That is a central finding from “The 2025-2026 Growth Corporates Working Capital Index,” a Visa and PYMNTS Intelligence report based on a survey of 1,457 CFOs and treasurers across 23 countries, five regions and 10 industry groups. The report shows that growth corporates, often described as middle market companies, are using external working capital tools to manage volatility, support expansion and build resilience heading into 2026. These companies generate enough scale to power local, regional and global economies, but many remain underserved by traditional financial providers.

The CFO angle is clear. Finance leaders are not only trying to cover shortfalls. They are trying to make cash flow more predictable. That means using working capital to fund capital investments, buy inventory, expand into new markets, upgrade systems and pay strategic suppliers faster.

The findings point to a more active model of treasury management, where liquidity is used with more precision.

• 65% of European growth corporates use new forms of AI for working capital efficiency. The report defines those uses as including financial planning, forecasting, scenario modeling, invoice processing, reporting and customer or supplier onboarding. LAC follows at 62%, APAC at 61%, CEMEA at 59% and North America at 42%.
• 61% of North American growth corporates use card acceptance as a strategy to reduce days sales outstanding. Europe follows at 54%, LAC at 53%, APAC at 50% and CEMEA at 45%. For CFOs, that points to a practical way to convert receivables into usable cash sooner.
• Growth corporates in LAC lose an average 5.0% of revenue chasing late payments from business customers. The comparable figures are 4.0% in Europe, 3.6% in CEMEA, 3.5% in APAC and 3.0% in North America. That shows why payment speed and visibility remain high on the CFO agenda.

The positive read is that finance teams have more tools than they did a few years ago. AI can help forecast cash needs. Card acceptance can help shorten collections. External working capital can help CFOs act before cash pressure turns into a constraint.

The report also finds measurable benefits from using external working capital solutions. Average bottom-line benefits range from 3.1% of revenue in North America to 5.0% in LAC. In dollar terms, those benefits range from $13.4 million in North America to $24.1 million in Europe, based on the underlying revenue estimates in the report.

That does not mean every sector or region faces the same trade-offs. Agriculture, healthcare, manufacturing, construction, retail, travel and technology each show different working capital patterns. Some sectors face heavier late-payment costs. Others show stronger AI adoption. Still, the broader story is consistent.

CFOs are being asked to do more than preserve liquidity. They are being asked to turn liquidity into an operating advantage. The data suggests many are already moving in that direction.

That is the central takeaway from “Generations Under Pressure: How Younger Consumers Are Coping With Higher Living Costs,” the latest PYMNTS Intelligence Generational Pulse Report. Based on a survey of 2,747 U.S. adult consumers, the report finds higher living costs are a growing burden: 51% of consumers say daily expenses are difficult to manage.

But the more telling split is generational. Younger consumers are using more tools to manage cash flow, while older consumers tend to rely on fewer levers. The result: households adapting in real time, even as confidence in those strategies weakens.

The coping story starts with a shared baseline. Between 60% and 75% of consumers in every age group have cut daily spending. That’s expected, given that grocery stress is nearly universal and housing, healthcare and savings pressures remain elevated.

The divergence is determined by age. Older consumers lean on restraint, cutting expenses, delaying big purchases and absorbing the pressure where they can. Baby boomers and seniors are also the most likely to report taking no action at all: 25% say they have no coping strategy.

Younger consumers are building something broader. Bridge millennials, millennials and Gen Z consumers are more likely to combine spending cuts with gig work, borrowing from family or friends, bill negotiation, buy now, pay later options and shifts in savings behavior — a layered financial patchwork that signals resourcefulness, but also a thinner margin for error.

Key Findings:

• 50% of consumers use two or three coping strategies to manage rising living costs, while 16% use four or more.
• 23% of bridge millennials, 22% of millennials and 21% of Gen Z consumers use four or more strategies, compared with 8% of baby boomers and seniors.
• The share of consumers who say their coping strategies are extremely or very effective fell to 25% in January from 34% in October.

That last point is the warning sign. Consumers are not standing still. Many are taking action, and younger adults in particular are showing flexibility.

