopting technology.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}