The top of a building entrance with the word August on it

28 August 2026

Polar Moment’s Payments Perspective: August 2026

Payments news from August 2026: Ingenico receives new funding to fuel its future, Visa and Mastercard required to provide greater information around their fees to UK customers, the continuing rise of embedded and social payments and Walmart finally allows contactless payments.

Green shoots of growth from a glass of coins

€150m Recapitalisation for Ingenico

Ingenico has received an injection of €150m from its investors, led by the investment manager Pimco. It will be used to accelerate product innovation, cloud platform development, and customer support capabilities, according to the French payments company.

Ingenico was acquired by Apollo Global Management from Worldline in 2022 for €2.3billion. It had reportedly been struggling to service interest on a €1.1billion debt, due for repayment in 2030. Some of this debt will reportedly be converted to equity, improving leverage and reducing its interest bill. Consequently, it will cease to be wholly owned by Apollo.

Why This Matters

The new funds reduce the uncertainty surrounding Ingenico's future and allows it to invest in products and services.

https://www.delfineo.com/en/news/20260424-19-ingenico-debt/ (opens in a new tab)

Compliance spelt out in Scrabble letters

UK Payments Regulator Demands Changes From Visa and Mastercard

The UK’s Payments Services Regulator is demanding significant changes to how Visa and Mastercard operate in the UK. They must now provide much clearer information about their fees to their clients. These are acquirers: the banks that pay merchants for transactions paid through credit and debit cards. The PSR believes that this will make it easier for businesses to check their bills, avoid unnecessary charges, and shop around for better deals. The changes must be made within 12 months, to allow the card schemes to update their systems.

The PSR had previously identified a lack of transparency in how pricing decisions were made by the two card schemes. Mastercard and Visa must consider the interests of the businesses that rely on their services when making pricing decisions and keep clear records of their reasoning. This will take effect within four months.

The regulator is also working to achieve greater scrutiny of the schemes in the UK. The card schemes will have to report on the financial performance of their UK card businesses. The PSR will use this to assess the schemes’ overall profitability and intervene if needed to protect the market.

A mobile phone with social apps showing on the screen

Embedded and Social Payments Continue to Grow in Popularity

When taking payment is built directly into a non-financial product or service, it’s commonly referred to as an embedded payment. A good example is charging an EV at a Tesla chargepoint. Drivers simply plug in and unplug without explicitly paying: Tesla just bills the appropriate amount to a payment card on file.

Social payments are transactions carried out through social media.

Notable developments include:

Western Union and TenPay Global launched a Weixin-based remittance service. https://thepaypers.com/payments/news/western-union-tenpay-global-launch-weixin-remittance-tool (opens in a new tab)
German bank N26 launched Wero in August. Customers in Germany and France can now send money instantly using a phone number or email. This feels more like a social payment app than a bank transfer, despite being based on SEPA Instant.

https://n26.com/en-eu/press/press-release/n26-expands-instant-payment-offer-with-introduction-of-european-digital-payment-solution-wero (opens in a new tab)

An interoperability initiative has been launched that links:
- Bizum (Spain)
- MB WAY (Portugal)
- Bancomat (Italy)
- VippsMobilePay (Nordics)
- Wero (Pan-European)

The initiative aims is to allow consumers to use their familiar domestic payment app for cross-border payments. Approximately 130 million users across 13 European countries can use these services.

https://www.wannme.com/en/european-payments-bizum-mbway-wero/ (opens in a new tab)

Walmart Finally Allows Contactless Payments

The retailer has started to add Tap to Pay at select Walmart and Sam's Club stores this month. It plans to roll it out to all US locations by the end of 2026 and to fuel stations by mid-2027.

Walmart was the last major US retailer to resist mainstream contactless payments. Apple Pay and Google Pay will also be supported. Their lengthy resistance to contactless payments stems from its decision to offer its own QR code-based system in 2016.