They are cutting spending, seeking extra income and using payment tools to match expenses with available cash. But effort is no longer translating into control at the same rate.

For banks, payment providers and FinTechs, the opportunity is practical. Consumers may not need another reminder to budget harder.

They may need clearer visibility into bills, better timing around recurring expenses, safer short-term liquidity options and payment plans that are easy to understand. Healthcare, groceries and housing are not occasional expenses. They are monthly cash-flow tests.

The positive reading is that households are engaged. They are watching expenses, changing behavior and looking for ways to adapt.

The challenge for financial services firms is to meet that effort with tools that reduce complexity, not add to it. As higher costs linger, the next stage of consumer finance may be less about encouraging people to do more and more about helping them make the moves they are already making work better.

That’s among the sharpest findings in “Financing the Decision: How BNPL and Installments Reshape Merchant Choice,” the latest PYMNTS Intelligence Pay Later Ecosystem Report. Drawing on a survey of 2,763 U.S. consumers, the report finds BNPL carries the most weight when shoppers are comparing similar merchants and have room to deliberate. The effect is most pronounced among millennials and Gen Z, who are significantly more likely than older consumers to say financing availability shapes their decision on where to buy.

• 62% of millennials say BNPL influences their choice of merchant for travel, compared with 37% of consumers overall and 5% of baby boomers. Gen Z is not far behind at 49%.
• In food delivery, 43% of Gen Z and 44% of millennials say BNPL influences where they shop, versus 10% of baby boomers and seniors.
• In healthcare, 55% of Gen Z say merchant-offered installment plans influence where they seek medical or dental care. According to the report, no other generation comes close.

The deeper point is that younger consumers are treating financing as part of the shopping experience, not as an afterthought.

The responses show that BNPL has the most sway in categories where people can compare providers, such as travel, events, home services and food delivery. In those situations, financing can help one merchant stand out from another offering a similar product or service.

That gives retailers and service providers a practical opening. Clear payment options at checkout can help them win business from younger buyers who are already inclined to use these tools.

The report also suggests that younger consumers are broadening where they use financing. For Gen Z, the influence of installment plans extends beyond discretionary spending and into medical and dental care, where 55% say financing availability affects provider choice.

The findings depict this as a distinct generational pattern, with younger adults approaching healthcare costs much as they do other major purchases by looking at both the service and the payment options attached to it. That points to a larger shift in consumer expectations. For a growing share of younger adults, flexible payment tools are becoming part of the standard package.

Other data points reinforce that BNPL’s influence is concentrated in groups already using pay-later products. Fourteen percent of consumers used BNPL in the last three months, and among those users the effect on merchant choice is far stronger than it is for non-users.

The report says non-users are largely unmoved, while existing users often let financing shape choices in the same categories where they already rely on it. That dynamic may be good news for merchants targeting younger consumers. It suggests that once shoppers become comfortable using these products, financing can help build repeat business and stronger loyalty over time.

At PYMNTS Intelligence, we work with businesses to uncover insights that fuel intelligent, data-driven discussions on changing customer expectations, a more connected economy and the strategic shifts necessary to achieve outcomes. With rigorous research methodologies and unwavering commitment to objective quality, we offer trusted data to grow your business. As our partner, you’ll have access to our diverse team of PhDs, researchers, data analysts, number crunchers, subject matter veterans and editorial experts.

In the Payments Optimization Tracker, “Agents of Change: How Agentic AI Is Redefining Commerce,” PYMNTS Intelligence and Worldpay argue that autonomous AI is moving from theory into practical commerce.

The report frames agentic AI as a system in which digital agents can search, compare and make purchases based on a shopper’s preferences, opening a large new market for merchants, banks and payment providers. The broader message: The opportunity is real, but adoption will depend less on novelty than on whether the industry can make the experience secure, understandable and easy to trust.

