By Sarel Tal, Vice President of Acquiring Partnerships, Rapyd
Originally published in the Spring 2026 issue of Fintech BoostUp, ahead of Merchant Payments Ecosystem (MPE) Berlin.
In the Spring 2026 issue of Fintech BoostUp, Sarel Tal examines the structural reality behind the industry’s shift toward integrated payment platforms.
As embedded payments adoption accelerates across Europe, platforms are consolidating acquiring, issuing, FX, and wallet capabilities into unified propositions. Scaling this model depends on whether the platform is built on a truly unified ledger infrastructure.
As ISVs, PSPs, and acquirers across Europe expand into PayFac Lite models and embedded finance, the question is no longer whether to rebundle. The question is whether the underlying financial architecture can withstand scale.
Below is an excerpt from the published article:
“The payments industry is entering what many are calling the Great Rebundling. After a decade of assembling best of breed providers across acquiring, issuing, FX, and payouts, the market is consolidating again. Recent transactions such as Global Payments’ $24.25 billion acquisition of Worldpay and Capital One’s $5.15 billion acquisition of Brex reflect a clear direction of travel: scale through integration.
But integration at the ownership level does not automatically translate into integration at the infrastructure level.
Many all-in-one platforms are integrated commercially, but lack the integrated architecture.
The question is whether those products operate on a unified financial core, or whether they remain a combination of siloed systems.”
In the full article, Sarel examines Europe’s embedded payments maturity gap, the operational risk created by fragmented ledger systems, and why unified financial infrastructure is becoming a regulatory requirement under PSD3 and DORA.