This year’s Money 20/20 Europe proved one thing loud and clear: transformation is not a question of if, but when. From regulatory shifts to technological leaps, the future of payments is converging rapidly and Thales is right at the heart of that transformation.
At our interactive experience pods in Amsterdam, clients, partners, and industry peers explored our range of secure digital services, innovative physical cards, and the secure D1 platform that connects them. As the payments landscape continues to evolve, we remain focused on helping bring clarity and consistency to a complex ecosystem, by embedding trust into every transaction. Our tokenization, transaction control, and digital issuance services are designed to enhance every interaction – whether on desktop, mobile, or wearable.
Click to Pay: From Consideration to Commitment
Momentum around Click to Pay is undeniable. Discussions at the event revealed a shared conviction among large issuers, merchants and payment service providers (PSPs): this is no longer a speculative trend, but a strategic priority.
As Mastercard encourages widespread merchant enablement, issuers are rapidly enrolling cardholders to deliver a more secure, frictionless ecommerce journey. With Thales solutions, implementation can offer immediate benefits: enhanced security, streamlined checkout experiences, and increased customer satisfaction – all with minimal friction.
European Wallets: A Fragmented Landscape Fuelling Innovation
The European wallet landscape remains highly fragmented – but it’s also vibrant and rapidly evolving. From PayPal’s strong adoption in Germany, to regional wallet leaders like Bizum (Spain), Blik (Poland), and Swish (Nordics), consumers are embracing a wide array of digital payment options tailored to local needs and preferences.
The recent opening of Apple’s NFC interface under EU regulation is sparking further competition, enabling players like Vipps and Curve to launch full-featured wallets on iOS, which had long been a barrier to entry for alternative providers.
- Vipps, Norway’s leading mobile wallet provider, has partnered with Thales to secure over one million digital payment experiences. By embedding trust at the core of its offering, Vipps empowers users to pay, transfer money, and authenticate services seamlessly — a model of mobile-first convenience that’s helping set the standard across the Nordics.
- Curve, a UK-based fintech, is transforming the payment experience by combining multiple bank cards into a single smart card and mobile app. Through its partnership with Thales, Curve leverages secure in-app card provisioning and token lifecycle management to enable seamless, secure mobile payments via Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay. Thales’ tokenization and security services ensure that Curve users can pay with confidence, knowing their data and credentials are protected across all channels
As these players drive innovation and diversify wallet offerings, our role is to provide the secure, token-centric infrastructure and NFC-enablement tools that make these experiences possible – with interoperability, scalability, and compliance built in from the start.
The Physical Card: A field for innovation
Even as digital channels expand, physical cards remain a cornerstone of customer relationships – not just as payment tools, but as powerful brand assets. The next generation of cards is being shaped by eco-conscious design and premium materials, including wood, plastic-free substrates, and high-end finishes like metal.
At Money 20/20, Thales showcased how we’re helping issuers stand out with personalised packaging, custom card designs like “SketchMyCard”, and sustainable innovations that deliver real-world impact – in hands and beyond the screen.
The D1 Platform: A Unified Experience Across Channels
At the centre of our showcase stood the D1 platform, our modular SaaS cloud platform that connects every point of the user journey. From physical card issuance to digital engagement, D1 provides a secure, seamless foundation for financial institutions and fintechs alike.
Instead of treating physical cards and digital services as separate silos, D1 brings them together—enabling faster service deployment, unified data management, and enhanced security in a cloud-native environment.
With its modular architecture, D1 empowers issuers to launch next-generation payment experiences faster, streamline operations, and modernize their payment infrastructure with agility.