• 45% of consumers say they would be comfortable allowing AI agents to complete purchases on their behalf, and that rises to 54% for Gen Z, suggesting younger consumers may help pull the technology into the mainstream first.
• 43% of retailers are piloting autonomous AI, while 81% say they trust AI’s ability to operate autonomously when the right guardrails are in place. That points to a market that is still early, but no longer sitting on the sidelines.
• 95% of consumers report at least one concern about agentic commerce, and just 5% say they have none. At the same time, 50% of U.S. consumers say they would trust agentic commerce more if they knew fraud protections were in place. That gives the industry a clear signal about what needs to happen next.

What stands out in the report is that the real commercial opening may not come from replacing people with machines. It may come from reducing the friction that slows digital commerce today.

Agentic AI promises to shrink the work consumers do when they shop online, from product discovery to checkout, while helping businesses personalize offers and streamline transactions.

The report says the market could reach $1.7 trillion by 2030, but it also makes clear that scale will not come from speed alone. Consumers remain uneasy about fraud, bad purchase decisions, identity theft and the difficulty of reversing unwanted transactions.

Merchants are uneasy too, especially around liability, chargebacks and AI-driven fraud attacks.

That tension creates a more constructive story than a simple hype cycle. The report shows companies already trying to solve the hardest part of the problem. Worldpay is building an agentic commerce hub and partnering with identity specialist Trulioo.

Google has introduced its Agent Payments Protocol with support from more than 60 organizations. Fraud firms are developing tools meant to spot and stop malicious agents before they can do damage.

The report’s optimistic takeaway is that commerce may be entering a stage where the winners are not the firms with the boldest AI claims, but the ones that make autonomous payments feel safe, governed and useful in everyday life.

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That’s the central finding of “Reality Check: Fact vs. Fiction in Real-Time Payments Fraud,” a PYMNTS Intelligence report produced in collaboration with The Clearing House. The report puts hard data against widely held assumptions, and the gap is striking: real-time payment rails carry substantially lower fraud rates than traditional methods including checks, wires and ACH. Yet many financial institutions remain on the sidelines, limiting themselves to receive-only participation.

The report’s conclusion is pointed: misperception, not actual exposure, is the primary drag on adoption. Aligning perception with reality could unlock the full promise of faster payments.

While many banks remain cautious, often limiting participation to receive-only capabilities, the findings indicate.

Findings

• 63% of firms report check fraud, compared with just 2% reporting fraud on real-time rails such as RTP and FedNow, highlighting a wide gap between legacy and instant payment risk.
• 85% of U.S. payments professionals expect fraud to increase as instant payments scale, even as current data shows lower fraud rates on those rails.
• 96% of banks support identity verification tools such as Confirmation of Payee, signaling broad agreement on how to mitigate fraud risk in real-time environments.

Beyond those figures, the report points to a structural issue in how the industry approaches innovation. Many institutions are still calibrating risk based on the speed of transactions rather than the controls embedded in modern payment systems.

Real-time rails operate in environments that emphasize push payments, tokenization and immediate confirmation, which can limit certain types of unauthorized activity. Yet those advantages are often overshadowed by concerns tied to scams and user error, particularly authorized push payment fraud.

That dynamic is shaping real-world behavior. A large share of institutions are opting to roll out instant payments with restricted functionality, delaying full send-and-receive capabilities. This approach may reduce perceived exposure, but it also creates bottlenecks that limit the network effects of faster payments. The report suggests that this cautious stance, while understandable, may slow the broader shift toward always-on money movement.

At the same time, the data offers a more constructive view of the path forward. Fraud on real-time rails is not only lower in frequency but often lower in impact, with most incidents categorized as minor. Financial institutions are also coalescing around a set of tools to address remaining risks, including real-time monitoring, multifactor authentication and AI-driven detection. Network operators are reinforcing these efforts with shared frameworks and collaborative data approaches, which can help identify and stop fraud before funds move.

The broader takeaway is that faster payments have reached a point where the technology and controls are largely in place. What remains is a shift in mindset. As institutions align their risk models with the realities of modern payment infrastructure, real-time rails could move from cautious adoption to a more central role in the payments ecosystem.

