PingPong: Showcasing Embedded Payments Success at Money20/20

PingPong is a foundational player in cross-border payments infrastructure, combining global licensing scale with embedded finance capabilities to target enterprise demand.

Speaking with FinTech Magazine at Money20/20, the company’s global business CEO David Messenger says: “We are all about cross border payments – but in cross border payments, it’s never just about the payment. 

“They are about the FX, but, more importantly, they are about the compliance and risk elements. 

“We ensure that our payments network is reliable and maintain the highest bank grade standards, which means when people use us, they know the money will arrive and it’ll arrive in the right place.”

David is clear that enterprise requirements differ fundamentally from consumer expectations.

He adds: “It is less about speed. I think speed has got too much attention because when it comes to consumer transactions, speed is king. When it comes to cross border business, if you’re a CFO, you’re loading your transactions into an ERP, it’s batch processed, it’s not real time.”

Instead, PingPong’s value proposition centres on predictability, cost control and FX optimisation – areas where businesses often see the greatest impact.

An alternative to correspondent banking

PingPong’s infrastructure model is designed to bypass traditional friction points by leveraging local clearing access and its global licensing base.

“We’ve built a global network that is ours end-to-end, with almost 70 licences around the world,” David says. “We’ve been doing real-time 24/7 payments for years. For us, the key thing is That we’ve built that network end to end, which has been huge investment over a decade to do that. 

“With that, we’re able to provide totally reliable and fast solutions to our partners.”

Rather than routing payments through multiple intermediaries, the company connects directly into local systems such as SEPA and Faster Payments, supported by global liquidity pools.

He continues: “We focus on what is the best route – smart routing – for payments, leveraging local network clearing system access and our global network of licences.”

This architecture allows PingPong to position itself as both a partner to banks and an enabler of more efficient cross-border flows.

A new model for bank–fintech collaboration

David sees the next phase of fintech evolution as one defined by deeper collaboration with banks – particularly for large enterprise clients.

“What’s interesting now – and we are at the forefront of this – is working with banks in a fundamentally different way,” he says. “We are now in the model where we are starting to partner with banks in co-developing customised solutions for global enterprises.

“If you're a sophisticated Fortune 200 company with global operations, you will recognise that banks are fundamental to what you need and you have to have a core banking relationship, but also fintechs bring additional capabilities that banks don’t have.”

PingPong’s ability to onboard businesses quickly and build tailored solutions is increasingly being positioned as complementary to core banking infrastructure.

AI, compliance and data sovereignty

Like much of the financial services sector, PingPong is deploying AI first in risk and compliance – where the stakes are highest.

“Where it first started to take root was in the compliance and risk side, because obviously it’s an arms race,” David explains. “The fraudsters are using AI to get smarter and smarter. We, like all financial institutions, need to do the same.

“We’ve been leveraging it faster and faster in terms of risk and compliance as that’s where it’s really going to have an impact for us. 

“We’re a B2B platform, we’re not dealing with consumer transactions. 

"What’s really going to have an impact for us is that our ability to develop and customise new products – that is going to accelerate exponentially because for us.

“AI has an unbelievable impact on productivity in developing new products, testing new products thoroughly and fully before launch. So, for me, it’s really exciting because this is what is going to accelerate our business progress in the next several years.

"However, this must be balanced with tightening regulatory expectations around data. The trend is going to be one where more and more countries want data to be segregated. For us to be able to provide effective solutions, we’ve got to get very smart in a federated structure where we can preserve the data sovereignty and privacy, but extract the value for AI.”

Embedded payments as the endgame

Looking ahead, PingPong is focusing on embedding payments directly into business workflows, rather than treating them as standalone processes.

“It is not ‘I want to make a payment’,” David says. “It’s, ‘I want to achieve, follow this business process. I want to complete this business task and embed payments in a smart way so that that actually is done more effectively’.”

The company’s partnership with travel technology provider Sabre illustrates this approach, targeting FX optimisation and margin improvement in a complex, global industry.

“That’s an example of where things are headed – where it is less about the payment. It is about ‘what is the business process? How can the business process be improved?’”