The future of payments is being written in code

Traditionally in treasury and payments, developers have mainly worked behind the scenes. But with application programming interfaces (APIs) becoming increasingly used at the frontend to create company-to-company connections and optimize checkout, developers are playing a more strategic and outward-facing role in their organizations.

It’s a shift that is also being driven by powerful external forces, such as open banking and artificial intelligence (AI). As you might expect, AI is a recurring theme in this issue. On the one hand we explore the big questions, like whether artificial general intelligence is likely to emerge and what that could mean for the payments world. But we also look at AI’s nearer-term implications. For instance, AI can make it easier for developers to discover, integrate and test new solutions, shortening the innovation cycle. Meanwhile, in the treasury space, we see that AI has great potential for cash-flow forecasting due to its ability to analyze large data sets, make accurate predictions and even recommend next-best actions.

As technology and finance become ever more intertwined, businesses will need to rethink how they operate. One benefit is that as manual tasks are increasingly automated, treasurers will be able to focus more on high-value, strategic activities, increasing their overall productivity and improving the finance function. However, treasurers will need to understand and embed with technical teams more closely in order to maximize the potential of new ideas. To that end, we spoke with a number of developers at the cutting edge of payments tech to hear their advice for business leaders, including how to work best with technical teams to harness innovation and set their companies up for success.

Our conversations underscored a key insight: It’s vital to put data front and center. We firmly believe that without a data strategy, you don’t have a digital strategy. Data silos within organizations can hinder digital transformation. So, breaking down internal barriers and consolidating information in more accessible locations will be essential. But this is just the beginning. An effective data strategy can help drive smarter decisions throughout the organization and empower builders to create the treasury tools of the future. In support of this, companies should also start creating effective developer portals—centralized locations where engineers can get all the tools, resources and documentation they need to build high-quality solutions. These portals must be easy to navigate, provide access to available APIs and have sandbox environments for testing and prototyping. Whether it’s builders developing applications, treasurers looking to integrate new technology or companies launching digital payment solutions, the key is to harness the capabilities of a partner to make the process as frictionless as possible.

J.P. Morgan Payments can help remove complexity by providing a technological ecosystem, an advanced Payments Developer Portal, advisory support and a scalable platform that clients will not outgrow. And as the developers of today forge the payments solutions of tomorrow, it’s fascinating to think what kind of world they will be building for. To help explore that future, this issue also spotlights a number of game-changing ideas that payments professionals ought to have on their radars, from spatial computing and the rise of agentic micropayments to bold new opportunities in the entertainment industry. We hope you enjoy this issue, and it inspires you in whatever you may build next.