Education and coordination will determine how quickly that shift happens. Closing the perception gap between risk and reality could unlock broader participation, giving banks and payments providers a clearer path to scale real-time offerings while maintaining strong protections for consumers and businesses alike.

At PYMNTS Intelligence, we work with businesses to uncover insights that fuel intelligent, data-driven discussions on changing customer expectations, a more connected economy and the strategic shifts necessary to achieve outcomes. With rigorous research methodologies and unwavering commitment to objective quality, we offer trusted data to grow your business. As our partner, you’ll have access to our diverse team of PhDs, researchers, data analysts, number crunchers, subject matter veterans and editorial experts.

In the April 2026 report “Winning Top of Wallet: How Credit Card Apps Shape Choice,” PYMNTS Intelligence and Elan Credit Card found that mobile apps are no longer a side feature for cardholders.

They increasingly help decide which card gets used most, how consumers manage payments and whether a card stays in regular rotation.

The report is based on a survey of 3,198 U.S. adult cardholders. While the broad takeaway is that apps now influence card competition, the deeper story is that issuers have an opening to turn mobile tools into a daily habit that strengthens loyalty and spending.

• 69% of cardholders said the quality of a credit card’s mobile app influences which card becomes their most used, including 87% of Gen Z. That suggests app design is now part of the product, not just the service layer around it.
• 70% of cardholders said they use their primary card’s mobile app, including 85% of millennials and 82% of bridge millennials. The report says the next opportunity is less about access and more about activation: getting people to install the app, use it often and build routines around it.
• 54% of app users said reminders or autopay helped them avoid late fees or pay bills on time, and 46% said autopay helped them stay current. Those findings give the app a practical value that goes well beyond convenience. For many consumers, the mobile experience is becoming the main tool for managing the account.

What stands out most is how differently consumers use these apps by age. Baby boomers lean toward control and visibility. They are more likely to cite easy account access, bill pay and reminders as valuable features.

Younger consumers want those basics too, but they also respond to tools that feel more personalized and more embedded in daily money management. Gen Z leads on budgeting insights, in-app support, personalized offers and even gamification. That suggests the strongest app strategy may not be a one-size-fits-all design but a cleaner split between utility for older users and personalization for younger ones.

The report also points to a positive business case for getting the app experience right. Nearly one-third of app users said they increased spending after adopting their card’s app.

Four in 10 said app features encouraged them to spend more, with rewards visibility and redemption doing much of the work. In a market where most consumers hold more than one card, that means issuers have room to win more usage from customers they already have.

There is risk here too. Nearly 1 in 4 cardholders said a weak app or poor digital experience contributed to them cutting back or stopping use of a card. Still, the stronger message from this report is constructive. Consumers are showing issuers exactly what they want: simple payment tools, clear rewards visibility and an app experience that fits how they actually use credit.

At PYMNTS Intelligence, we work with businesses to uncover insights that fuel intelligent, data-driven discussions on changing customer expectations, a more connected economy and the strategic shifts necessary to achieve outcomes. With rigorous research methodologies and unwavering commitment to objective quality, we offer trusted data to grow your business. As our partner, you’ll have access to our diverse team of PhDs, researchers, data analysts, number crunchers, subject matter veterans and editorial experts.

That is the takeaway from “SMB Growth Monitor: Small Businesses, Big Credit Needs,” a PYMNTS Intelligence collaboration with i2c. The report drew on a survey of 514 U.S. small- to medium-sized business (SMB) executives.

Its broad finding is that small businesses still rely heavily on credit, but their priorities are shifting. Access matters, of course. Yet many firms now seem more focused on practical features such as installment options, dynamic spending limits, flexible due dates and card controls that reflect how money actually moves through the business.

That shift gives issuers a new opening. In a market where many SMBs already feel they can secure credit, product design may matter more than simple approval.

The report’s fourth key finding stands out. SMBs are not spending much time worrying about whether they can get approved for a new business card. Instead, they are comparing options and looking for products that offer more value.

Nearly two-thirds of SMBs say they believe they would be approved for a new business credit card with their desired spending limit, and another 19% say they might be approved, though not for the full amount. Among high-revenue SMBs, that confidence rises even further, to 96.1%.

