How Payment APIs Transform Commerce and Customer Experience

The rise of payment APIs has completely changed how businesses handle transactions online. What started as a solution to complex technical problems has become the backbone of modern commerce, powering everything from marketplace platforms to subscription services.

Our expert panel discusses how these tools have levelled the playing field for smaller companies, created new revenue streams and blurred the boundaries between traditional commerce and financial services.

Hans Tesselaar from BIAN, Eddie Harrison from Navro and Ian Campbell from Equals Money x Railsr examine the current landscape and explore what's next as AI and autonomous commerce reshape the payments industry once again.

Then, in the 2010s, investment in APIs grew. This growth was encouraged exponentially when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020. 

Overnight, the high street closed, and the public turned online. With a more focused audience came pressure from competition.

The goal was clear; as consumer expectations keep rising, investing in visitor experience became even more vital to procure and retain customers. 

Now, 60% of revenue generated by ecommerce portals is done through APIs. Evidently, retailers have seen the opportunity to improve the customer experience, adopting new financial services to reduce unnecessary friction in the check-out procedure and integrating subscription models into services to reduce customer churn."

Eddie Harrison, Chief Growth Officer and Co-founder, Navro: "Before payment APIs, setting up an e-commerce business meant spending a huge amount of time and money building the systems needed to accept payments. This was a messy, complicated process that was prone to errors. 

"Then, payment APIs like Stripe and Braintree came along and made that whole issue disappear.

"They took all the complex, behind-the-scenes work and turned it into a simple tool businesses could plug right in. Suddenly, a company could stop worrying about the tech and  place all their focus on the customer experience – things like making the checkout process faster, personalising the flow and building loyalty."

Ian Campbell, Director of Solutions, Equals Money x Railsr: "Klarna is the obvious example of a great embedded finance success story, allowing customers to split payments or enter a credit agreement via a simple financing application at checkout, but it’s just the start. 

"Uses range from luxury brands offering exclusive payment cards with personalised rewards to B2B or B2C travel companies providing seamless currency solutions.

"For companies with elevated risk profiles, the challenge usually lies in approvals and compliance, leading to difficulties in processing payments quickly. 

"In a market like e-gaming, which has pioneered micropayments, smooth transactions are essential to player experience, but fraud and AML controls are essential. This involves a proactive approach to compliance from the onboarding stage. 

"Close collaboration ensures alignment on the information and checks required, reducing fraud risk further down the line and speeding up reconciliation for customers who have already been cleared."

Eddie Harrison, Chief Growth Officer and Co-founder, Navro: "Payment APIs have completely changed the game. They enable fast-growing startups to easily add new markets, payment methods, licences and functionality at a fraction of the cost. By connecting through APIs, much of the complexity associated with managing a global payments operation is removed. 

"Companies can use these APIs to access the best global payment infrastructure, giving them a competitive edge that was once reserved for the largest corporations and brands."

Ian Campbell, Director of Solutions, Equals Money x Railsr: "One area that payment APIs have already levelled the playing field is international expansion. Previously, businesses wanting to buy, sell or procure in multiple jurisdictions and currencies, would have to open multiple accounts with multiple banks in order to send and receive funds.

"We offer a multi-currency IBAN which enables them to send and receive funds in over 38 currencies all from one account, facilitated through various payment networks like SWIFT and SEPA.

"Linked to this is currency hedging, which used to be the preserve of big businesses and governments. APIs are making it accessible to all levels of business. 

"Automating forecasts with real-time data allows finance teams to anticipate liquidity needs and align cash strategy with business planning. Given the pace of market changes at the moment, this is invaluable.

"It’s also important to understand that the value of an enterprise-level payment experience isn’t just the technology and speed of transaction, it’s in the customer service. Smaller businesses often struggle to get the help they need with onboarding and account support from traditional finance providers. 

"As a payments specialist that’s where we can really offer differentiation: small fintech or marketplace can plug into a provider via API and instantly get enterprise grade capabilities. 

"This means that start-ups or smaller businesses can launch products with the same seamless experience users expect from larger well-established firms."

What role do payment APIs play in the convergence of online and offline commerce experiences?

Eddie Harrison, Chief Growth Officer and Co-founder, Navro: "Payment APIs are the key to uniting online and offline shopping. They create a seamless flow of data and funds between physical shops and digital platforms. 

"For example, a customer can buy a product online and easily return it in a physical store, with the refund processed through the same system that handled the original purchase. 

"This kind of integration allows businesses to build a single, unified customer profile. With that, they can offer loyalty programmes, promotions and personalised recommendations that work across all channels, creating a consistent experience for customers whether they’re at home on their couch or at a brick-and-mortar checkout counter.

Ian Campbell, Director of Solutions, Equals Money x Railsr: "For B2B payments, our APIs allow businesses to offer physical prepaid cards for in-person spending, which can be integrated, managed and monitored via our APIs. 

"We also offer integration with accounting software like Xero, exporting transaction data automatically to simplify financial management, keep track of your payments and receive real-time notifications through our online portal.

"For consumer-facing businesses, multi-party flows (between buyer, platform and supplier) through APIs are blurring the line between the marketplace and financial intermediaries."

What does the next evolution of payment APIs look like as we move toward autonomous commerce and AI-driven transactions?

Hans Tesselaar, Executive Director, BIAN: "In the shorter-term, we can expect to see a focus on security. As the digital ecosystem grows, and the threats posed by cyber-criminals and IT outages remain a key consideration, retailers and consumers alike will seek confirmation that payments are safe.

"On a wider scale, as APIs evolve, they will become increasingly embedded into payment processes. From the ability for fast threat detection and response to transactions driven by AI, e.g. refunds and expected payments, admin-driven workflows will need minimal human oversight, creating a frictionless experience for consumers and retailers alike.

Eddie Harrison, Chief Growth Officer and Co-founder, Navro: "The next evolution of payments won't just be about APIs – it'll be about tools that empower AI agents to shop, pay, and transact in the real world. 

"We're heading for a future where devices, not just people, initiate payments. Think of a smart fridge automatically re-ordering groceries or a self-driving car paying for its own parking."

"The fintech industry is already building the key solutions to make this a reality. Companies like PayPal and Visa are creating agent toolkits and intelligent commerce platforms that allow these AI agents to navigate the financial world. 

"These tools will easily integrate with AI models to predict when a transaction is needed and optimise it on the fly, ensuring a seamless and invisible payment experience for both consumers and merchants. 

"This shift means the future of payment APIs will be focused on enabling these agents to function smoothly, rather than just connecting platforms."

Ian Campbell, Director of Solutions, Equals Money x Railsr: "We’ve already built autonomous functions and AI analytics into our platform, which is helping with greater accuracy, fraud prevention and smoother compliance, all monitored by real-time data flows.

"For international businesses, managing FX, fees and settlement timing across borders, automation reduces errors, accelerates transactions and mitigates costly delays.

"AI-Powered credit decisioning tools are helping us respond to risk faster and more accurately. They can speed up onboarding processes such as Know Your Customer (KYC), while flagging any unusual activity for review by human compliance teams, which is the most efficient use of resources." Ian continues. 

"Our tools continuously monitor transactions in real time, detecting suspicious behaviour and unusual patterns across geographies. High-risk transactions can be identified and blocked before they’re completed" 

"In a recent survey of 1,000 senior finance leaders across the UK and Europe, commissioned by Censuswide for Equals Money, 49% of finance leaders still cite time savings as the primary driver behind automation, but almost all (99%) say its greatest value lies not in the tasks it performs, but in the time it frees up, allowing finance teams to focus on more strategic, high-impact work."