Visa research: service gaps stall embedded finance growth
New research from Equals and Visa Consulting & Analytics finds that service gaps from embedded finance providers are limiting growth and resulting in avoidable revenue loss.
The research reveals a gap between how businesses choose payments partners and what drives long-term value, trust, and scalability.
Embedded Finance and Payments Service Report: Are Buyers Missing the Most Important Requirement for Long-Term Value?
- 82% of all respondents agree that providers play a critical role in helping them scale embedded finance successfully
- 71% of all respondents agree that internal teams alone cannot manage the operational and regulatory complexity of embedded finance
- 60% of CFOs have lost revenue due to poor embedded provider support
- More than 2 in 5 have seen global expansion delayed by poor service
- More than 60% of CFOs say providers are ‘too big to care’ or ‘too small to deliver’
Visa Consulting & Analytics was commissioned by Equals, a next-generation global money movement platform, to progress the conversation and understand the realities of embedded finance and payments strategy. The study interviewed more than 150 senior leaders and decision-makers across banks, fintechs, trading portals and digital asset exchanges in the UK and Western Europe.
Embedded finance is estimated by McKinsey to be worth over €100bn in Europe by the end of the decade. Yet report findings show that operational gaps are slowing progress, with 45% of respondents saying service and support issues have restricted their ability to realise business benefits.
The findings reveal a persistent gap between business expectations and the service, support and operational expertise that they receive when challenges arise. Four in five CFOs (81%) say internal teams alone cannot manage the operational and regulatory complexity of embedded finance.
Qualitative responses reveal that problems typically begin at onboarding. While providers tend to perform well at pitch stage, clients report integration delays, slow resolution of technical issues and compliance gaps that should have been caught earlier. For many organisations, those problems do not go away: over half (54%) of respondents say servicing challenges are a constant operational burden rather than occasional incidents.
Service alignment is a recurring issue. 63% of CFO respondents feel that providers are too large to care about their needs, rising to 76% among neobank respondents. At the same time, 60% of CFOs say other providers are too small to deliver their operational and compliance needs reliably at scale.
When it comes to people, respondents are clear. 60% of businesses agree that increasing automation or AI-driven servicing from providers risks reducing the level of human expertise and relationship support their organisation relies on. They want direct access to relationship managers and specialists, not ticket systems that make accountability difficult to pin down.
Ed Chandler, senior executive leader of Equals, commented: “These findings suggest that many businesses are underserved because their payment environments are too complex for off-the-rack solutions. At Equals we recognise there is no one-size-fits-all model for successful embedded finance and payments adoption.
“Exceptional businesses need a unified, flexible platform that can be adapted to meet their needs, combined with a genuine partner that understands the complexity of their payment environment. This includes support through compliance challenges and the fragmentation that can occur during cross-border expansion.”
To download the report in full, visit our website.