That changes the competitive landscape for issuers. Once approval stops being the main concern, features, pricing and flexibility move to the center of the sales pitch.

• Eighty-three percent of SMBs think they would get approved for a new business credit card, underscoring that many firms see access to credit as attainable rather than out of reach.
• Fifty-six percent of SMBs say they are very or extremely interested in a card that lets them choose between rewards and a lower APR each statement period, showing strong demand for more adaptable credit models.
• Fifty-three percent of business credit card use is mostly or completely planned, suggesting that SMB card spending is often deliberate and tied to business operations rather than impulse purchases.

Other findings reinforce the same theme. SMBs are willing to pay for flexibility, with the average firm saying it would spend about $126 a year for card features such as installments or dynamic limits. More than half also express strong interest in flexible due dates, customizable limits and virtual card numbers for specific uses.

The report also shows that larger and more confident firms use credit more often, while smaller firms are more likely to lean on personal cards, especially for unexpected costs. Still, the mood running through the data is constructive. SMBs are using credit with purpose.

They know what they want. For issuers that can meet those needs with clearer value and smarter tools, that looks less like a challenge than an opening.

At PYMNTS Intelligence, we work with businesses to uncover insights that fuel intelligent, data-driven discussions on changing customer expectations, a more connected economy and the strategic shifts necessary to achieve outcomes. With rigorous research methodologies and unwavering commitment to objective quality, we offer trusted data to grow your business. As our partner, you’ll have access to our diverse team of PhDs, researchers, data analysts, number crunchers, subject matter veterans and editorial experts.

That is one of the more actionable findings in “The 2025 Global Digital Shopping Index: The Rise of the Mobile Window Shopper and What It Means for Payments,” a PYMNTS Intelligence study commissioned by Visa Acceptance Solutions. The report documents mobile shopping as a mainstream retail behavior worldwide: 48% of consumers used a phone for their most recent purchase, and 60% browse merchant sites multiple times a week.

The more specific force shaping the market is parents. They engage in 50% more digital shopping activity days than the average consumer and shoppers with children under their care used a phone in 58.6% of their most recent purchases, compared with 40.7% for non-parents. Notably, the pattern holds across markets: even in countries where digital adoption is less intense overall, parents remain highly engaged mobile shoppers.

That gives merchants a concrete playbook. The research shows these consumers gravitate toward clear payment choices, rewards, coupons, product details and easy-to-navigate stores. The implication is pointed: the next phase of digital growth may come less from new features than from eliminating the friction that slows someone down between school drop-off, work and dinner.

Convenience, the data suggests, is no longer an amenity. It is becoming the product itself.

Three numbers stand out:

• 59% of the days parents shop digitally, they make a purchase, showing that this group is not just browsing more often. They are converting at a higher rate.
• Shoppers with children under their care logged 63.5 digital shopping days per month, versus a 50.9 average across the full sample.
• 2% of shoppers used or wanted to use their preferred payment method at the merchant where they made their last purchase, making payment choice the top digital feature globally.

The broader message is upbeat for merchants willing to adapt. Mobile shopping is growing, but physical retail is still in the mix, with 73% of purchases across the eight countries still involving stores in some way.

That gives retailers room to improve both digital and in-store experiences at the same time. The opportunity is especially clear for businesses that make it easier to browse on a phone, save payment credentials securely and move from discovery to checkout without extra steps. For time-pressed shoppers, especially parents, that kind of simplicity is not a perk. It is a reason to come back.

That is one of the clearest takeaways from “Instant Myths: Debunking Faster-Payments Fraud Fears,” the January 2026 Money Mobility Tracker from PYMNTS Intelligence and Ingo Payments. The report shows that fraud concerns still weigh heavily on adoption decisions, but it also argues that many businesses may be worrying most about the wrong payment rails. Checks and other legacy methods continue to carry a larger share of fraud exposure, while real-time payments are increasingly seen as secure, practical and worth the investment. The more notable change in this report is not simply that fraud fears remain high. It is that confidence in faster payments appears to be growing as businesses gain more direct experience with them.

• 37% of businesses say enhanced security is a top benefit of adopting instant payments, up from 25% a year earlier.
• Checks are 16x more likely to be lost, stolen or altered compared with electronic transfers.
• 76% of organizations expect to update their payments strategy over the next three years as digital options expand.

That mix of caution and growing confidence runs through the report. On one hand, many firms still hesitate to move faster because fraud remains a real concern. The report says 16% of businesses experienced payment fraud in the past year, while 38% avoid instant payments because they do not want to share account information and 32% cite direct fraud fears. Financial institutions are under pressure too, with many pointing to rising fraud sophistication, compliance demands and faster settlement speeds as overlapping strains.

But the report’s more interesting point is that the market may be starting to separate old assumptions from actual performance. Checks remain deeply embedded in many business workflows, especially among smaller firms, yet they also remain unusually exposed to fraud. More than half of businesses hit by fraud still use checks, according to the report. By contrast, faster payment systems are posting a stronger record than many businesses seem to assume. Only a small minority of institutions report significant fraud impact tied to faster payments, and many organizations say digital payments bring convenience, security and less manual work.

The optimistic angle in the report is that trust appears to build with use. Businesses that work more closely with real-time payments are seeing the value of continuous monitoring, transaction-level visibility and automated screening. Those tools are helping shift instant payments from something firms worry about to something they increasingly see as a security upgrade.

This is a notable change in tone from the broader market discussion, which has often treated speed itself as the main source of risk. The report suggests the larger risk may come from clinging to slower, more manual systems that leave more room for loss, theft and alteration.

The report closes with a practical message. Fraud fears are unlikely to disappear overnight, and wider adoption will still depend on stronger fraud tools, clearer governance and better operational readiness. Yet the direction of travel looks more encouraging. As businesses invest in better controls and as real-time networks continue to mature, instant payments look less like a leap of faith and more like a sensible next step. Clearer evidence is starting to win.

That is the central takeaway from the March 2026 PYMNTS Data Book, “The Millennial Money Squeeze: Data Shows Rising Cost Pressures,” based on findings from a recent edition of the Generational Pulse Report. The data indicate that millennials face more overlapping financial pressures than older consumers, use more tactics to stay on top of bills and see their confidence decline as those tactics deliver less relief. The picture may be one of stress, but it also shows a generation that is highly engaged with its finances, adjusting in real time as household costs shift.

Among the Findings:

• Millennials report 3.4 simultaneous cost pressures on average, compared with 2.6 for baby boomers and seniors. That gap suggests younger households are not dealing with one isolated budget issue. They are managing several at once, from everyday spending to family-related expenses.
• Grocery stress among millennials rose to 90% in January 2026 from 79% in October 2025, an 11 percentage point increase. That makes food and household essentials one of the clearest pressure points in the report and shows how even basic recurring purchases are forcing tougher day-to-day choices.
• Twenty-two percent of millennials use four or more coping strategies at the same time, yet the share who said those strategies were working well fell to 32% from 47%, a 15-point drop from October to January. In other words, many millennials are putting in more effort without feeling more secure.

What stands out beyond the top-line numbers is how broad the financial strain appears to be. This is not only a story about inflation fatigue or rising prices at the checkout line. The report shows that millennials and bridge millennials are also carrying some of the heaviest family-related costs, with 46% to 52% reporting pressure from childcare or daycare and 46% to 50% citing school-related expenses.

Those are costs that tend to arrive during the same life stage when careers are expanding, families are growing and financial responsibilities are multiplying.

There is still a constructive signal in the data. Millennials are not disengaging. They are budgeting, adapting and trying multiple ways to keep pace.

The trouble is that the old playbook is not stretching as far as it used to. For banks, FinTechs and payments companies, that creates an opening. Consumers in this age group do not just need more credit. They need tools that make everyday money management simpler, clearer and more effective. The report suggests that the real opportunity may lie in helping this generation turn effort back into confidence.